Status:	Final
Date:	20 JUN 1996
Time:	14:08 CDT
Type:	Douglas DC-3A-S1C3G
Operator:	Loren Davis Ministries International
Registration:	N23WT
C/n / msn:	11650
First flight:	1943
Total airframe hrs:	51307
Engines:	2 Pratt & Whitney R-1830-92
Crew:	Fatalities: 0 / Occupants: 2
Passengers:	Fatalities: 0 / Occupants: 1
Total:	Fatalities: 0 / Occupants: 3
Airplane damage:	Destroyed
Airplane fate:	Written off (damaged beyond repair)
Location:	Cut and Shoot, TX (United States of America)
Phase:	En route (ENR)
Nature:	Training
Departure airport:	Conroe-Montgomery County Airport, TX (CXO/KCXO), United States of America
Destination airport:	Conroe-Montgomery County Airport, TX (CXO/KCXO), United States of America

Narrative:
The DC-3 was on a training flight when, at initial climb the co-pilot called for METO (maximum except takeoff) power. After the pilot-in-command set METO power, the left engine lost power. and the PIC took over control and called for the co-pilot to feather the no. 1 propeller, but the co-pilot didn't hear this call
At 90 knots airspeed and wings level, the airplane struck the top of a 55 foot tall hickory tree approximately 3,960 feet from the departure end of runway 14 and struck a trailer roof, trees, a small pickup truck, and power lines before coming to rest upright in a residential front yard 337 feet from the initial impact point.
The cockpit area and main fuselage burnt out.

PROBABLE CAUSE: "The flight instructors failure to use the single engine best angle of climb airspeed resulting in a loss of control of the aircraft. Factors were the loss of power to the left engine for undetermined reasons, the flight instructor not being qualified to be pilot in-command in the DC-3, his lack of recent experience in the DC-3, and the lack of suitable terrain for the forced landing."

Sources:
» ICAO Adrep Summary 2/97 (#76)
» Scramble 210