Darwin Charles Brown for the Civil Aeronautics Board

“ The direction in which the aircraft was landed affords not only a very short length of usable landing area but also requires that the aircraft be brought in over the previously mentioned ridge which further reduces the usable landing area.
The landing-down-through minimums for daylight operation with Lockheed Model 10-B aircraft, as authorized in Delta Airlines' Weather Letter of Competency and as approved by the Administrator, were, on January 4, 1941:
"Ceiling 900 feet, visibility one mile. Landings permitted when visibility is limited to one mile by purely smoke conditions." ”

“ The weather conditions at Birmingham as reported by the U.S. Weather Bureau at 9:35 a.m. were: ceiling unlimited, visibility 1/2 mile with dense smoke; wind, east, 2 miles per hour. This report was given to the pilot by the carrier's station operator on the airport shortly after 9:35 a.m. At 5:48 a.m. a special weather report was issued by the United States Weather Bureau, stating that visibility was 1/4 mile, with dense smoke. ”

“ The aircraft was then flown over the field parallel with the northeast runway but the smoke was thick enough to prevent the pilot from seeing the field until it was too late to attempt a landing. This approach was from the southwest. The pilot then turned to the west and passed behind a ridge approximately 100 feet high, located north and slightly to the west of the airport. After placing the aircraft on a heading slightly east of south he came in across the top of this ridge. He throttled the engines and made a normal landing off the runway with flaps fully extended. ”