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The CAF C-47 from Highland Lakes squadron at Burnet, just outside Austin was lost on takeoff, news says the wing dipped and hit the ground. The photo shows the fuselage is mostly burned out with the engines and tail visible.
The good news is it says all 13 survived,with some injuries, one serious. . Iven been to Burnet and been in that plane, Im a life member.
For anyone interested, there is a video of the accident. Thank God everyone survived, the pictures looked far more dire than the video.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sfosck22574
An early view, by looking at comments on other sites as well as talking to some CAF members, I am a life member myself, may not give the final cause, but some seem to be ruled. Some have guessed that controls might have still been locked, but the pilots in charge so not so, all control locks were removed, and others say in the video they can see the rudder move to full right and maybe the elevator move. And the tailwheel was locked as it should be, the pin was found sheered after impact.
They say with 13 people on board and baggage and gear, for a week at Oshkosh they were still under the gross weight limit, and had flown that way in the past.
Still it was heavy and very hot that day and the runway while adequate at 5000 ft is not that long. Just looking at the video it seems a little sluggish, the tail never comes up much and it seems to try to lift off when a little slow and the right wing descends then left wing and hits the ground. Just didnt look like fully enough flying speed. They said the engines ran fine, no problem there.
All survived,but some had burns getting out.
In looking at the video and talking to a few more folks, it really seems that the plane lifted off in a near 3 point attitude and before full flying speed was reached, thus the wings dropped first right then left. Is this a matter of being heavily loaded, maybe a cg near the rear limit, or just pilot technique? I dont see any mention of wind gust. The accident report says the plane was only about half way down the 5000 ft runway.
One expert DC3 checkpilot says he always tells pilot to ease the wheel forward as the takeoff roll starts to bring the tail up and make it more in the wind and more effective. That doesnt seem to be the case here, and I dont see up elvator but its not that clear in the video. And I am not any DC3 pilot at all so can only pass on what others offer.
So glad that no one was lost in this accident.
Pilot taxied the AC out and got line up. Co-pilot was supposed to take off. Co-pilot started roll started drifting off, pilot called "I have the aircraft!" and the rest is history.