Indianapolis - Evansville - Nashville

On December 13, 1977 at 07:22 PM, Indianapolis - Evansville - Nashville experienced a crash involving Douglas C-53 Skytrooper (DC-3), operated by National Jet Services, with the event recorded near Evansville-William H. Dress Indiana.

The flight was categorized as charter/taxi (non scheduled revenue flight) and the reported phase was takeoff (climb) at a airport (less than 10 km from airport) crash site.

29 people were known to be on board, 29 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: 26, passenger fatalities: 26, other fatalities: 0.

The listed crash cause is human factor. The airplane was engaged in a charter flight from Indianapolis to Nashville with an intermediate stop at Evansville Airport, carrying members of the University of Evansville basketball team and associated personnel. Takeoff from runway 18 was completed in marginal weather conditions with mist and light rain. After rotation, the pilot-in-command initiated a turn to the left when the airplane struck two trees located to the east of the airfield. Then the aircraft rolled to the right and crashed about a mile southeast from runway 18 threshold. The aircraft was totally destroyed upon impact and all 29 occupants were killed.

Aircraft reference details include registration N51071, MSN 4837, year of manufacture 1941.