Date:	Wednesday 19 July 1995
Time:	10:50
Type:	Douglas C-47A-75-DL (DC-3C)
Owner/operator:	N.F. Stadler
Registration:	N54NA
MSN:	19475
Year of manufacture:	1944
Total airframe hrs:	16700 hours
Engine model:	Pratt & Whitney R-1830-92
Fatalities:	Fatalities: 1 / Occupants: 2
Aircraft damage:	Destroyed, written off
Category:	Accident
Location:	near Independence, NY -   United States of America
Phase:	En route
Nature:	Ferry/positioning
Departure airport:	Elmira Regional Airport, NY (ELM/KELM)
Destination airport:	Kansas City Downtown Municipal Airport, MO (MKC/KMKC)
Investigating agency:	NTSB
Confidence Rating:	Accident investigation report completed and information captured

Narrative:
The airplane departed Bennington July 3 on a ferry flight to El Paso. A ferry permit, valid for 10 days, had been issued for the planned flight as the aircraft was being flown for delivery to Jet Air Express Inc.
The airplane landed in Elmira with a no. 2 engine problem, caused by a broken connecting rod. A new engine was installed and on July 18 the right engine was started and a test flight was made. The following day, a second ferry permit was issued and the airplane departed the Elmira-Corning Regional Airport, about 1040 LT. While cruising at 2,500 feet the no. 2 engine backfired. The propeller couldn't be feathered and the pilot couldn't maintain altitude.
At 11:00 LT the right horizontal stabilizer struck a tree about 25 feet above the ground, and the airplane impacted the ground about 100 feet beyond.
The last annual maintenance inspection was performed in 1989. Except for three maintenance flights conducted in June, 1995, the airplane had not flown for 5 years.

PROBABLE CAUSE: "The loss of engine power for undetermined reasons, and the pilot's shutdown of the wrong engine, which resulted in a forced landing and collision with trees. "

Aviation Week & Space Technology 28.8.95(6)
ICAO Adrep Summary 5/95 (#66)
NTSB

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