Page:CAB Accident Report, Western Air Lines Flight 636.pdf/5

 was on or not. When about five minutes out she sensed what she thought was the beginning of a gradual descent. She said she thought the aircraft had some degree of flap owing to the sound of the slipstream, and at this time she heard a decrease in power such as she was accustomed to hearing in the course of a normal landing. She then heard and felt what she presumed to be the nose-wheel striking the runway though she thought it was too soon to be landing at Oakland. Miss Nelson said she was in the water for about one hour before her rescue.

The passenger, Vilas F. Adams, stated that the takeoff from San Francisco was normal and that he could see the lights on both sides of the bay. When over the water, he said, the aircraft banked to the right and headed for Oakland. After about two minutes, Mr. Adams stated that he was still looking at the lights ashore and judged the aircraft to be about 500 feet high. Then, the next thing he noticed was that "we were about 20 feet off the water — and it appeared that we were below the lights, like we were under them." He then said that in "maybe 15 seconds" the aircraft was down about 10 feet. Following this, he said he unfastened his seat belt and stood up, whereupon the crash occurred, accompanied by a blinding flash. Mr. Adams also stated that the flight was well below the clouds at all times and that the surface of the water appeared smooth. No turns nor abnormal maneuvers were made, after the right turn to get on course, according to the witness. The wings were level, he said, with the nose slightly down. There was no backfiring nor coughing of the engines and they were all running smoothly at the time of impact, he added. Mr. Adams estimated that he was an the water about 50 minutes before his rescue.

Complete disintegration of the cabin allowed Miss Nelson to step out of the rear section of the cabin and into the water, and Mr. Adams was thrown out as the cabin broke open on impact.

The rescuing helicopters reported that at 2330 there were scattered to broken clouds in the area of the crash scene at about 400-500 feet, and that it was necessary to descend from their cruising altitude of 600 feet in order to stay clear of clouds, at which altitude the visibility was about two miles. In the immediate vicinity of the crash scene, at altitudes of 300 feet and below, visibility improved and lights on both sides of the Bay were plainly visible. The air was smooth below the overcast.

Crews of other flights operating trans-bay within the hour before and after the accident reported ceilings varying from 400 to 1,000 feet and visibilities 12 to 15 miles.

The pilot in command, Captain Clark, had a total of about 79 hours in Douglas DC-6B type aircraft and approximately two and three-quarters hours of instrument time thereon. He had recently been transferred to the Los Angeles-San Francisco route and had made 12 trips between San Francisco and Oakland. Whether these flights between these two places were made under VFR, IFR or Visual Trans-Bay could not be determined. He had been flying Douglas DC-4 and Convair 240 aircraft on his prior assignments. (See Supplemental Data)

From the testimony of the two survivors, it is apparent that the accident