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over the instrument panel to take his seat. It would have taken only a small force to move this switch the short distance necessary to change it from "off" to "35°" and, furthermore, the switch knob rotates in the same direction of the rotation that would be taken by the first officer's foot as he was seating himself. The possibility of this theory was tried out in a similar aircraft and it was found that the switch could have been actuated in this manner.
The first officer observed the flap only slightly down at the start of the take-off. The navigator also observed the flaps only sightly down at the start of the take-off and he thought they were moving downward. When the wing was recovered after the accident, the flaps were in the 35° full-down position and all of the electrical flap operator mechanism indicated that the flaps were in the 35° position. The time required for the flaps to move from 0° to 35° about 30 seconds. The take-off time for the aircraft, under the subject conditions was approximately 30 accords. It seems, therefore, that the flap operating switch was actuated, by one means or another, at the start of the take-off run.
Findings
- The accident occurred during take-off approximately 7:05 p.m., local Botwood time, on October 3, 1942, resulting in fatal injuries to five members of the crew and six passengers, serious injury to three crew members and five passengers, and minor injuries to two crew members and fifteen passengers. One member of the crew escaped injury. The aircraft, a 39-passenger Vought-Sikorsky 44A flying boat, NC 41880, was completely demolished.
- The aircraft was being operated under a temporary airworthiness certificate issued by the Civil Aeronautics Administration pending issuance of type certificate for the subject model.
