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that the relaxation of the enforcement of Rule 11 was proper under the circumstance since pilots were thus permitted to take advantage of an additional 500 feet of take-off area in taking off toward the southeast and since this rule had originally been promulgated less in the interest of safety than for the convenience of spectators and persons working in and near the Administration Building.
A flood light located about the center of the east boundary of the airport was available at the time of the accident. It appeared that this had been used very infrequently by the airlines. Neither Captain Boqua nor Captain Powers requested that this flood light be turned on for his take-off on the evening of the accident. Since their take-off paths would have been almost directly toward this light and since the light was not equipped with a shadow-bar to eliminate glare, it appears that they exercised good judgment in not requesting the use of the light.
The weather conditions at the time of the accident were the result of pre-frontal thunderstorm activity within a warm tropical air mass.[1] Ceilings ranged from 2000 feet to 5000 feet in the thunderstorm areas in Kansas and visibilities were two miles or more. As previously stated, the 2:20 a.m. weather sequence report for Wichita indicated a mild thunderstorm, light rain, and visibility 10 miles or more. A moderate rain began to fall at approximately 2:23 a.m.
- ↑ See Appendix A for the pertinent (1) weather sequence reports from Wichita, (2) Weather Bureau forecasts, and (3) Braniff and TWA forecasts.
