Statuts:	Enquête Officielle
Date:	18 NOV 1979
Heure:	04:56 MST
Type/Sous-type:	Lockheed L-188CF Electra
Compagnie:	Transamerica Airlines
Immatriculation:	N859U
Numéro de série:	2016
Année de Fabrication:	1960
Heures de vol:	41764
Moteurs:	4 Allison 501-D13
Equipage:	victimes: 3 / à bord: 3
Passagers:	victimes: 0 / à bord: 0
Total:	victimes: 3 / à bord: 3
Dégats de l'appareil:	Perte Totale
Conséquences:	Written off (damaged beyond repair)
Lieu de l'accident:	Salt Lake City, UT (Etats-Unis d'Amérique)
Phase de vol:	En vol (ENR)
Nature:	Cargo
Aéroport de départ:	?
Aéroport de destination:	Las Vegas-Nellis AFB, NV (LSV/KLSV), Etats-Unis d'Amérique
Numéro de vol:	18

Détails:
Flight 3N18 departed Hill AFB for an IFR cargo flight to Nellis AFB. While climbing from FL120 to FL130 the crew reported loss of electrical power and requested no-gyro vectors to visual flight conditions and immediate descent clearance. During the descent the aircraft attained a high airspeed and high rate of descent and disintegrated in flight.

PROBABLE CAUSE: "A progressive failure in the aircraft's electrical system leading to the disabling or erratic performance of some critical flight instruments and flight instrument lighting while the flight was operating in night instrument meteorological condition. As a result of these conditions, the flight crew could not resolve the instrumentation anomalies to determine proper aircraft attitude reference, and became disoriented and lost control of the aircraft. The crew's efforts to regain control of the aircraft imposed aerodynamic loads which exceeded design limits of the aircraft and caused it to break up in flight."

Sources:
» NTSB-AAR-80-11