I.
CONDUCT OF INVESTIGATION
An accident involving aircraft NC 1946 occurred in the vicinity of Las Vegas, Nevada, on January 16, 1942, about 7:20 p.m. (PST). The aircraft was being operated at the time in scheduled air carrier service between New York, New York, and Los Angeles, California, as Flight 3 of Transcontinental & Western Air, Inc., (hereinafter referred to as "TWA"). The accident resulted in fatal injuries to all of the 19 passengers and the crew of three and in destruction of the airplane.
The Washington office of the Civil Aeronautics Board (hereinafter referred to as the "Board") received notice of the accident about 11:15 p.m. The Board immediately initiated an investigation in accordance with the provisions of Section 702(a)(2) of the Civil Aeronautics Act of 1938, as amended (hereinafter referred to as the "Act"). An Air Safety investigator of the Board arrived at Las Vegas, Nevada, about 1:30 a.m., January 18, 1942, and immediately proceeded to the scene of the accident.[1] In the meantime, searching parties, including United States Army personnel and Deputy Sheriffs of Clark County, Nevada, commenced a search for the airplane. Because of the inaccessibility of the point at which the accident occurred, the wreckage was not reached until about 9:00 o'clock on the morning following the accident. The wreckage was placed under guard by deputy sheriffs until the following morning when a military guard was
- ↑ This investigator was contacted, early on the morning following the accident, at Amarillo, Texas, where he was enroute from Washington, D. C., to Los Angeles, California. He proceeded to Las Vegas by the most expeditious transportation available and reached the scene of the accident with the second party to arrive, consisting of Civil Aeronautics Administration inspectors, postal inspectors, TWA officials, civil officers and a military detachment.
