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In addition to the above weather data furnished the crew, hourly sequence reports were relayed by company radio to all its airborne aircraft. Following the review of weather conditions a flight plan was filed with, and approved by, company dispatch and ATC. This indicated a flight to Cold Bay in accordance with instrument flight rules (IPR). The aircraft was to be refueled there and an IFR flight plan filed to Adak prior to departing Cold Bay.
Flight 3 departed Anchorage at 1009[1] with 22 passengers on board. Following takeoff the aircraft was climbed to 8,000 feet, the cruising altitude, and the flight proceeded in a routine manner to Cold Bay where it landed at 1330. Eleven passengers were deplaned.
The aircraft was refueled during the short stay at Cold Bay and Captain Strouse, according to plan, refiled an IFR plan to Adak. This flight plan specified a cruising altitude of 1,000 feet on top direct to Akutan intersection, thence direct to Adak. The estimated elapsed time was three hours plus ten minutes with eight hours and forty minutes of fuel on board; alternates were Unnak and Shemya. Prior to takeoff the aircraft was cleared by approach control as follows: "Cleared out of Cold Bay control area 50 miles southwest via Mordvinof intersection, maintain VFR conditions on top."
Flight 3 departed Cold Bay at 119 and reported over the Cold Bay low frequency range one minute later. At this time the flight reported the tops of clouds to be 1,200 feet, occasionally 1,600 feet, and advised that it would climb to and maintain 1,500 feet; it also estimated the Mordvinof intersection at 15. The flight was then cleared by approach control to make all further radio contacts with company radio. The flight reported it was at Mordvinof intersection at 1445, 4,500 on top, and estimating Akutan intersection at 1458. Arrival time over Akutan was reported as 158, estimating Easy I at 1524. The flight reported reaching this checkpoint at 1527 and estimated arrival at Basy II at 1555. At 1552 arrival over Basy II[2] was reported and the next checkpoint, 100 miles northeast of Adak, was estimated as 1652. This checkpoint was reported at 1650, at which time the flight advised it was 4,500 on top and estimated the Adak low frequency range at 1725. At this time the company advised the flight that ATC had cleared it to the low frequency range, to maintain VFR on top, and to call Adak approach control on 126.18 megacycles when 30 miles out for landing instructions. The altimeter setting was then given as 29.95.
Twenty-five minutes later, at 1715, Flight 3 advised the company it was canceling its IFR flight plan and proceeding VFR. Just two minutes after this message was received, Adak approach control heard the following radio transmission from the flight: "Adak approach control from Flight 3,126.18. Approach control answered the flight within a few seconds but neither this nor any subsequent attempt to reach the flight was successful. The voice of the person making this last call was judged by the Adak controller to be normal.
When the flight was 23 minutes overdue, Search and Rescue was notified and a concerted effort was begun to locate the missing aircraft. At 1850
