(2 of 4)
Inside there had been no warning, but the ten passengers were strapped to their seats ready for the landing at Burbank. As Passenger Arthur Robinson recalled: "Suddenly the plane began to drop—drop. Then there was a terrible crash. My seat belt kept me in my seat. I didn't lose consciousness, but my leg and side hurt. I guess I was about the only one that wasn't knocked out." Passenger Robinson set off alone down the snow-spattered mountain, managed to stagger four miles to the Olive View Sanitarium despite a broken ankle. Inmates there had heard the impact and screams of the victims borne by the wind, had already given the alarm.
Back at the plane, Pilot Lewis regained his senses, dragged himself, gun in hand, to guard the mail. Two passengers revived unhurt, began aiding the others. Stewardess Esther Jo Connor, despite a broken ankle, did what she could for her passengers, all but two of whom were severely injured, one dead. Martin Johnson, with both jaws broken, skull cracked, a shattered hip and internal wounds, became hysterical with pain. Osa, with leg broken and a concussion, was able only to wipe his face. Rescuers struggling up the mountain heard his screams afar. The plane was almost intact, with one motor torn loose. Nearby was a small fire lookout station. There for nearly ten hours the injured lay before they could be carried down the precipitous slope. Next morning Martin Johnson died. At week's end two other passengers had also died.
The U. S. was already in an official state of shock over the five crashes of the past month. WAE's second capped the climax. Pilot Lewis, too hurt to be questioned at length, was quoted by rescuers as mumbling: "There were three or four different voices on the radio and I couldn't make out any of them." This became the foundation for a number of bitter attacks on the Bureau of Air Commerce, operators of the radio beam system. Senator Copeland, chairman of the Senate Air Safety Committee, put the whole blame for recent crashes on the Bureau, demanded that it be reorganized, asked for $10,000,000 to improve safety. Other outsiders, such as Columnist Hugh Johnson, screamed violent accusations, suggested equally extravagant remedies. The Weather Bureau added 100 new stations. The Bureau of Air Commerce began an investigation, denied at once that the beam had been out of kilter.
To the Bureau's defense flocked most of the airlines. Said one airline executive: "After all, we've got to fly the planes. You can't blame a lighthouse if you sink your ship in a hurricane," Said Capt. Eddie Rickenbacker, War ace and general manager of Eastern Air Lines, which has never lost a passenger: "Conditions wouldn't be improved by Government control—they wouldn't be as good as they are now."