Another "propliner" mystery....
Once upon a time... there was a DC-6 ETP-10025 of the Fuerza Aerea Mexicana reported at Santa Lucia AB,Mexico in sep93.
In 1995 it was reported as written off after an emergency landing while registered as HK-1776W for a company called LANC Columbia (DC-6A); date of accident: 22jul95.
JP Airline Fleets (1995 edition) offered its former identity: N11565 and the company (LANC Colombia) stationed at Cartagena. Their fleet also comprised DC-3 HK-2497 and Aerospatiale SE210 Caravelle HK-3948X.
Now pay attention...
Propliner magazine no.72 (1997), in an article by Steve Kinder, stated registration as HK-1776W and reported it as stored at Villavicencio,Colombia.... Steve's article "South American Serenade" described HK-1776W as "anonymous" and mentioned LANC as "apparently closed down".
So it was repaired after its crash ? And the titles were removed ?
HK-1776 was photographed in take off (testflight) at Villavicencio,Colombia by Chris Mak in Feb99, after 18 months of storage; the photo was published in Propliner no.78 (1999, p.9) . But the colourscheme is clearly different from HK-1776 below: though in B&W it shows a colourscheme of metallic with a single cheatline. It is clearly registered HK-1776 (with LANC Columbia titles), not HK-1776W. The cheatline is different than shown on the photo below, too.
HK-1776 overshot the runway after (again?) a testflight on 04jul99 with engine troubles: 5 (crew) dead and the DC-6 damaged beyond economic repairs.
Was HK-1776W repaired after its crash in 1995, only to crash again in 1999 ?
Here is the following theory: HK-1776W and HK-1776 are (were) different aircraft; HK-1776W may have been the ex/Mexican reregistered ETP-10025, while HK-1776 of LANC was another DC-6.

Questions:
DC-6A c/n 45499/1011 has been mentioned by various sources to be a candidate for either one of the above. But is it ETP-10025 / HK-1776W or HK-1776 ? And was HK-1776W a fake (officially not registered) registration, possibly applied for illegal or covert operations ?
Some sources seem to offer DC-6BF (c/n 45220) as a candidate for HK-1776, as N95BL (45220) vanished from sight in the early 1990s (last seen 1991); other sources claim N95BL was scrapped (at Miami) during those days. Or did N95BL get involved in illegal ops ? ETP-10025 had been impounded by the Mexicans (under which tailnumber, N95BL?) in the early 1990s and was put to good use by them as ETP-10025: was this DC-6 c/n 45220 and did this one end up as HK-1776W ???
A table provided byAero Transport Data Bank (ATDB) and additional info from Piston Engine Airliner Production List by TAHS, 2002 would have the following history for c/n 45499:
| CF-CPB | DC-6A | 45499 | Canadian AL Int'l / Lignes Aériennes Canadien Int'l | Delivered from manufacturer 29Jul58 | to Northwest Orient AL N11565 1959 |
| N11565 | DC-6A | 45499 | Northwest Orient AL (lease) | ex CF-CPB Canadian AL Int'l / Lignes Aériennes Canadien Int'l (ret Sep60) | to World Airways 01Jul61 |
| N11565 | DC-6A | 45499 | Continental Micronesia | leased from World Airways | Leased Sep 1968 & Returned |
| N11565 | DC-6A | 45499 | Merpati Nusantara AL | leased from Florida Aircraft Leasing (bt 1970) | Leased & Returned |
| N11565 | DC-6A | 45499 | Saber Air | leased from Florida Acft Lsng 1970 | Leased & Returned Apr71 |
| N11565 | DC-6A | 45499 | Florida Acft Lsng | Saber Air (lease) | to Air Adeah HH-20 (Dec.1971) |
| HH-20 | DC-6A | 45499 | Air Adeah | ex N11565 Flo.Acft Lsng | to Air Adeah HH-220 (rereg Jan.1972) |
| HH-220 | DC-6A | 45499 | Air Adeah named "Le Maron Inconnu" | ex HH-20 Air Adeah | to N11565 Florida Acft Lsng, ret Mar74 |
| HK-1776 | DC-6A | 45499 | TAMPA Colombia, bt 1975, named "Luis H.Coulson" | ex N11565 Florida AL | to Aeronorte (bt 1982) |
| HK-1776 | DC-6A | 45499 | Lineas Aéreas Suramericanas Colombia (date ? ntu ?) | ex N11565 Saber Air | to Transamazonica |
| HK-1776 | DC-6A | 45499 | Transamazonica Colombia (bt 1984) | ex N11565 Saber Air | to Private users in Colombia HK-1776W (rereg 1986) |
| HK-1776 | DC-6A | 45499 | LANC Colombia bt May 1994 | ex Transamazonica | to Lineas Aéreas Nacionales |
| HK-1776 | DC-6A | 45499 | Lineas Aéreas Nacionales | ex HK-1776 LANC Colombia | crashed upon landing Villavicencio 04Jul99 |
| HK-1776W | DC-6A | 45499? | Soexcarsab (date ?) | ex HK-1776 Transamazonica Colombia | to (date ?) Fuerza Aérea Mexicana ETP-10025 |
| ETP-10025 | DC-6A | 45499? | Fuerza Aérea Mexicana | ex HK-1776W, Private users in Colombia | Destroyed 22-07-95 enroute Puerto Inride-Puerto Lopez |
Image of HH-220
HK-1776 report on www.airdisaster.com
www.planecrashinfo.com
http://www.flugzeugbilder.de/show.php?id=129483
CIVIL AIRCRAFT REGISTER OF COLOMBIA: HK1776 DOUGLAS DC-6A (45499) 31/01/1975 -- SOCIEDAD EXPORTADORA DE CARNES DE LA SABANA DE BOGOTA LTDA. LINEAS AEREAS DEL NORTE DE COLOMBIA LTDA.
Comments and/or images will be welcomed!
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