c/n 595
N1433Z at the Rust dock, Lake Hood.
Photos: Neil Aird © 12 September 1995
N1433Z visits Vancouver's Coal Harbour.
Photo: Aknobu Okuda © Date unknown - Aird Archives
N1433Z on the ramp at Renton, WA.
Photo: Kenneth I. Swartz © 11 June 1977
N1433Z parked at Renton - note tall Jobmaster fins.
Photos: Ian M. Macdonald ©
N1433Z at Renton, still in military fatigues.
Photo: Ian M. Macdonald ©

c/n 595

53-2802

N1433Z

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53-2802 US Army #1345. L-20 No: 346. Command A-4. Delivered 18-Jan-1954. Built as L-20A and re-designated U-6A in 1962.

Note wore motto “Vigilantia Ad Finem” (Vigilance to the end) which is the motto of the 15th Military Intelligence Battalion. This was noted at Davis Monthan

The symbolism of the badge is as follows: Oriental blue and silver gray are the colors used for Military Intelligence. The winged sphinx, symbolic of all-seeing and continually watchful, refers to the battalion's air reconnaissance support mission and also connotes the unit's motto "Vigilantia Ad Finem: (Vigilance to the End). The overlapping disks simulate camera lenses and allude to the stereoscopic capabilities provided by the organization in its performance of reproduction, identification and packaging of aerial imagery. The flames are indicative of heat sensoring devices, wisdom and zeal.

53-2802 Stored at MASDC, Davis Monthan AFB, AZ. 20-Feb-1972 to 11-Feb-1976. PCN (Product Control Number) HS190 As this is a USAF code presumably transferred to the USAF inventory. Declared excess on 04-Oct-1974

N1433Z Morgan Manufacturing Inc., Petaluma, CA. Regd 11-Feb-1976.

Note: Purchased by Morgan at the Davis Monthan auction sale on 29-Jan-1976.for US$17,000. Purchased on the basis of “no reasonable potential for normal certification”. Total time 4,784.3 hours. Engine 2,760.3 hours. Comments at time of auction: Problem to move one main wheel and tire missing, elevator also missing.

N1433Z Beaver Two, Petaluma, CA. Dates currently unknown. Possibly regd Mar-1976.

N1433Z Dr. J. Eufemio, Kodiak, AK. Regd Jan-1979.

N1433Z Registration pending Sep-1992.

Note: Kenmore conversion.

N1433Z Henry B. Rust / Rust Properties / Rust’s Flying Service Inc. / Rustair, Lake Hood / Anchorage, AK. On USCAR at 03-Feb-1990. Regd Dec-1992.

Accident: Whittier, Alaska, 17-Sep-1994. The float equipped de Havilland DHC-2 Beaver airplane, N1433Z, registered to and operated by Rust's Flying Service of Anchorage, Alaska collided with terrain while landing in a small harbour area of the Culross passage, approximately 18 miles east of Whittier, Alaska. The commercial certificated pilot-in-command and his five revenue passengers were not injured and the airplane was substantially damaged. The on-demand revenue flight conducted under 14 CFR Part 135, last departed Anchorage and the intended destination was the area in which the accident occurred. The pilot reported that visual meteorological conditions prevailed and a company flight plan was in effect. Due to large ocean swells in the Culross channel, the pilot elected to land in a small harbour adjacent to the channel. The pilot reported that during the landing run-out, the plane encountered a tailwind that extended the water run. As the airplane travelled abeam a break in the shoreline at the harbour entrance, it was hit by an unexpected gust of wind from the right which effectively put the plane in a right turn. All efforts to control the turning (full left rudder, flaps up, water rudders down, throttle idle) were to no avail and the plane impacted a beach area at the north end of the harbour, bow first. All right side float struts were broken and the fuselage was essentially resting upon the right float.ANC94LA142.

Accident: Telequana Pass, 48 mi. NW of Port Alsworth, Alaska. 09-Sep-1998. The float equipped airplane, N1433Z, sustained substantial damage when it impacted mountainous terrain about 3,600 feet msl near Telequana Pass, Alaska. The pass is about 48 miles north-northwest of Port Alsworth, Alaska. The commercial pilot and the four passengers sustained fatal injuries. The flight was operated by Rust's Flying Service, Inc., of Anchorage, Alaska. The flight was conducted under 14 CFR Part 135 as an on-demand air taxi transporting hunters from the Lake Hood seaplane base in Anchorage, to a hunting lodge on the Hoholitna River, about 190 miles west of Anchorage. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed at the time of the accident, and a company VFR flight plan was in effect.

The accident airplane was the third of three company airplanes crossing the mountain pass, spaced between three and five miles apart. The pilots described the cloud ceilings as 4,500 feet msl at the 3,300 feet msl pass, with five miles visibility. The pilots of the first two airplanes told the NTSB investigator-in-charge (IIC) that they were in radio contact with the pilot of the accident airplane as they crossed through the pass, and then lost radio contact as they descended below the steep terrain. Both lead pilots indicated they believed it was due to terrain, and that when they continued to the west and still were not able to make contact with the airplane, they assumed the pilot had turned around because he saw something he did not like, and was attempting another route. The first two pilots arrived at their destination and noted that the accident airplane had not arrived. They waited about one hour, then continued along their scheduled routes. They told the NTSB IIC that they were concerned when the accident pilot did not arrive, and asked the lodge owner to notify the company if the airplane had not arrived within one hour of their departure. The air taxi company owner told the NTSB IIC that they never received a call from the lodge telling them the airplane had not arrived. At 12:35, the Alaskan Air Command Rescue Co-ordination Centre (RCC) began a search after search and rescue satellites received an Emergency Locator Transmitter (ELT) signal on 121.5 MHz. At 14:00, the National Park Service dispatched an airplane from Port Alsworth to search for the ELT at the request of RCC. At 15:00 the search airplane heard a signal on 121.5 MHz coming from the canyon where the wreckage was discovered. Due to low ceilings and visibility, the airplane pilot requested a helicopter be used to search the canyon. At 18:25, the wreckage was located by the crew of an Alaska Air National Guard helicopter.

N1433Z Reported as had been scrapped 10-Sep-1998. Canx 02-Jun-1999 as written off.

N1433Z Kenmore Air Harbor, Kenmore, Washington. Regd 13-Nov-2002.

Stored ?

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