Page:CAB Accident Report, United Airlines Flight 16.pdf/21

 19 - CONDITION OF AIRPLANE AND EQUIPLINT IMEDIATELY PRIOR TO IMPACT During the investigation of the accident, the question necessarily arose as to whether any abnormal functioning by the airplane or its equipment had contributed to the accident. A thorough inspection was made of the wreckage of aircraft NC 16086 and a substantial amount of testimony was received at the hearing as to the results of this examination, It appears that all parts of the airplane were accounted for and that no parts were found along the flight path, thus leading to the conclusion that Nor did it apo no parts of the airplane failed and broke off during flight. pear that any control failure could have contributed to the accident, for while the control surfaces were badly damaged, the damage clearly occurred at the time of the impact, and while some of the control cables were broken, the ends were attached and the character of the breaks indicated that they also had occurred at that time, An examination of the engines and propellers re- vealed that the damage they had sustained, had occurred at the time of impact and the nature and extent of this dantage indicated that the engines and pro- pellers were functioning properly and at the reduced power which would have been nornal during a let-down procedure, A generous supply of fuel and oil was found in the tanks and engines, It seems clear that no radio failure cccurred prior to impact for the aircraft radio equipient, when removed from the scene of the accident and bench-tested, was found to be in remarkably good condition. After a few minor repairs and adjustments necessitated by darage obviously resulting from in- pact, all of the equipment functioned normally. The radio range receiver and the auxiliary receiver were found tuned to the Salt Lake City radio range,