- 5 -
full-feathering propellers. This model aircraft and its equipment had been approved by the Civil Aeronautics Administration for air carrier operation over routes flown by Eastern with 21 passengers and a crew of three. The airplane had been certificated for operation with a standard weight of 24,400 pounds and a provisional weight of 25,200 pounds, without de-icer equipment. At the time of the departure of Trip 5 from Washington, D. C., the weight of the airplane was 25,156 pounds.[1]
The airplane and its equipment had received the overhauls, periodic inspections, and checks which are provided for in company practice and approved by the Civil Aeronautics Administration.
History of the Flight
Eastern's Trip 5 of October 9, 1941, originating at LaGuardia Field, New York, New York, and operating as a scheduled air carrier flight from New York to Miami, Florida, with scheduled intermediate stops at Washington, D. C., Charleston, South Carolina, Jacksonville, Florida, and West Palm Beach, Florida, was due to depart LaGuardia Field at 9:00 p.m. and took off at approximately 9:05 p.m.
Prior to departure from LaGuardia Field, the captain, with the dispatcher and meteorologist, made a study of the weather conditions prevailing over the route. He then prepared a flight plan for the first leg of the flight to Washington, D. C., which called for cruising at 4000 feet contact. The flight arrived at Washington at approximately 10:30 p.m. The flight over that portion of the route was described as routine.
Another flight plan was prepared at Washington National Airport, Washington, D. C., for the next leg of the flight to Charleston, South Carolina. This flight plan called for cruising at 6000 feet. Authorization for instrument flight was approved by Airway Traffic Control[2] at Washington with Raleigh, North Carolina, and Savannah, Georgia, as alternates. At the time of departure from Washington, 10:50 p.m., the airplane carried a fuel supply of 800 gallons of gasoline and 44 gallons of oil, which was sufficient to permit flight at normal cruising power to Charleston and thereafter for about five hours and twenty minutes,
- ↑ The "standard weight" of an airplane is the maximum allowable weight for landing, while the "provisional weight" of an airplane is the maximum allowable weight for take-off. When an airplane takes off with a weight in excess of the designated standard weight, the weight of the airplane must be reduced by gasoline consumption, prior to arrival at its next scheduled stop, to the extent necessary to bring it within the standard weight for landing. If sufficient gasoline had not been consumed between time of take-off and any emergency landing, gasoline can be dumped by the use of tested and approved dump valves in order to reduce the total weight to the approved weight for landing. At the time of the accident the weight of the airplane had been reduced since its departure from Washington, D. C., to well below its authorized standard weight.
- ↑ The Airway Traffic Control staff, a part of the Civil Aeronautics Administration, regulates the flow of traffic over a civil airway during instrument weather conditions in order to eliminate the possibility of collision between aircraft. Before flying on a civil airway under instrument weather conditions, approval must be secured from Airway Traffic Control for the flight, including the altitude at which it is to be flown.
