- ACCIDENT DETAILS
Date: January 18, 1960
Time: 2219
Location: Charles City, Virginia
Operator: Capital Airlines
Flight #: 20
Route: Washington D.C. - Norfolk
AC Type: Vickers Viscount 745D
Registration: N7462
cn / ln: 217
Aboard: 50   (passengers:46  crew:4)
Fatalities: 50   (passengers:46  crew:4)
Ground: 0
Summary: The aircraft crashed and burned in a wooded area, striking the ground in a level attitude. The delayed arming of the engine ice-protection systems while flying through icing conditions, causing eventual flame-out of the four engines. This condition existed for sufficient time to cause a drop in battery electrical energy, preventing the unfeathering and relighting of sufficient engines to maintain flight. The aircraft was then dived in an effort to attain sufficient airspeed to drive the propellers out of the feathered positions by wind-milling. At the same time, multiple attempts were made to relight one or more engines. Successful relights were either interrupted by auto-feather action initiated by premature advancing of the throttles prior to complete light up of an engine or prevented by insufficient battery electrical energy. No. 4 engine was eventually relit and the crew had just successfully relit No. 3 engine when the aircraft crashed.
Sources

Return to Home Page

Copyright © Richard Kebabjian / www.planecrashinfo.com