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Sabotage
Examination of the wreckage did not reveal any evidence of the aircraft or its controls having been tampered with prior to the accident. An alarm clock was found in the wreckage in a damaged condition. This clock was turned over to the Federal Bureau of Investigation for inspection to determine whether it could have been associated with a detonating mechanism. The inspection of this clock revealed that the alarm had been set for 9:15. There was no connection on the clock which could have been used for wiring connections necessary to have used it as a detonating mechanism.
Since the door between the pilots' compartment and the cabin was not locked, there is a possibility that a passenger might have entered the pilots' compartment and interfered in some way with the control of the airplane. However, there is no evidence whatsoever in support of such a presumption and the jump seat upon which the observer was seated in the aisle running between the pilots' compartment and the passenger cabin would have made it especially difficult for a passenger to enter the pilots' compartment.
Robert Williams, an airplane cleaner for Pennsylvania-Central Airlines, employed at Washington-Hoover Airport testified that he saw a man enter the passenger cabin of the airplane two or three minutes before the other passengers and that he did not see this man leave the airplane before the passengers boarded. He could not
