Page:CAB Accident Report, United Airlines Flight 21.pdf/63

 flight permits, must make certain that it is conducted in accordance with the Civil Air Regulations. Pertinent in this case are the regulations forbidding an air carrier aircraft from landing or taking off from any airport along the route except under weather conditions above certain ceiling and visibility minimums set forth in the weather letter of competency issued to the air carrier operator by the Civil Aeronautics Administration. In the case of the Chicago Municipal Airport, the night landing minimums are a ceiling 400 feet and visibility of one mile. In addition, the Civil Air Regulations forbid the dispatch of an air carrier aircraft into any known or possible icing condition unless equipped with approved de-icing equipment" ... adequate to assure the safety of the flight under the particular conditions to be encountered".

In accordance with the Civil Air Regulations and company procedure, two dispatch clearances were necessary for United 21 between New York and Chicago. The flight was cleared from New York to Cleveland by the United dispatcher at LaGuardia Field and the clearance contained all the required weather and other information. It also appears that the airplane was properly loaded and had ample fuel for the flight. The clearance from Cleveland to Chicago was made by the Chicago dispatcher by radio and a copy of the clearance, signed by a United employee at Cleveland on behalf of the Chicago dispatcher, shows that the latest weather information was available to Captain Scott. Here again it appears that the airplane was properly loaded and serviced and was in proper operating condition when it was cleared.

The dispatcher's duty of furnishing the pilot with current weather information was apparently well performed during the flight between Cleveland and Chicago, for it appears from company radio logs that during flight Captain