Page:CAB Aircraft Accident Report, Panagra Flight 9.pdf/6

 was unfastened his only recollection of the actual crash was described as, "I felt a loud noise and the ship shuddered. We seemed to hit something solid, and my first flash impression was that we hit a very bad bump, but I realized that couldn't be because the window on the left broke and some broken glass came by me, and then I must have gone blank." He stated that later he remembered hanging on to his seat very tightly and starting to move slightly to his right because the exit was to his right and behind him. He remembered crawling away from the flames which, as far as he could recall, were coming from the lefthand side of the fuselage. Mr. Howard remained at the scene with the wreckage until help arrived three days later.

The aircraft's course at the time of first contact with the mountain was estimated to have been in a somewhat westerly direction, in a laterally level but slightly climbing attitude. The major portion of the fuselage was completely burned, while portions of each wing lay badly broken in an inverted position among the rocks of the mountain. From the appearance of the rocks and the broken portions of the aircraft's right wing tip, it appears that the right wing contacted the mountain first, followed by the violent contact of the propellers and engines, with the complete mass of the aircraft cartwheeling up the mountain and coming to rest in an inverted position at a point approximately 450 feet beyond the point of first impact.

The engine gear assemblies were torn from each engine due to impact with the mountain. The gear units, however, remained intact as units and upon inspection were found to be free to rotate as assemblies, indicating no operational failure at this source.

The propellers were still secured to the engine propeller shafts, with the loading edge of each blade badly scarred and scuffed, and examination indicated that normal cruising power was being applies when the plane fist struck the mountain. Because no special tools were available at the scene of