Status:	Final
Date:	22 JUN 1980
Time:	13:59 EST
Type:	Lockheed L-1049H Super Constellation
Operator:	Air Traders International
Registration:	N74CA
C/n / msn:	4850
First flight:	1959
Engines:	4 Wright R-3350-42
Crew:	Fatalities: 2 / Occupants: 3
Passengers:	Fatalities: 1 / Occupants: 5
Total:	Fatalities: 3 / Occupants: 8
Airplane damage:	Written off
Airplane fate:	Written off (damaged beyond repair)
Location:	1,4 km (0.9 mls) SW of Columbus Municipal Airport, IN (CLU) (United States of America)
Phase:	Initial climb (ICL)
Nature:	Ferry/positioning
Departure airport:	Columbus Municipal Airport, IN (CLU/KBAK), United States of America
Destination airport:	Seattle/Tacoma International Airport, WA (SEA/KSEA), United States of America

Narrative:
The aircraft crashed into a soybean field shortly after take-off from runway 22.

PROBABLE CAUSE: "The flight crew's inadequate and uncoordinated response to the No 2 engine fire warning. The flight engineer failed to correct a gradual power decay on the other engines which occurred while he was retarding the No 2 engine throttle, and the power decay went uncorrected by the pilot and co-pilot. The lack of co-ordination and the lack of corrective action may have been caused by the lack of recent flight crew experience in the L-1049 aircraft.
Contributing to the accident was the aircraft's over maximum take-off weight, the crew's use of less than full power for take-off, and the use of less than take-off cowl flaps which precluded adequate engine cooling."

Sources:
» NTSB