Wilmington - New Bern

On November 20, 1966 at 06:06 AM, Wilmington - New Bern experienced a crash involving Martin 404, operated by Piedmont Airlines, with the event recorded near New Bern North Carolina.

The flight was categorized as positioning and the reported phase was landing (descent or approach) at a airport (less than 10 km from airport) crash site.

3 people were known to be on board, 3 fatalities were recorded, 0 survivors were identified or estimated. This corresponds to an estimated fatality rate of 100.0%.

Crew on board: 3, crew fatalities: 3, passengers on board: 0, passenger fatalities: 0, other fatalities: 0.

The listed crash cause is human factor. The crew departed Wilmington Airport, North Carolina, at 0540LT on a positioning flight to New Bern under call sign PI101. The approach to New Bern-Simmons Nott Airport was started in limited visibility due to the night when the airplane, too low, struck tree tops and crashed in the Croatan National Forest, about 3 miles short of runway. The aircraft was destroyed and all three crew members were killed. Crew: Joe Helsabeck, pilot, E. O. Adams, copilot, Pamela Rumble, stewardess.

Aircraft reference details include registration N40406, MSN 14170, year of manufacture 1952.

Geospatial coordinates for this crash are approximately 35.1068°, -77.0399°.