Grasscargo Flight 261

Grasscargo Flight 261, a DC-8-61 crashed into terrain on approach to South Usuwi Airport's Runway 4. The incident occured on the 7th December 1991, killing everybody on board. The Grasslandic Transport Safety Board claimed that the cause of crash was that the crew weren't looking at the altitude indicator and the fact that they couldn't see how low they were out of the cockpit due to the fact that it was dark.

Aircraft
The aircraft was a DC-8-61. It was build in 1970, near the end of the DC-8's service. Grasscargo were planning to retire their DC-8s, and this was the 12th last flight of this aircraft.

Accident
The aircraft took off from Schiphol at 23:45. It was an uneventful flight until the approach. At 01:56 the aircraft turned from base to final. At 2 o'clock the aircraft was reported under glideslope so the captain pulled the nose up, and 20 seconds later, the aircraft started sinking again. Not long later, the captain pushed the nose down a bit. At this time they were at only 500 feet, when they were supposed to be at 700. The aircraft started losing altitude and at 112 feet the captain realised they were quite low but he just pulled the nose up again. At 150 feet they started to stall so the captain pulled the nose down. They descended down until they were just above the ground when the F/O took control of the aircraft and pulled the nose up, but at that time, it was too late. At 02:01, the aircraft hit the ground.

Aftermath
Upon impact the tail split off. Then the aircraft started banking right and hit the number 4 engine, causing it to explode. The aircraft started banking more, causing the wingtips to go on fire, melting them. Then the No. 3 engine exploded, causing the front of the fuselage, the remains of the right wing and most of theleft wing to seperate from the rear part of the fuselage. That area then climbed, and 5 seconds later, started to descend. It then stalled and hit the ground and exploded. Paramedics came minutes later.