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thrown clear of the fuselage during the slide, and another who jumped out of an emergency exit window after it popped open before the airplane came to a stop, remained in the fuselage in the vicinity of their seated locations throughout the crash sequence. Seat 14-CDE located at the fuselage break, was the only seat not found in the fuselage wreckage and was located 10 yards back along the crash path. All other seats remained in their relative original locations. Some passengers found themselves out of their seats following impact and several had difficulty unfastening their seat belts.
Passengers exited through the torn-open fuselage, the right side forward cockpit crew door, the left main cabin door, and the opening in the aft end of the cabin in the pressure dome area.
Two bodies were removed from the fuselage. Death was due to inhalation of products of combustion. The captain's body was found just inside the fuselage in the left forward service doorway. A passenger's body was found in the forward passenger cabin in the left aisle area between seat rows 7 and 8. Two passengers succumbed later at a local hospital of injuries received in the crash.
Residents in the vicinity of the crash offered immediate rescue assistance and care for the injured.
1.15 Tests and Research
During the investigation, tests were conducted by Eastern Air Lines with a similar airplane from its fleet to determine the climb performance of the airplane, duplicating as closely as possible the conditions prevailing at the time of the midair collision. Cruising at an altitude of 10,000 feet, a rapid pullup was made by the crew. A motion picture camera was used to record time and altitude. During three practice runs made, it was determined that the time to climb to 11,000 feet was 10.8 seconds, 14.2 seconds, and 10.2 seconds, respectively. It was believed that under actual emergency conditions, a slightly greater rate of climb could have been obtained or exceeded than that obtained in the tests.
Tests were also made with a U. S. Air Force Super Constellation simulator in attempts to obtain times for a climb from 10,000 feet to 11,000 feet. In four tests, the average time required to climb from 10,000 to 11,000 feet was 11 seconds.
Eastern Air Lines conducted a flight test in which a leakage rate of 1,500 feet per minute was introduced into the static system behind the first officer's instrument panel. The test was performed at 210 KIAS, 10,000 feet altitude and with the cabin pressurized to sea level. This test resulted in an error of minus 44 feet. This change would result in a corrected altitude of 10,044 feet when the altimeter reflects a 10,000-foot altitude. This is a result of the cabin pressure leaking into the static system and causing the altimeter to read lower than the true indicated altitude.
The static source correction factor for TW 42 was plus 55 feet at 10,000 feet which resulted in the addition of 55 feet to the indicated altitude displayed on the cockpit altimeter. Trans World Airlines conducted flight tests with the static sense line disconnected at the flight recorder and found a maximum error of minus 50 feet at 11,000 feet.
