- 6 -
Airplane and Equipment
Aircraft NC 15592 was a Douglas Model DC-3B manufactured by the Douglas Aircraft Corporation of Santa Monica, California, and was purchased by American on July 11, 1940. It was powered by two Wright Cyclone G102 engines each rated at 1100 h.p. for take-off and was equipped with Hamilton Standard hydromatic propellers. The hub model of these propellers was 23E50 and the blade design of both propellers was 6153A-18. This aircraft and equipment had been approved by the Civil Aeronautics Administration for air carrier operation over routes flown by American for 21 passengers and a crew of four. The airplane, as equipped with de-icers, had been certificated for operation with a standard gross weight of 24,546 pounds and a provisional gross weight of 24,946 pounds.[1] At the time of departure of Trip 20 from Chicago the gross weight of the aircraft was 23,126 pounds including mail, cargo, 621 gallons of fuel, 40 gallons of oil, nine passengers, and a crew of three. The record further shows that the airplane was loaded in accordance with the current approved loading schedule prescribed by the Civil Aeronautics Administration, which was attached to the airworthiness certificate of the airplane.
The airplane and its equipment had received the overhauls,
- ↑ The standard gross weight of an aircraft is the maximum allowable gross weight for landing, while the provisional gross weight of an aircraft is the maximum allowable gross weight for take-off. When an aircraft takes off at its maximum provisional gross weight, the weight of the aircraft must be reduced by gasoline consumption at least to the standard gross weight for landing prior to arrival at its next scheduled stop. If sufficient gasoline has not been consumed between the time of take-off and any emergency landing, gasoline can be dumped by the use of tested and approved dump valves in order to reduce the total weight to the approved gross weight for landing.
