Page:CAB Accident Report, 1945 Page Airways Accident.pdf/5



A 100-hour engine inspection, as required by CAA, had been performed by certificated Page Airways personnel when Page acquired the aircraft. According to company testimony the next 100-hour check was likewise carried out. This failure was of such a nature that it would not necessarily have been discovered during the course of a 100-hour inspection which does not involve disassembly. It should have been discovered during the course of a overhaul. It is not possible to determine whether the crack had started previously or occurred suddenly during the take-off when conditions most conducive to such a failure existed.

Page Airways was engaged in carrying revenue passengers primarily between Rochester, N.Y., and Miami, Florida, in what company personnel termed a "non-scheduled charter service." Lockheed NC 33328 had been flown approximately 160 hours during the 35 days it had been in Page Airways possession. This time was accumulated almost entirely between upper New York State and Miami. The accident occurred on the return portion of the tenth round trip.

The drainage ditch previously mentioned is on airport property and is about 66 feet wide and about 15 feet deep with a concrete lined section at the bottom 18 feet wide by 4 feet deep. It is 98 feet from the end of Runway 33 to the near side of this ditch which does not have a raised edge or other distinguishing characteristic. Close to the edge of the ditch are standard colored conical airport boundary markers, placed about 250 feet apart, which definitely mark the limit of the usable area. They are suitably conspicuous but do not warn of the declivity beyond. Although Captain Decker had flown in and out of National Airport on a number of occasions he testified that he was unaware of the existence of this ditch and stated that he could have prevented the accident had he known it was there. This ditch, although beyond the marked limits of the field, constitutes a hazard to an overshooting aircraft and probably contributed to the seriousness of this accident.

Captain Becker's testimony that the aircraft yawed to the left at the time of the power interruption is inconsistent with loss of power of the right engine. However, this can be explained by the strong and unusually gusty wind which prevailed at the time. During the period

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