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passengers and cargo were then again transferred to the original ship for take-off from Cleveland. Captain Scott's approval of this action is indicated by an entry in his trip log that the right engine was "O. K." at Cleveland.
At 2:50 p.m., the United dispatcher at Chicago cleared the flight from Cleveland to Chicago, and the plane departed from that point at 2:59 p.m. At the time of take-off, the gross load was 24,306 pounds, including 13 passengers, baggage, mail, express, 620 gallons of fuel, and a crew of three.
At 3:26 p.m., Captain Scott requested that his flight plan be changed to cruise at 500 feet above the overcast. This change was approved by Airway Traffic Control at Cleveland.[1] At 3:40 p.m. United Trip 21 reported over Toledo at 6500 feet and Captain Scott reported the weather he was encountering as follows:
- ↑ The Airway Traffic Control staff, a part of the Civil Aeronautics Administration, regulates the flow of traffic during instrument weather conditions in order to eliminate the possibility of collision between aircraft. Before flying on the civil airways under instrument weather conditions, approval must be secured from Airway Traffic Control for the flight, including the altitude at which it is to be flown. The Cleveland and the Chicago Airway Traffic Control centers were concerned with the flight of United Trip 21 between Cleveland and Chicago. The jurisdiction of the Cleveland center includes the civil airway between Cleveland and a point 25 miles east of Goshen, Indiana, and the jurisdiction of the Chicago center extends from that point to the Chicago Airport. Thus, Trip 21 was cleared by the Cleveland center to the Cleveland control boundary and by the Chicago center from that point. Airway Traffic Control does not contact air carrier airplanes directly. All communications are transmitted through the medium of company radio stations which are connected with Airway Traffic Control centers by interphone.
