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uneventfully until reaching the Nashville area. Approaching Nashville, Flight 308 was given radar vectoring to the ILS final approach course by Nashville approach control. It then landed at 1807, 19 minutes late.
Captain Bond stated in his testimony at the public hearing that during the approach to Nashville, First Officer Irwin was unable to pick up the compass locator at the outer marker on the ADF (Automatic Direction Finding Receiver). The captain and first officer attempted several times to tune the radio but were unable to receive either an aural signal or a visual indication from the ADF pointer. Captain Bond stated that upon landing he informed Captain Gollmier of the malfunction but did not make an entry in the log concerning it.
Captain Gollmier took command of the flight at Nashville and made normal preparations for continuation of the trip. A check was made of the weather reports, an instrument flight rules flight plan filed, and ARTC (Air Route Traffic Control) clearance received.
The stop at Nashville took 18 minutes, after which the flight proceeded uneventfully to Knoxville. There, during the one engine operating stop, the crew was given the flight papers for the remaining segment including the latest Tri-City weather observation, a special report at 1859. It was 300 feet scattered clouds, measured 600 feet overcast; 3 miles visibility; light snow and fog; temperature 33 degrees; dewpoint 32 degrees; wind northwest at 8 knots; altimeter 29.99.
Cumulative en route delays resulted in the flight departing Knoxville at 1946, 27 minutes late. It was given ARTC clearance to the Gray intersection via Green Airway 5 to maintain 5,000 feet and to contact Tri-City approach control when over the Bulls Gap marker beacon. The estimated time en route was 34 minutes at a true airspeed of 145 knots. At 1953 the flight advised the company at Knoxville it was estimating Piedmont fan marker at 1956. A few minutes later it reported over Piedmont at 1958, estimating Tri-City at 2023.
At 2010, in accordance with the clearance, Flight 308 reported over Bulls Gap. Tri-City approach control acknowledged the report and further cleared the flight to make an approach to the airport on runway 27. The latest weather information was also transmitted to the flight: "... wind is north, variable both sides at 10 knots, gust to 15; altimeter 30.03; Tri-City weather, measured ceiling 900 broken, 1700 overcast, visibility 3; light snow; fog."
Following the acknowledgment of the approach clearance and weather information, the flight switched to company frequency at Tri-City giving an estimated time of arrival at 2026, reporting the aircraft as being O. K. for turn-around, and asking if it still needed sumps and screens checked.[1] The chief dispatcher answered in the affirmative and logged the time of this contact as 2012. The dispatcher was able to identify the transmission as being made by Captain Gollmier. Twelve minutes later, at 2024, Southeast Flight 308 reported to approach control
- ↑ A standard minor line check for foreign material in the oil sumps and fuel screens accomplished every 50 flying hours.
