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The seat, when in place is located in the companionway directly behind the archway leading to the pilots' cockpit. It was approximately 15 inches from the forward edge of the jump seat to the back of the pilot's seat. The jump seat safety belt is of material similar to that used in the safety belts in the passenger cabin. It was fastened on each end to the airplane structure, on the righthand side by a standard end type eye bolt and on the lefthand side by a special fitting designed by the manufacturer of the aircraft.
The landing gear, flap and engine selector valve controls are located forward of the jump seat on the righthand side. The wobble pump control is located forward of and on the lefthand side of the jump seat and all are easily accessible as a support to one sitting in the jump seat if he finds it necessary to hold on to something. Since the occupant of the jump seat was not a pilot and had not ridden frequently in airplanes, consideration was given to the possibility that he might have grasped the flap control in order to steady himself if the airplane had been passing through turbulent air conditions and the possible effect such action could have had upon the flaps or the controllability of the airplane. The possibility of such action having contributed to the accident is eliminated because of the fact that the flap control mechanism is so designed that the flaps could not be actuated at a speed in excess of 112 miles per hour. If the flaps had been lowered at a speed of 112 miles per hour or less, the airplane would have assumed a settling attitude in a horizontal position and would have had no tendency to assume a diving attitude. There are also a number of other fixtures such as the channels of the archway and the back of the pilots' seats which an occupant of the jump seat could grasp.
