- 3 -
routes, including route No. 55 between the terminal points Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and Birmingham, Alabama, via certain intermediate points, including Morgantown, West Virginia.
Flight Personnel
The crew of the flight in question consisted of Captain Russell J. Wright, First Officer Robert J. Bininger and Hostess Jean E. Purucker.
Captain Wright, aged 25, had been employed by PCA on October 26, 1938 and had served as a copilot for approximately two years and four months before becoming a captain on March 4, 1941. At the time of the accident he was a certificated airline transport pilot and had a total of approximately 2773 hours of flight time, of which 363 hours had been in Douglas DC-3 airplanes. He had logged 164 hours of instrument time. His last physical examination, required by the Civil Air Regulations, was taken on May
22, 1941, and showed that he was in satisfactory physical condition. He was involved in a previous accident near Charleston, West Virginia on April 16, 1941 while flying a Boeing 247D for PCA. The Board determined that the probable cause of that accident was loss of power in one engine. It was also determined that Captain Wright's failure to have familiarized himself adequately with the terrain involved and his hesitancy to exercise emergency to use additional power were contributing factors.
First Office Bininger, aged 23, had been employed by PCA on March 17, 1941, and at the time of the accident he had a total of approximately 1031 hours of flight time, of which approximately 377 hours had been on Douglas DC-3 airplanes while serving as a copilot with PCA. He held a commercial pilot certificate with an instrument rating and had logged 55 hours of instrument time. His last physical examination, required by the Civil Air Regulations, was taken on June 11, 1941, and showed that he was in
