Evening star., 1962-12-25

1ugnC log 10 MS SCar, beryl
Wallace. 1t passed from seat
to Seat-to a Frenchman, a
Navy commander, a couple with
a child, a mother with her
baby daughter. The flight had
been late leaving Chicago and
the passengers were anxious to
get to New York.
Rodio Report
In the cockpit, Capt. Warner
was reporting his position to
LaGuardia. When the radio
operator gave him clearance to
cross Allentown at 1000 feet,
Capt. Warner repeated the mes
sage in acknowledgment. 1t
was 1927.
Four minutes later, the oper-
ator was startled by a string
of shouted words-loud, blurred
and unintelligible.
"The trip calling New York,
try it again" he urged.
Again, he couldn't make out
the words, but he could sense
the urgency. He told the voice
to switch to Very High FIRE.
qency. Nothing came over Ell
ther channel.
At the same time, Capt. E. E.
Bach of United Flight 1872, fly
ing eight or ten minutes be-
hind 624, heard someone shout
what sounded like emergency
descent"
On the ground. q telephone
linesman noticed a plane COM
ing out of the west very fast.
A flight instructor at Sunbury
Airport wondered why it passed
over the field at only 5000
feet. A truck driver sitting
down to lunch felt his house
shake with the vibration of the
plane and ran outside. A farmer
came out of his barn to see
the plane so low that he could
read the lettering on its wings.
A miner heard a roar of motors
and instinctively ducked. The
plane was no more than 800
feet above him.
Capt. Bach listened to New
York trying to reach 624. As
he passed over Sunbury, he
saw smoke IL miles ahead
Soon, he looked down on q
clearing in the woods-a mass
of flames and people running
toward it.
I'VE have sighted the wreck
age of United 624," he tolC
New York.
Flies to Scene
The phone rang in the office
of Joseph o. Fluet, then chief
investigator for Region / of the
Civil Aeronautics Board, based
near LaGuardia Airport. With
in 80 minutes, he was flying
to the scene of the crash near
Mt. Carmel, Pa, but before he
left he issued a string Of or
ders.
He told United to hold its
records of the flight and any
radio recordings, told Air Traf-
fic Control to furnish its rec
ords of the flight from Chicago
called the nearest Pennsylvania
State Police barracks to rope
off the wreckage area and es-
tablish a guard. Finally, he
phoned his wife that he
wouldn't be home. His boys
would be disappointed. He was
showing them how to build
model plane.
Standing on the rocky hill
side, Joe Fluet realized tn
Eplane must have rammed the
hillside at full force. He haC
never seen a plane so shattered
thousands of pieces scattered
over an area ITS feet wide anC
585 feet long.
The plane had struck a Sc,
000-volt transformer ant
severed power lines. The nearb.
electric station had automatic
ally recorded the power breal
at 1874.
Fluet faced his first anC
greatest mystery. The last mes
sage from Flight 624 tn,
tumble Of words heard In New
York, the shout Of "emergenc,
descent" heard by Capt. Bacl
had been timed at 1891 pm
What had happened to tn
plane in those ten minutes o
silence?
Midnight Meeting
That midnight in the base
ment OF a saloon which woult
be headquarters and home Il
the investigators for weeks h
come. Joe Fluet held his frs
meeting to plan the investiga
ton. Out Of the fragments OF
the hillside. he and teams o
CAB specialists had TO find th'
answers to the crash finC
them as fast as possible befor,
the same combination OF cir
cumstances produced anothel
disaster.
Fluet assigned a team x
each phase of the investiga'
ton technicians provided b!
the aviation industry itself
from the plane and propellel
and engine manufacturers
from the Airline Pilots Associa-
ton, from the Civil Aeronau'
tics Administration (now tht
Federal Aviation Agency. eacf
team headed by one Of the
CABS own specialists.
From the fragments. Flue'
wanted them TO determine II {
vital piece snapped in flight, Il
IAlan Aan....n InIIal IL A. ..ln -.