Page:CAB Accident Report, Eastern Air Lines Flight 21.pdf/23

 station at Atlanta and acknowledged it correctly. Nor is it clear whether the altimeter being used during the instrument approach was incorrectly set or was not functioning properly. However, in any event, it was the responsibility of Captain Perry, by virtue of his position as captain in charge of the flight, to conduct it in accordance with the highest degree of care which certainly would include cross-checking the two altimeters to determine if both were correctly set and functioning properly. Such a check would have been a simple matter, for if both instruments were registering the correct altitude the difference between the two readings would have closely approximated the height above sea level of the Atlanta Airport, or 985 feet. If the airport altimeter had read so incorrectly as to result in operations at an altitude at least 800 feet below normal during the instrument approach, the two instruments would have registered very nearly the same altitude. Thus, it must be concluded that Captain Perry failed in his duty of adequately checking the instrument prior to placing complete reliance on it during his approach.

Although Captain Perry by virtue of his position was primarily responsible for the safe conduct of the flight, Eastern is not without responsibility. Investigation into operating procedures revealed that Eastern did not have a definitely established cockpit procedure in which the captain and the pilot checked with each other in the setting of various navigation instruments and the operation of cockpit controls. It is the responsibility of airlines as common carriers of persons, property and mail in the exercise of the highest degree of care to take cognizance of the fact that perfection has not yet been achieved either