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Recommendations
In the investigation of this accident it was learned that the Sixth Ferrying Group of the Air Transport Command at Long Beach, California, had placed an erroneous interpretation on the rules governing contact flight on a civil airway. Although this had no direct bearing on their accident, their interpretation of these rules creates a situation fraught with great danger, particularly under conditions of mountainous terrain and congested air traffic.
On June 24, 1941, the Civil Aeronautics Board passed a regulation which roads as follows:
"60.471 Contact flight above 3500 feet on civil airway. In addition to all contact flight rules, aircraft flying under contact conditions at an altitude of more than 3500 feet above the ground or water and within the limits of a civil airway shall conform to the rules prescribed for flight under instrument conditions in the following respects:
(1) Compliance with #60.53, Flight Plan, when flights touch airways traffic control areas;
(2) Maintenance of flight altitudes (#60.58); and
(3) Maintenance of communication contacts (#60.571).
(4) No change in an approved flight plan shall be made without the prior approval of the airway traffic control center concerned, unless an emergency situation arises which requires immediate decision and action or unless weather conditions make it necessary for the pilot to effect change in order to continue flight in accordance with contact flight rules; in either case the proper airway traffic control center shall be notified as soon as possible."
The Regulations are supplemented by the explanatory and interpretive material included in the Civil Aeronautics Manual, prepared and distributed by the Civil Aeronautics Administration. The particular volume of the Civil Aeronautics Manual covering Part 60 of the Civil Air
