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Trip 6, stated that from his seat in the airplane he could see the upper part of the leading edge of the right wing and that he saw no indication of ice at any time on the trip from Kansas City to St. Louis.
An examination was made of the wreckage of NC 17315, including the engines, propellers, instruments, radio equipment, controls and other parts of the aircraft by representatives of the Civil Aeronautics Board, the Civil Aeronautic Administration, and TWA. The results of this examination showed that there was no structural or mechanical failure of the airplane prior to the time it contacted the trees southwest of the airport. All of the evidence indicates that considerable power was being developed from each engine at the time it struck some of the trees, but does not indicate that any appreciable amount of power was being used at the time the engine struck the ground. The master ignition switch was found in the "off" position with each of the individual engine ignition switches in the "on" position. It was not possible to determine whether the master switch had been pulled prior to the time the airplane finally came to rest, or whether its position resulted from the impact.
Only one altimeter face (No. 176BH-031-B99), the one which was installed in the Captain's flight panel, was located after the accident. The hands had been broken off and it was thus impossible to determine the reading at the time of impact. Although the barometric scale on this altimeter was found after the accident to be set at 30.18, which was .02 of an inch lower than the setting received by the first Officer from the TWA radio operator at 4:04 A.M., it was impossible to determine whether this discrepancy resulted from an improper setting or from the impact.
