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showed that the right wing tip had dragged along the ground.
At a point about 69-1/2 feet beyond the point of initial contact it was apparent from measurements that the aircraft had left the ground for a distance of about 700 feet. Its next contact with the ground occurred on the opposite, or northwest, side of the runway, indicating that the airplane had continued its general direction of flight after making first contact with the ground. After making its second contact with the ground the airplane continued to turn to the right and a short distance later, this turn developed into an acute right groundloop.
The right wheel was a Bendix, Type B-3, and was of the same physical dimensions as the Bendix, Type B-1, which it had replaced. The left wheel was the B-1 type. The Type B-3 wheel had been in use for 1188 hours prior to the accident, and had given no trouble. The major difference in the two types is that the B-3 is of aluminium alloy and the B-1 of magnesium alloy. The B-3 type of wheel is used extensively by various airlines.
The tire on the right wheel was a Goodrich of standard size, 1700 x 16, Type R-8. At the time of the accident it had had a total time of 570 hours. The records of Eastern do not indicate that it had ever been damaged, nor that it had ever been retreaded. As the average life of such tires in ordinary use is somewhat in excess of 1000 hours, it is apparent that the subject tire should not have been in a badly worn condition.
The sequence of breakage following first contact (the tire first and then the wheel) is indicated by the finding of a piece of the tire casing at a considerable distance, approximately abeam of the point at which that tire first touched the ground. If the wheel had broken first, the pressure in the tire would undoubtedly have been relieved by the inner tube blowing inward radially from the casing. In this event it is very improbable that small pieces of the casing would have been blown laterally as was the small piece that was found.
The National Bureau of Standards on November 22, 1941, submitted a report to the Board on the examination of the tire and wheel from NC 19970. In summarizing their report, the Bureau stated that there was no evidence of defective material in the tire or tube or landing wheel. It was their opinion that the tire struck the ground with sufficient force to crush the tire. This allowed the tire to deflate suddenly. Further damage to the tire and tube and the damage to the wheel occurred after and as a result of the failure of the tire.
The subject runway was slightly crowned and was being widened on its northwest side. The height of the crown was negligible and could not have contributed substantially to the right wheel striking first. The construction work had no bearing on the accident.
Conduct of the Flight
There appears to be no question but that the flight was properly dispatched from New York, New York, to Washington, D. C., and from Washington, D. C., to Charleston, South Carolina. When it became apparent to Eastern's dispatcher at LaGuardia Field that the visibility at the Charleston airport had decreased below 1/2 mile he immediately cleared the flight to Jacksonville via Savannah, and in so doing provided Captain Cann with two alternate airports should the visibility at Savannah and Jacksonville fall below the minimums
