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as he leveled out "the airplane started to act peculiarly and I knew something was the matterI yelled, 'Gear up', to the co-pilot, the idea being to keep all the speed I could possibly get, and I increased to full horsepower to fly straight ahead at 1500 feet until I could find out what was the matterthe airplane started to flutter or shake, and the controls worked hardI had difficulty turning the wheeland the yoke worked hard fore and aftAbout this time we must have settled, because I started seeing lights (probably of Moorhead), saw all the lights on the horizon, and I knew we were in a level position from the instruments, and from the fact that the lights were all on the horizon, and it was just a few seconds after that we crashedI don't remember anything from that time on" Captain Bates also stated that he had the carburetor temperature set at about 120 degrees and that when he "increased to full horsepower" the engines responded and he "got all the power that it had" He was unable to recall definitely whether he had pushed forward the propeller pitch controls (thus reducing pitch and increasing r p m) at the same time he opened the throttles, but he thought that he had
About the time Captain Bates leveled out at 1500 feet above sea level, the indicated air speed reached 90 m p h, but because of his earlier conclusion that the air-speed indicators were inoperative he disregarded this reading entirely
From the examination of the marks the airplane made on the ground, it appears that it struck the ground in an open field in almost a level attitude, with power on, and at a speed of approximately 90 m p h The tail wheel and the tips of the left and right propeller struck the ground almost simultaneously After making contact with the ground, the airplane proceeded forward on a bearing of 206 degrees magnetic and left marks of the propellers, the tail wheel, and the rear radio masts It then jumped over a ravine approximately 16 feet deep and 80 feet wide and struck the bank on the opposite side head-on It bounced over the top of this bank to come to rest on level ground just beyond it, right side up and on a bearing of 235 degrees magnetic The point at which the airplane came to rest is 1-1/4 miles north of Moorhead, about 2-1/2 miles east of Hecter Field the Fargo airport, and about 1/2 mile directly south of the centerline of the east leg of the Fargo radio range The east leg of the range, in the "A twilight" of which Captain Bates had been flying, has a magnetic bearing of 259 degrees
Investigation revealed only one eye-witness to the crash, Mr E M Gregory A short time prior to the accident he was driving south on United States Highway No. 75, which runs directly north and south and passes within a quarter of a mile west of the scene of the accident He first saw the airplane when he reached a point about 1-1/2 miles north of the scene of the accident. His attention was directed to it by the sound of motors which appeared to him to come from a point almost directly overhead, but on looking out the side window of his car to his left, he saw the lights of an airplane which he thought to be flying in an easterly direction less than a mile southeast of him At this time the airplane appeared to be flying at a normal altitude He proceeded on for approximately one mile when he saw the airplane again, directly through his front windshield, flying a few feet above the ground and a few seconds later he saw it crash It immediately burst into flames so that by the time he reached the airplane the heat from the fire, fanned by a northwest wind, prevented him from reaching the cabin door on the south side of the plane He was unable to testify as to the condition of the airplane at this time except to say that he believed that the nose of the airplane had been broken off He found Captain Bates, who probably had been catapulted from the cockpit at the time of impact with the bank of the ravine, close to the wreckage in a dazed and injured condition
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