Miami Valley Aviation Douglas DC3C accident
Douglas DC3C · Accident: loss of control on ground/water during takeoff
From an unrecorded airport to Bishop International Airport (FNT)
Event
- NTSB case
- CHI94LA074
- Event typeAccident: someone killed or seriously injured, or the aircraft substantially damaged (NTSB definition). Incident: an occurrence that affected or could have affected safety, short of that. Glossary
- Accident
- InvestigationHow far the investigation had got when the record was published: preliminary, ongoing, final or completed. Unknown where the source does not say. Glossary
- Completed
- API-reported fatalities
- 0 · all aircraft and ground
- Ground fatalities
- 0
- OperationWhat kind of flying it was, grouped by the rules it flew under: airline (US Part 121), air taxi and commuter (Part 135), general aviation (Part 91 and similar), military or government. Glossary
- Charter & commuter
- WeatherVisual meteorological conditions (VMC): good enough to fly by looking outside. Instrument conditions (IMC): cloud or low visibility, flying by instruments. Glossary
- Instrument Meteorological Cond
Douglas DC3C
- Aircraft type
- Douglas DC3
- Category
- Airplane
- RegistrationThe aircraft's tail number, such as N12345 or G-ABCD. Registrations are reissued, so the same one years apart can be a different aircraft. Glossary
- N907Z
- Operator
- Miami Valley Aviation
- Onboard fatalities
- Unknown
- Route
- From not recordedTo Bishop International Airport (FNT), Flint, MI
- Aircraft age
- Not recorded
- Flight rulesThe regulations the flight operated under: in the US, Part 91 (general aviation), Part 121 (airlines), Part 135 (air taxi and commuter) and others; for flights abroad, the NTSB's coarser commercial or non-commercial code. Glossary
- Part 135: Air Taxi & Commuter
- Phase of flightThe stage of the flight when things started to go wrong: standing, taxi, takeoff, initial climb, en route, maneuvering, approach or landing. Glossary
- Takeoff · roll/run
- First occurrenceThe single coded event the NTSB judges best describes what happened (records from 2008 on). Older records name the first occurrence in the sequence instead. Glossary
- Loss of control on ground/water
- DamageDestroyed: beyond practical repair. Substantial: damage that affects the structure, performance or handling and normally needs major repair. Minor: less than that. Glossary
- Substantial
Cause areas
- Pilot in command › Remedial action, inadequate
Approximate · Coordinates as recorded by the NTSB; no uncertainty radius is established.
NTSB narrative
FOR THE ACCIDENT FLIGHT, THE COPILOT WAS TO PERFORM THE TAKEOFF, WHILE THE CAPTAIN (PIC) MONITORED THE INSTRUMENTS/ENGINE GAUGES. THE PIC STATED THE COPILOT CORRECTED TO THE LEFT WHEN THE AIRPLANE BEGAN TO DRIFT TO THE RIGHT SIDE OF RUNWAY 30 (WINDS OUT OF 340 DEGREES AT 7 KNOTS). THE AIRPLANE DRIFTED BACK TO THE LEFT AND CONTINUED TOWARDS THE LEFT SIDE OF THE RUNWAY. THE PIC STATED HE TOOK CONTROL IN AN ATTEMPT TO KEEP THE AIRPLANE FROM GOING OFF THE RUNWAY, BUT DUE TO 'LACK OF TRACTION' THE AIRPLANE CONTINUED OFF THE LEFT SIDE OF THE RUNWAY. THE AIRPLANE VEERED RIGHT, BACK ONTO THE RUNWAY, BUT THE BOTTOM AFT SECTION OF THE FUSELAGE STRUCK A VASI LIGHT. THE PILOTS DESCRIBED THE RUNWAY AS SNOW AND ICE COVERED.
Probable cause
the pilot in command's inadequate remedial action after a loss of directional control during the takeoff ground roll. Related factors are the copilot's failure to maintain directional control, and the snow covered, icy runway.
Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset
Sources
NTSB record CHI94LA074
- Event ID
- 20001206X00612
- Case number
- CHI94LA074
- Dataset
- historical-pre2008
- Source SHA-256
- 89e2df6d848e7ab3b42e7d7c7a03ff403303057a26ca04c95b3ea67201c3ce74
Source notes (4)
- Unreviewed is an editorial label, not an investigation status. API-sourced is not report-checked or human-reviewed. Explicit event totals are used without summing aircraft injury tables; onboard allocation is withheld. Unknown values remain unknown. The operation category is mapped from the NTSB-reported FAR part and has not been reviewed.
- Filled from the NTSB case API where the bulk record had no value: investigation status. Values present in the bulk record are kept.
- The date is the local date, which is the same as the UTC date the NTSB stores.
- API snapshot SHA-256: 99bb8d6bc4fe2bc24b5141ec7d6b63b4df8e086d53054e3b1b229d9969d7875b; retrieved 2026-09-18T18:22:47.201Z.