Page:CAB Accident Report, Pennsylvania-Central Airlines Flight 143.pdf/16

 After the right engine and the right engine mount were transported to the National Bureau of Standards, Department of Commerce, Washington, D.C., a tear-down inspection of them was made. This inspection was supervised by representatives of the Safety Bureau and was witnessed by representatives of the National Bureau of Standards. The inspection revealed that there had not been any structural or mechanical failure of such a nature as to cause the engine to lose power. In fact, the engine was found to be in good mechanical condition. The ignition and lubrication systems were also found to be in satisfactory operating condition. The National Bureau of Standards, therefore, concluded that the engine had probably lost power because of either insufficient fuel or insufficient air, but was unable to determine positively which condition was responsible.

As noted previously, the airplane, after it was serviced at Charleston, had approximately 203 gallons of gasoline in its three tanks. Representatives of the Safety Bureau of the Board inspected the fuel system at the scene of the accident. They disconnected the gasoline supply line to the right engine at the carburetor and applied pressure to the fuel system by use of the hand-operated wobble pump. Under these circumstances a full normal flow of gasoline was obtained from each of the gasoline tanks. After the whole fuel system was checked, the gasoline was removed from the tanks and tests were run separately on samples taken from each tank. These tests showed that the gasoline in each of the tanks met the