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thich W35 appronmately parallel to but 8—11 miles west of the normal approach path from Rochelle to the alrport. Most of these mtnesses sad
the englnes sounded normal but as 1f the aarcraft were low. Several in the area of Whlte Hall, Crozet, and Afton heard the plane approachlng from the northeast. They mdlcated that from the sound the aircraft then made a turn from the southwesterly headlng to a northwesterly heading and proceeded in the directlon of Bucks Elbow Mountain. The dlrectlon of the turn was uncer— tain. One watness who described the turn and that after the turn the dimin— lBhJJlg englne sound stopped qulckly but that she heard no sound llke a crash. Another, closer to the 1:10th, heard the alrcraft proceed toward the mountam and at 20115 heard a sound llke an explosmn. Stlll another stated she had not heard the aircraft but did hear a sound like thunder of short duratlon. She placed the tme after 2035 and before 20140.
Analysis and Conclusions
Exammatlon of the wreckage of N 55 V revealed no endence of malfunctlon or failure of the alrframe or powerplants. There was no indicatlon of an :m« fllght fire, all magor components of the aircraft were located an the immedlate crash zone, and 1t was clearly endent that both engmes and propellers were capable of normal operatlon prlor to Jmpact. There was nothing found indlcat— 1ng that an emergency ex1sted before the acc1dent. These fmdlngs, reached by examnatlon of the avallable physchal endence, were substantlated by the observatlons of Mr. Bradleyo
For reasons hereinbefore enumerated, the Board 15 of the oplnlon that the soundpath developed from the descrlptlon by several groundwltnesses was made by Fllght 31:99 From the soundpath 1nformation 1t 15 apparent the air- craft approached the acoldent locatlon on a southwesterly course approxamately parallel to the prescrlbed :Lnstrument approach path from the Rochelle anter- sectlon to the Charlottesnlle homer, but 8 to 11 miles west of the normal track. The mformat10n shows that the southwesterly course was maintained to the Crozet area 10cated 8 to IL males abeam of the dealgnated area for the mstrument approach procedure turn. It 15 clearly apparent that m the Crozet area the fllght executed a turn from 1ts southwesterly headmg to a northwest— erly heading. By 1ts amount and 1ts north-south orientatlon, this turn was comcldent w1th the turmng portlon of the procedure turn mediate-1y prior to the inbound heading of 3,42 degrees.
After the turn the fllght flew northwest for, as near as can be deter— mined, a distance of two to four rules and crashed agaanst the alde of Bucks Elbow Mountain. It crashed on approxmlately the headlng of the mbound por- tion of the procedure turn w1th the landmg gear extended. The elevation of the crash, however, was appromately 1400 feet below the altltude spec1f1ed for the procedure turn.
From all thls evidence 1t 15 most apparent to the Board that the accldent took place whlle the general maneuverlng requlrements of the mstrument approach were being flown 8 to 11 males west of the de51gnated maneuvermg area pre- scrlbed for the approach.
Because it was apparent that the fllght flew a ground track well west of the deslred track, a major mvestlgatory effort was centered on the possibility
