In the reconstructing the flight it is clear that it was intermittently on instruments between South Bronsville and Morgantown and without ques- tion the pilot should have abandoned his attempt to land at Morgantown. Furthermore, in view of his presumed knowledge of the weather he should have been fully prepered for just such a contingency. It seems apparent however, that he avoided climbing to the prescribed instrument altitude of 3300 feet in the belief that he would be able to locate the Morgantown Airport by visual reference; It is not possible to determine exactly why he was.off course although it is entirely possible that he mistook the Cheat River for the Monongahela River and was not able to correct his error in the poor visibility before crashing against Cheat Mountain. It is clear, however, that whatever may have been the cause for his deapture from the course the accident resulted from the fact that the pilot at the time was where he had no right my be under the existing weather conditions and applicable safety regulations.
V. Findings:
Upon the Basis of available evidence; the Board finds that:
1. The company; aircraft, and crew were properly certificated for the subject flight.
2. There was no evidence of equipment failure prior to the crash.
3. The major portion of the weather data available for the flight strongly indicated the likelihood of below minimum conditions prevailing at Morgantown.
