Fort Ord - McChord

On September 1, 1953 at 06:30 PM, Fort Ord - McChord experienced a crash involving Douglas C-49 (DC-3), operated by Regina Cargo Airlines, with the event recorded near Vail Washington.

The flight was categorized as charter/taxi (non scheduled revenue flight) and the reported phase was flight at a mountains crash site.

21 people were known to be on board, 21 fatalities were recorded, 0 survivors were identified or estimated. This corresponds to an estimated fatality rate of 100.0%.

Crew on board: 2, crew fatalities: 2, passengers on board: 19, passenger fatalities: 19, other fatalities: 0.

The listed crash cause is human factor. The aircraft was performing a special flight from Fort Ord AFB (Monterey) to McChord AFB, carrying 19 military passengers and two pilots. En route, the crew cancelled the IFR flight plan and continued under VFR in poor weather conditions. At an altitude of 2,600 feet in foggy conditions, the aircraft hit the slope of a mountain, was totally destroyed by impact forces and a post crash fire and all 21 occupants were killed.

Aircraft reference details include registration N19941, MSN 6333, year of manufacture 1942.

Geospatial coordinates for this crash are approximately 46.8451°, -122.6562°.