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south of the airport, the normal tendency was to approach Runway 1 rather high and that when landing, the normal point of touchdown is approximately 1,000 feet up the runway, however, regardless of such tendencies, the aircraft, including the approach to Runway 1, was within the limitations required for DC-3 operations and approved by the CAA. During the approach and letdown for landing it appears that minimum ceiling and visibility, or above, existed, and that the flight was in only light rain as the Due to the heavy rain that had just ended, it is very likely that the accretion of water on the runways had not had time to drain off and it is highly probably the amount of water on the runway was considerable.

Captain Burke had logged 2,537 hours on DC-3 aircraft, 950 hours of which had been since May 1947 when he was made a captain by the carrier. He had been flying into Burlington since June 1945, and was thoroughly familiar with the airport runways and the terrain features surrounding the airport. Mr Nowak, the copilot, had 1,517 hours on DC-3's, and had been operating into Burlington for 2 1/2 years. Captain Burke stated that although he and other company pilots considered some of the approaches to the Burlington runways presented a mental hazard, "it doesn't usually result in any difficulty in landing in the first third" of the runway. He further stated while flying over the vicinity of the airport on the downwind leg, he observed the wet conditions of the runway.

Captain Burke knew that the runway was wet and he, therefore, should have used more than the usual care in landing; had he done so the aircraft could have been brought to a stop by the use of brakes within the limits of the runway deposited the existing landing conditions.