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(continued)
Davis recalls that
Thursday, June 20 began as a very exciting day for him personally.
He and the two experienced pilots with whom he had been working ,
were set to take the Chariot up for some practice flights.
Although Davis had
flown the aircraft before, he had yet to handle a takeoff or
landing. This was the day he would get that opportunity.
"We took off from
the airport with me at the controls and we flew to
Conroe. I handled the landing and I remember that we came down
without a bump or skip. I was very proud of that landing," he
recalled.
After refueling the aircraft, the three were going to take her up
again, this time with George "Buddy" Roberts of Houston in the
captains seat and his fellow pilot; Ron Holder of Kingwood, flying
as copilot.
"Both of these men flew the DC-3 in Vietnam and
between them had more than 4,500 hours in that type of aircraft," he
said, noting that both men are now commercial pilots who fly with
Continental Airlines out of Houston.
Holder, however,
needed to be recertified on the DC-3 by another pilot and Roberts
was to oversee that operation.
Immediately after
the plane left the Montgomery County Airports runway, Davis recalled
that he removed his seat belt and walked forward to stand behind the
two pilots.
I was going to
observe them but I had no sooner gotten behind them when the left
engine lost power. Things began to happen really fast at that
point," he said.
Davis said with the
loss of the left engine, the aircraft began to quickly lose airspeed,
a very dangerous situation for an aircraft of that size.
"They
were trying to keep enough speed so they could bring her down in a
controlled crash," Davis said."By doing that, they would have some
control over where and how the plane came down." (continued)
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