Chicago - Des Moines

On December 2, 1978 at 01:13 PM, Chicago - Des Moines experienced a crash involving Douglas C-47 Skytrain (DC-3), operated by SMB Stage Line, with the event recorded near Des Moines Iowa.

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

2 people were known to be on board, 0 fatalities were recorded, 2 survivors were identified or estimated. This corresponds to an estimated fatality rate of 0.0%.

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

The listed crash cause is human factor. On final approach, the crew failed to realize his altitude was too low when the airplane struck an embankment located 300 feet short of runway 03 threshold. Upon impact, the undercarriage were torn off, the airplane nosed down and crashed. Both pilots were injured and the aircraft was damaged beyond repair.

Aircraft reference details include registration N41447, MSN 12987, year of manufacture 1944.

Geospatial coordinates for this crash are approximately 41.5869°, -93.6249°.