Barnabas72
Why is it that CAB failed to address the issue of static and garbled radio transmission lapsing into silence? This sounds more like a power failure caused by an electrical fire that triggered the smoke detectors but did not spread to a structural fire. This power failure killed the radio and perhaps those who saw the wings wagging meant a shot in the dark signal that radio comm had been lost.
It is almost an insult to believe that 2 experienced pilots would forget to open cabin vent valves when firing Co2 canisters... The course deviation was more likely an attempt to find the relatively level terrain around Elysburg or Bear Gap while losing altitude rapidly because of power failure to altitude flight control. The plane went too far south before turning back to an easterly course. However the power failure precluded it from gaining enough altitude to overcome the rising terrain. If pilot error occurred it was in going too far south before turning back east and lowered altitude kept the crew from realizing they had gone a mountain range too far south to successfully land a craft afflicted with progressive mechanical failure or one caused by power loss. Nowhere was a diagram produced showing possible failures of electrical control motors or other power supplies positioned below the flight cabin and above the forward cargo pit. It is very possible an electrical fire burned out a vital component that was not backed by modern redundancy equipment in 1948 if primary failure occurred. The smoke detectors sensed the burn and the pilot and first officer knew something vital had failed but the radio lost reception and transmission power before they could speculate on the source of the failure. Therefore power to certain circuits must have been compromised, the sum of which led to the fatal crash.
It is almost an insult to believe that 2 experienced pilots would forget to open cabin vent valves when firing Co2 canisters... The course deviation was more likely an attempt to find the relatively level terrain around Elysburg or Bear Gap while losing altitude rapidly because of power failure to altitude flight control. The plane went too far south before turning back to an easterly course. However the power failure precluded it from gaining enough altitude to overcome the rising terrain. If pilot error occurred it was in going too far south before turning back east and lowered altitude kept the crew from realizing they had gone a mountain range too far south to successfully land a craft afflicted with progressive mechanical failure or one caused by power loss. Nowhere was a diagram produced showing possible failures of electrical control motors or other power supplies positioned below the flight cabin and above the forward cargo pit. It is very possible an electrical fire burned out a vital component that was not backed by modern redundancy equipment in 1948 if primary failure occurred. The smoke detectors sensed the burn and the pilot and first officer knew something vital had failed but the radio lost reception and transmission power before they could speculate on the source of the failure. Therefore power to certain circuits must have been compromised, the sum of which led to the fatal crash.