Remarks: The Jumbo prop, I spoke to the owner and he told me by middle next year the plane will be flying and then it will be the only one of its kind still flying
Remarks: Rare photo of both Ansett Airlines ATL-98 Carvairs awaiting sale at Tullamarine in 1974. VH-INK is at left and VH-INM is at right. VH-INK was built as a DC-4 in 1946 and converted to a Carvair in 1965. She joined the Ansett fleet in 1964 and served for nine years. Sadly, as N898AT she crashed at the Nixon Fork Mine near McGrath, Alaska on 30May2007. Both crew survived with minor injuries. VH-INM was the 21st and last DC-4 converted to a Carvair. She is now stored at Rand Johannesburg, without engines.
Remarks: If you look closely you can see that Sean is looking at the crowd smiling as he rolls out of a roll after cutting the third ribbon at Thunder Over Michigan 2007
Remarks: On 30 May 2007, ATL-98 Carvair N898AT, one of only two flying examples of this type left in the world, crashed near McGrath Alaska. It happened at Nixon Fork Mine near McGrath, Alaska. The strip is notorious. There is a hill at the south end of the runway which forces everyone to land to the south. The winds are treacherous and unpredictable. As they were approaching to land, they had a tail wind and were trying to come in as slow as possible. They caught a down draft and clipped the end of the runway with the right main and the rest is self explanatory. You won't believe this but this is the second Carvair to crash up there. Along with a DC-6, DC-4 and a CASA. Upon impact the right wing separated from the fuselage. It remained on the airstrip and burnt, while the rest of the aircraft continued to slide across the strip making a nearly 180-degree turn, and then rolled down the runway embankment. There it came to rest, completely wrecked and with the nose pointing in the direction it came from. The cargo, consisting of 3,000 gallons of fuel in fuel bladders, remained intact. The accident happened around 12:00 local time. Fortunately, neither Roger Brooks or F/O Jonathan Hathaway were injured in the crash. (Nikon D70)
Remarks: This particular aircraft was the twenty first and last Carvair to roll off the line. It first flew in July 1968 and then delivered to Ansett as VH-INM "Kasby II". She flew in Australia until 1976 when she became N54596 and was WFU and stored at Singapore. Two New Zealand registrations were then allocated to her, ZK-EKZ with Nationwide Air and ZK-NWB with Pacific Aero Lift, but neither of these were taken up and, at the end of 1978, she found herself again being WFU and stored, this time at Hamilton, New Zealand. In 1990 she was re-registered as N5459M with Hawaii Pacific Air and, after an initial spell of storage, spent the next six years earning her keep in the Pacific until, at the end of 1996, she made what would probably be her last long journey when she flew to South Africa and was again WFU and stored, this time at Wonderboom. In early 2002 she was purchased by Phoebus Apollo and given her current registration. In 2006 we see her stored at Rand, still with Phoebus Apollo, and with talk of a restoration to flying condition, although at the time of my visit there was a lot of work still to be done if these rumours were to become reality.
