Flight Details and Departure
Flight 2 was a scheduled daily service between Seattle, Washington, and New York, New York, with intermediate stops at Portland, Oregon, and Chicago, Illinois. The flight departed Seattle-Tacoma Airport at 0806 under an IFR flight plan to Portland via Victor Airway 23, with a planned cruise altitude of 6,000 feet. Onboard were 32 passengers and a crew of six: Captain Robert Reeve Heard, First Officer Gene Paul Johnson, Flight Engineer Carl Vernon Thomsen, Flight Service Attendant David V. Razey, Senior Stewardess Elinor A. Whitacre, and Junior Stewardess Dorothy L. Oetting.
Initial Climb and Flap Retraction
Takeoff was made on runway 20, and the aircraft climbed to an altitude between 1,000 and 1,200 feet. At that point, power was reduced, and the wing flaps, previously set at the normal 25-degree takeoff position, were retracted at an airspeed of 145 knots. Immediately after retraction, the crew experienced severe buffeting and a strong tendency for the aircraft to roll to the left.
Crew Response and Emergency Declaration
Because the buffeting began almost immediately after flap retraction, the captain suspected a split-flap condition—where flaps on one side retract while the other side remains extended. Power was briefly reduced in an attempt to alleviate the buffeting, but this was ineffective, and maximum continuous power was restored. The Seattle tower cleared the flight for return, but the captain decided not to turn the aircraft due to control difficulty, instead advising that he would proceed to McChord Air Force Base in Tacoma. The captain later testified that the trouble worsened, and the aircraft continued to lose altitude.
Ditching and Evacuation
The captain elected to ditch the aircraft, which occurred at approximately 0810. Touchdown was on smooth water at an airspeed of about 120 knots, with no abrupt deceleration. Passengers and crew members, except the captain and first officer, left the aircraft through the main cabin door and emergency exits. After performing a passenger count, the captain and first officer exited through cockpit windows and swam to the left and right wings, respectively. The aircraft sank in approximately 15 minutes, by which time all persons on the wings had been supplied with buoyant cushions from the cabin seats. Those who survived were rescued by surface craft from the 42-degree Fahrenheit water within 30 to 35 minutes after ditching.
Investigation Findings
Examination of the recovered aircraft, which was raised from over 400 feet of water, disclosed that all engine cowl flaps were approximately full-open. The Board determined that the cause of the buffeting and control difficulty was the improper setting of the engine cowl flaps. No failure or malfunction of the aircraft, powerplants, or control systems occurred prior to the ditching.
Probable Cause
The Board determined that the probable cause of the accident was the incorrect analysis of control difficulty that occurred on retraction of the wing flaps as a result of the flight engineer's failure to close the engine cowl flaps—the analysis having been made under conditions of great urgency and within an extremely short period of time available for decision.