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Weather was not a factor in this accident although a thin broken to overcast cloud coverage existed over the entire area with ceilings reported as about 4,000 feet. A number of ground witnesses saw the aircraft after it had emerged from this overcast in its descent. The probable flight path of N 7071, depicted in Attachment "B" to this report, is based on evaluation of the sightings of these witnesses.
Several witnesses located west of the final crash site described hearing the aircraft on an easterly heading in or above the clouds. They reported hearing an unusual sound similar to that of an aircraft breaking the sound barrier. Shortly after hearing this sound they saw three objects fall out of the overcast. These objects were located and proved to be engines Nos. 1, 2, and 4. The sound of a jet engine continued and the aircraft was seen to emerge from the base of the clouds on a northeasterly heading. It was on fire and descending. Other witnesses, located several miles farther east, saw the burning aircraft, still descending, make a sweeping left turn, passing near the east end of Lake Cavenaugh and straightening out on a southeasterly heading of about 110 degrees. They said that during this turn they heard an explosion-like noise and the jet engine sound then ceased. The only sound which could be heard after this was a loud whistling noise. Several of these witnesses who were familiar with the Boeing 707 stated that there was only one engine on the aircraft and that a severe fire was burning in the area where the No. 2 engine had been. One witness said that the fire had burned away a large portion of the trailing edge of the wing in the area of the No. 2 engine.
The aircraft continued on its southeasterly heading down Deer Creek and then made a gradual right turn to a heading of 230 degrees. By this time it had descended almost to treetop level. The aircraft continued on the heading of 230 degrees for about one mile, during which it descended until it contacted treetops and crashed in the Stillaguamish River bed approximately one-half mile short of a large open field which had undoubtedly been selected by Baum for the crash landing.
The first contact with treetops 110 feet high was on the north side of the river and nearly 1,400 feet from the point at which the fuselage struck the ground. Four hundred feet from this first contact the aircraft struck another row of trees along the north bank of the river, at a height of about 90 feet. The swath cut through these trees, which varied in diameter from 7 to 13 inches, was approximately the width of the wing span and showed that the aircraft was in a wings-level attitude. A section of the left wing tip, 16 feet long, was severed by contact with these trees. As the aircraft continued across the river the left wing, which was dropping rapidly, cut a path inclined at an angle of 45 to 50 degrees through more trees on the south bank. Toward the end of this cut through the trees, the left wing contacted the ground gouging several long ditches in the sandy soil. As the aircraft continued its forward travel, the left wing broke up progressively until finally the fuselage struck the ground.
The forward portion of the fuselage (station 96C forward) was almost completely destroyed by the impact and intense ground fire which followed. The aft fuselage, where the survivors were located, broke off just to the rear of the trailing edge of the wing and skidded out into the middle of the river. Although it was badly damaged by inflight fire and ground impact, it was intact and was not subjected to the ground fire which consumed most of the other wreckage.
