Page:CAB Accident Report, United Airlines Flight 16.pdf/6

 In accordance with its policy of cooperation with State governments, the Board granted to the Utah State Aeronautics Commission the opportunity to participate in the hearing. While, due to illness, the Chairman of the Commission, Mr. W. D. Hammond, was unable to attend any of the sessions, Mr. George Abbott appeared at only one session, the Vice Chairman of the Commission, Mr. Preston G. Petersen, and the Director of the Commission, Mr. Joseph S. Bergin, were present at almost all sessions of the hearing and participated in the questioning of witnesses.

All the evidence available to the Board at that time was presented at the hearing. One hundred and thirty-seven exhibits were introduced and seventy-eight witnesses testified, including personnel of United, the United States Weather Bureau, the War Department, the Civil Aeronautics Administration, the Civil Aeronautics Board, and other experts in the various technical subjects involved in the investigation.

The Examiners, the representatives of the Safety Bureau, and the Members and Director of the Utah State Aeronautics Commission, were the only ones designated to ask questions directly of any witness. However, the Associate Examiner, acting under instructions of the Board, announced at the opening of the hearing that any person who had any evidence, questions, or suggestions to present for consideration in the proceeding might submit them in writing to the Examiners. Over 300 such questions were submitted and, at the close of the hearing, the Presiding Examiner announced that every question had been asked except in a few instances when the subject-matter of the question had previously been covered by the testimony or when the question was clearly inappropriate to the type of proceeding being conducted. In the course of the

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