Roosevelt Roads - Homestead

On December 14, 1968 at 12:00 AM, Roosevelt Roads - Homestead experienced a crash involving Fairchild C-119 Flying Boxcar, operated by United States Air Force - USAF, with the event recorded near Mt Pico del Este All Puerto Rico.

The flight was categorized as military and the reported phase was flight at a mountains crash site.

8 people were known to be on board, 8 fatalities were recorded, 0 survivors were identified or estimated. This corresponds to an estimated fatality rate of 100.0%.

Crew on board: 8, crew fatalities: 8, passengers on board: 0, passenger fatalities: 0, other fatalities: 0.

The listed crash cause is technical failure. The crew departed Roosevelt Roads NAS on a routine flight to Homestead AFB, south Florida. Few minutes after takeoff, the radio communication systems apparently failed and the crew decided to return to his departure point for a safe landing. While cruising in poor visibility at an altitude of 3,400 feet, the airplane struck tree tops and crashed in a wooded area located on the slope of the Pico del Este (1,036 meters high) located in the El Yunque National Park. As the airplane failed to return, SAR operations were conducted and the wreckage was found a day later some 12 km west of Ceiba. All eight crew members were killed.

Aircraft reference details include registration 51-2667, MSN 10656, year of manufacture 1951.