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History of the Flight
PCA Trip 143 was scheduled to depart Knoxville, Tennessee, on April 16, 1941, at 1:25 p.m. (CST) and was scheduled to make intermediate stops at Bristol, Tennessee; Charleston, West Virginia; and Clarksburg, West Virginia; and the terminal stop at Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Prior to departure from Knoxville, Captain Wright prepared a flight plan for the route to be flown.
The 12:35 p.m. (CST) weather sequence reports issued by the United States Weather Bureau indicated that the weather along the entire route from Knoxville to Pittsburgh was well above the minimums prescribed by the Civil Aeronautics Administration and set forth in the PCA operation manual.
The flight, which had been previously cleared by the PCA dispatcher at Pittsburgh, departed from the Knoxville loading ramp on schedule at 1:25 p.m. (CST) and proceeded in a routine manner to Bristol, Tennessee, approximately 100 miles from Knoxville, and then to Charleston, West Virginia, approximately 150 miles from Bristol. Just prior to arriving at Charleston, Captain Wright switched the fuel tank selector valve to the right main tank, which was then full. The flight landed at Charleston at 4.17 p.m. (EST). Upon arrival at the loading ramp the aircraft was serviced with 35 gallons of gasoline. The right main tank was refilled with 5 gallons and the other 30 gallons were placed in the left main tank. This brought the fuel on board to an estimated 203 gallons. Captain Wright and First Officer Riley testified that while Trip 143
