- 3 -
Investigation
The pilots were not seriously hurt and it was therefore possible, from their testimony and that of the passengers, to reconstruct the flight's final approach with considerable accuracy. There were no eye-witnesses to the accident.
Investigation disclosed that Captain Marsh, a company Convair captain and check pilot, occupied the right-hand seat during this flight. His piloting experience was extensive with a total of nearly 14,000 hours, of which nearly 2,400 had been on Convairs. He testified that he had made an estimated five or six instrument approaches to LaGuardia each month during the preceding ten years.
First Officer Griggs was making the approach. His flying experience was also extensive. It included 2,800 hours as copilot on DC-3's, 300 as copilot on DC-4's, 124 as a company DC-3 captain, about 500 as a Navy DC-3 (R4D) captain, and 700 as copilot on convairs. His total piloting time was about 5,100 hours. At the time of this accident he was completing his sixth week flying as a Convair trainee-captain under the supervision of Captain Marsh. This was in accord with the company's policy of requiring a minimum of one month of such flying before copilots are eligible for upgrading. Because there was no captain vacancy immediately available, Briggs had continued in training at his own request. He had a total of 83 hours as a Convair trainee-captain, of which 66 hours had been during the last 30 days. According to the check pilot, Captain Marsh, he had satisfactorily completed his line flight training for Convairs. The company operation manual requires a minimum of 10 hours specialized training. This is completed after
