A Piece of Ice?

Ice formed on the wings. . . . Ice formed on the instruments and confused the pilot. . . . The pilot found himself suddenly too near the ground and jerked his controls too sharply, tearing off the wing. . . . A propeller blade snapped. . . . Those theories and many others were heard last week. But there was no final answer to the question: What caused the Transcontinental & Western Air plane crash in which Nation-famed Knute Kenneth Rockne and seven others were killed? (TIME, Apr. 6). The plane, a trimotored Fokker, tumbled out of the low clouds near Bazaar, Kan., with its right wing fluttering after it. It buried its nose deep into the stony soil of flint hills. Only the twisted steel and fabric--or what was left of it by souvenir-hunters--could give further testimony. Designer Anthony Hermann Gerhard Fokker flew from Los Angeles to inspect the wreckage for himself. Fiercely proud of his creation, he was certain there was no structural failure. "The flight should not have been undertaken in existing weather conditions," he said. "I would say the human element entered very strongly into the cause of the crash." It was drizzling when the plane took off from Kansas City for Los Angeles, but reports said the weather was clearing in the west. At Wichita, only 60 mi. from the crash, the sun was shining.

Most enlightening report came from the Department of Commerce which carefully stipulated that it must not be construed as an official finding. The Department inspectors dug the engines out of the earth to find that the right outboard engine had no propeller blades nor propeller hub, although the safety nut which holds them in place was still intact. The hub must have been broken. If, as reported, ice collected on the wings then it may have collected on the propeller hub too. A piece of ice dislodged from the hub might have struck a whirling blade and broken it. The shock (estimated 100,000 Ib.) caused by a breaking blade could have broken the hub, smashed the wing.

Concluded the report: "... airplane had been operated in accordance with Air Commerce regulations; daily inspections . . . satisfactorily concluded; . . . thoroughly airworthy; ... no blame can be attached to the pilots."

Last week's crash shocked the whole U. S. not alone because of the fame of a passenger, but because it was the first "bad" accident in transport service in more than a year. (In January 1930, 16 persons perished in the T. A. T.-Maddux crash in California.)

Buried under the tragic news from Kansas last week was the official accident, report for the last six months of 1930, issued by the Department of Commerce: two passengers killed in 51,482,633 passenger-miles of flight. There were only three fatal accidents (including mail operations) compared with 15 for the same period of 1929.

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