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before or at about the same time he did. Under these circumstances it seems that Captain Powers was careless when, after taxiing out before the TWA plane to a point 700 feet from the loading ramp, he turned off his landing lights and remained headed into the wind and away from the loading ramp for approximately eight minutes without notifying Braniff ground personnel his position on the field and requesting them to notify TWA that he had not taken off.
Captain Boqua had allowed a reasonable time for the departure of Braniff Flight 2 when he taxied to the west end of the loading ramp for his take-off. Although the airport traffic rules forbade take-offs beginning within 300 feet of the loading ramp, the enforcement of these rules, as noted before, had been relaxed in the interest of safety during the construction program. Since it was necessary when taking off to the southeast to use the wet sod alongside the yet uncompleted northwest-southeast runway and since Captain Boqua was taking off with a heavily loaded ship, it seems that he exercised good judgment in seeking to take advantage of all available take-off area.
The Civil Air Regulations provide:
"A take-off shall not be commenced until there is no risk of collision with other aircraft during such take-off."[1]
The manifest object of this section is to prohibit the reckless operation of aircraft and to impose upon pilots the duty of exercising the care required by the circumstances in ascertaining whether or not there is risk of collision with other aircraft before commencing a take-off. Therefore, it was the duty of Captain Boqua to exercise reasonable care
- ↑ Civil Air Regulations, Section 60.3301
