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conclude that the pilot would not have been justified in expecting to complete the lending without an extended use of brakes. In view of the fact that no more than 2200 feet of runway remained after the airplane had made final contact with the ground, and particularly since the runway was net, it was not consistent with good operating Practices for the pilot to permit the airplane to roll to within 700 feet of the end of the runway without any application of brakes.
PCA's Chief, Pilot, Southern Division, testified that it was established PCA practice, in making a landing with full flaps on runways of normal length, to let the airplane roll without applying brakes until the laps were no longer effective in slowing the airplane. He stated that PCA pilots were instructed accordingly, but that they were instructed, also, that brakes should be applied as needed at the discretion of the pilot. Subsequent to the accident, however, PCA issued instructions that brake operation should be checked immediately after contacting the ground, during the first part of the landing roll.
It is impossible to determine whether the brakes were definitely ineffective at the time of the accident, and, if so, to what extant they were ineffective. As previously stated, thorough inspection and tests of the brakes subsequent to the accident showed them to be functioning properly at the time. Although an examination was made of the tracks made by the wheels of the airplane on the runway, no definite conclusions with respect to braking action could be derived therefrom. The track of the left wheel was more distant than that of the right wheel, and in an aree between about 900 and 1200 feet from the and of the runway four indentations in the track were observed, where the track narrowed from a width of about 10 inches to about 3 inches.
