From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
On March 12, 1948, Northwest Airlines Flight
4422 (NC95422) crashed into Mount
Sanford, Alaska, with a crew of six and 24 passengers.[1] The
flight was a DC-4 charter flying back to the United
States from Shanghai. The aircraft refueled at Anchorage
(Merrill Field)
and took off at 8:12 p.m. to continue on to its destination, New York City (LaGuardia
Airport). For reasons unknown, the aircraft deviated from the
published airway and crashed into Mount
Sanford.[2]
After the initial impact the wreckage slid down for about 3000 feet
before coming to rest.[1]
There were no survivors. The passengers were US Merchant Marine crew members of the
tanker SS Sunset being ferried back home.[3]
Many witnesses in the nearby town of Gulkana saw the crash, but
the wreckage was lost for over 50 years. Snowstorms quickly buried
its exact location in a mountain glacier. Over the years, various individuals,
lured by rumors of a secret gold cargo shipment from China,
searched the mountain and came home empty-handed. Northwest pilot
Marc Millican and Delta pilot Kevin McGregor had been searching the
mountain together and on their own since 1995.[4]
In 1997 they located a few pieces of wreckage but were unable to
confirm it was from Northwest 4422. Only in 1999, after obtaining
permission from the park service and victims' relatives, were they
able to remove wreckage confirming it was from Flight 4422. No
secret treasure was ever found. At the time of the crash it was
determined the pilots were 23 miles off course and may not have
seen the mountain at night. An NTSB investigation in 1999 shows the
propellers were spinning at high velocity when they struck the
mountain, which supports this theory.
In addition to wreckage discovered in 1999, a mummified hand and arm was found in the Alaska
glacier. After nearly a decade, the remains were identified in 2008
using advanced DNA
profiling. The limb was from Francis Joseph Van Zandt, a 36
year old merchant marine from Roanoke, Virginia, one of the
passengers on Flight 4422. Eventually fingerprints were recovered
from the remains, making this the oldest known identification of
post-mortem remains using fingerprints. Subsequently DNA from a descendant of Van Zandt confirmed the
identity.[5]
See also
- Star Dust (aircraft) - Airliner
that crashed onto a mountain glacier in 1947 and remained
undiscovered until 1998.
References
- ^ a
b
Accident description at
the Aviation Safety Network
- ^ "CAB report for March 12,
1948 accident involving NC95422, Docket No. SA-168, File No.
1-0025." (PDF). Civil Aeronautics Board. Adopted July 23,
1948. http://ntl1.specialcollection.net/scripts/ws.dll?file&fn=8&name=*S%3A\DOT_56GB\airplane%20accidents\websearch\031248.pdf. Retrieved
2009-11-05.
(plain text version also
available)
(if links above fail to load report, visit http://dotlibrary.specialcollection.net and
select "Historical Aircraft Accident Reports (1934-1965)", then
retry report links)
- ^ *Bruce Felknor (June 21, 2000). "Tragic Voyage of the SS Sunset Crew".
usmm.org. http://www.usmm.org/felknoralaska.html. Retrieved
2009-11-05.
- ^ Theresa Mattick (October 1999). "Finding Northwest Flight
4422". Air Line Pilot. p. 18.
http://cf.alpa.org/internet/alp/1999/octnwa4422.htm. Retrieved
2009-11-05.
- ^
"Mummified remains from 1948
plane crash identified" (PDF). Associated Press. August 17,
2008. http://www.forensicgenealogy.info/images/washington_post_article.pdf. Retrieved 2009-11-05. "Nine
years of sleuthing, advanced DNA science and cutting-edge forensic
techniques have finally put a name to a mummified hand and arm
found in an Alaska glacier. The remains belong to Francis Joseph
Van Zandt, a 36-year-old merchant marine from Roanoke, Va., who was
on a plane rumored to contain a cargo of gold when it smashed into
the side of a mountain 60 years ago. Thirty people died in the
crash."
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