# 1996 Texel Douglas DC-3 crash

The 1996 Texel Douglas DC-3 crash occurred on September 25, 1996, when the Douglas DC-3 aircraft, nicknamed "Dakota" and registered as PH-DDA, operated by the Dutch Dakota Association (DDA), crashed into the Wadden Sea. The accident resulted in the loss of all 32 occupants on board. The incident is known as the "Dakota disaster" (Dutch: Dakotaramp) in the Netherlands and Belgium.

## Accident

The flight, from Schiphol to the Texel International Airport and back, was part of an outing for the staff of the Roads, Traffic, and Transport department of the province of Noord-Holland, and some employees of DDA sponsor Ballast Nedam. On the return trip from Texel to Schiphol, the left engine failed over the Wadden Sea. The crew could not feather the propeller of this engine. Just before 5:00 PM local time, the aircraft crashed on the sandbank Lutjeswaard, north of Den Oever, 18 kilometers from Den Helder. The crash resulted in the death of 31 occupants, including the six-member crew. One passenger died on the way to the hospital.

## Aircraft

The aircraft was built in 1943 as a military transport aircraft (version C-47A-70DL) and was delivered to the US Air Force in the same year. After World War II, it was converted into a passenger aircraft. In 1976, the aircraft was used in the filming of the movie A Bridge Too Far about Operation Market Garden. It was registered in the Dutch Aircraft Register on January 10, 1984, under number 3318.

## Cause

The Netherlands Aviation Safety Board conducted an investigation into the cause. The final report was published in December 1997. It revealed that the aircraft had experienced problems before. Further investigation showed that the oil pump of one of the engines had become blocked, causing that engine to fail. A DC-3 does not have a warning system for oil pump malfunctions.
The exact reason why the aircraft crashed has never been fully determined. A DC-3 can fly on one engine, though with reduced power. The propeller of the failed engine must be feathered, but it likely could not be done because a small piston in an oil pressure switch had become stuck.
The workload of the crew was increased due to multiple technical issues and the unfortunate layout of the Dakota's instrument panel. The crew was likely so focused on feathering the propeller that they paid insufficient attention to flying the aircraft. The precise sequence of events in the cockpit cannot be reconstructed as the aircraft was not equipped with a cockpit voice recorder or a flight data recorder.

## Consequences

The rules in the Netherlands for flying historical aircraft were tightened after the accident. Since then, the DDA fleet has operated under normal European JAR-OPS regulations, which also apply to regular civil aviation. One of the relatives filed a complaint against the DDA and accused Martin Schröder of having a certified engine from the crashed aircraft replaced with an uncertified engine, so that the certified engine could be installed in another DC-3, painted in the historical colors of Schröder's Martinair. Schröder filed a defamation complaint. The accusation was eventually withdrawn. In 2019, the aviation authorities awarded the DDA an AOC (Air Operator Certificate), making it a fully-fledged commercial aviation organization.

## Memorials

In the garden of the Provincial House in Haarlem, there is a monument in memory of the victims. It was unveiled on September 25, 1997, by two chaplains of the Royal Netherlands Navy who assisted the relatives after the disaster. The monument, commissioned by the province of Noord-Holland and created by sculptor Theo Mulder, consists of a pedestal of basalt, a glass plate with the names of the victims, and a sculpture of bronze wings.
On the same day, a monument was also unveiled at Texel International Airport, consisting of a bronze sculpture of a DC-3 above a silhouette of the island of Texel executed in stainless steel.