Colonel BRECKINRIDGE. Yes, sir; what was your information as to the general weather conditions into which you were going?

Lieutenant Commander WILEY. My information was that there would be fog and perhaps showers along the New Jersey coast, and from New Jersey eastward to Nantucket, during the night; that this condition might maintain itself in the vicinity of Newport until as late as noon of the next day; that, in general, this unsettled condition would not extend much farther south than Cape May, and certainly not as far south as Norfolk.

Colonel BRECKINRIDGE. Was there anything in that weather map to imply the later discovered weather conditions to the southern region, or Washington?

Lieutenant Commander WILEY. Hind sight showed it; yes, sir. Colonel BRECKINRIDGE. But the data before you at that time? Lieutenant Commander WILEY. No, sir; I think it was brought out in the Naval Board of Inquiry, there were several different forecastsLakehurst forecast, Weather Bureau forecast, and Department of Commerce airways forecast, and I believe that none of them mentioned thunder storms.

Colonel BRECKINRIDGE. At any rate, no such warning came to you. before the take off?

Lieutenant Commander WILEY. That is correct.

Colonel BRECKINRIDGE. On what aerological data did you come to those conclusions?

Lieutenant Commander WILEY. From this map, mainly from this map at 8 a.m.

Colonel BRECKINRIDGE. Was there any discussion between you and other officers as to the condition of the weather, and whether it justified the trip?

Lieutenant Commander WILEY. No, sir. The captain and the aerological officer talked quite a bit.

Colonel BRECKINRIDGE. The aerological officer of the station or of the ship?

Lieutenant Commander WILEY. Of the ship-Lieutenant Wescoat. Colonel BRECKINRIDGE. Do you know whether he had any such conferences with the aerological officer of the station-who was that officer?

Lieutenant Commander WILEY. Lieutenant Darsch, and I do not believe Captain McCord had any conferences with him; I think he had all of his conferences with Lieutenant Wescoat, the ship's aerological officer.

Colonel BRECKINRIDGE. Do you know of any conferences that the ship's aerological officer had with the station aerological officer? Lieutenant Commander WILEY. Only what I heard of in the Naval Court of Inquiry.

Colonel BRECKINRIDGE. Is it your opinion that the weather conditions were such as to justify this trip?

Lieutenant Commander WILEY. Yes, sir.

Colonel BRECKINRIDGE. Is it your opinion that they were such as to cause no apprehension?

Lieutenant Commander WILEY. Yes, sir.

Colonel BRECKINRIDGE. Structurally and as to maintenance, was the ship in good condition at the time it took off, so far as you know? Lieutenant Commander WILEY. In excellent condition; yes, sir.

Colonel BRECKINRIDGE. As to the equipment of the ship, was everything in that ship that safety regulations required, so far as you know?

Lieutenant Commander WILEY. Yes, sir.

Colonel BRECKINRIDGE. Did I understand you to say there were life belts aboard?

Lieutenant Commander WILEY. I am not positive; I could not say, to my own knowledge. I know they were a flight or two beforehand, because there was always one under my bunk; on this flight I was not in my room, and therefore I did not observe whether the life preserver was there or not. I know the other flotation gear, the lifeboat, I know of my own knowledge that the lifeboat and the mattresses designed for flotation, and the sleeping bags were all on board; these were considered life-saving equipment.

Colonel BRECKINRIDGE. Is there any responsible officer who would know that definitely?

Lieutenant Commander WILEY. Not now, sir.

Colonel BRECKINRIDGE. No material officer of the station would be cognizant of those details, or responsible therefor?

Lieutenant Commander WILEY. I am not sure; there might possibly be some officer on the station that might know.

Representative DELANEY. Is it not the rule over at Lakehurst or any other hangar before the ship leaves that they have sort of a list of everything on that ship leaving that station; they take it away from the station and check it up when it comes back?

Lieutenant Commander WILEY. Each officer has his own.

Representative DELANEY. Then Lakehurst ought to have that information, should they not?

Lieutenant Commander WILEY. Not necessarily; it would be up to the officer on the ship.

Representative DELANEY. So that they do not know, when the ship leaves Lakehurst, what they have on the ship until she comes back?

Lieutenant Commander WILEY. The station does not know.
Representative DELANEY. The station does not know that?
Lieutenant Commander WILEY. No, sir.

Colonel BRECKINRIDGE. Normally you would have carried airplanes on this trip?

Lieutenant Commander WILEY. Yes, sir.

Colonel BRECKINRIDGE. And it was decided not to carry them? Lieutenant Commander WILEY. Yes, sir.

Colonel BRECKINRIDGE. And what was the cause of that?

Lieutenant Commander WILEY. First of all, it was seen before we took off that visibility conditions would be poor, and the captain said we would not exercise the airplanes, but that if conditions permitted we would house our plane aboard and take it with us. When we took off and had to rise about 1,000 feet through fog, the captain said we would not ask the airplane to try to come through it.

Colonel BRECKINRIDGE. In your opinion are the conditions which made it inadvisable to carry the airplanes with it applicable to the airship?

Lieutenant Commander WILEY. No, sir.

Colonel BRECKINRIDGE. In other words, that the fog which is an obstacle to the airplane is either not an obstacle to the airship or less so?

Lieutenant Commander WILEY. The thing is, sir, that the airship flies by instruments all of the time and the airplane does not, except for specially trained pilots. It is almost impossible to fly blind in an airplane. However, you might say that all of the flying of an airship was blind-that is, it was instrument flying.

Colonel BRECKINRIDGE. I suppose the relative buoyancy of the two types have some effect there?

Lieutenant Commander WILEY. Well, sir, so far as fog is concerned, we have the same limitation as a ship on the surface; that is, we have no concern, other than navigation.

Colonel BRECKINRIDGE. It has no effect on your staying in the air? Lieutenant Commander WILEY. No, sir.

Colonel BRECKINRIDGE. Which it does in the case of an airplane, as I understand. When you took off at about 7:48, as I understand

Lieutenant Commander WILEY (interposing). 7:28.

Colonel BRECKINRIDGE. Or at 7:28-why was that hour chosen? Lieutenant Commander WILEY. The general time for undocking is around sunset or sunrise, because the wind is of generally less velocity at that time, and the ship is more easily handled in and out of the hangar, therefore nearly all of the take-off times are sunrise or sunset, or nearly at that time.

Colonel BRECKINRIDGE. Then, 32 minutes after your take-off, normally, you would expect another weather report?

Lieutenant Commander WILEY. We would commence to get the 8 p.m. broadcast of the Weather Bureau weather man.

Colonel BRECKINRIDGE. And from the time of your taking off you became an aerological station of your own?

Lieutenant Commander WILEY. Yes, sir.

Colonel BRECKINRIDGE. No longer dependent upon, or connected with the aerological station at Lakehurst?

Lieutenant Commander WILEY. No, sir.

Colonel BRECKINRIDGE. You became your own aerological station. with your own aerological officer?

Lieutenant Commander WILEY. Yes, sir.

Colonel BRECKINRIDGE. Is it a conceivable hypothesis, or a reasonable hypothesis, in your mind, that the commander of the craft would stay around in that vicinity awaiting his 8 o'clock report, until he could get further definite information on the weather, before making his decisive plans as to direction?

Lieutenant Commander WILEY. Yes, sir; I understand that was the plan, to remain in that vicinity, and earlier it was the plan to exercise airplanes and remain in that vicinity, I mean New Jersey, until more information was at hand, and we could tell what would probably happen in Newport the next morning, in the way of visibility conditions.

Colonel BRECKINRIDGE. Have you any opinion as to why this course was taken toward Philadelphia at that time?

Lieutenant Commander WILEY. Because we knew that the ground was not covered with fog over there, and we could see the ground, and had good conditions for navigation.

Colonel BRECKINRIDGE. As far as Philadelphia, or as far as the track to Philadelphia was concerned, were there any turbulent air conditions?

Lieutenant Commander WILEY. No, sir.

Colonel BRECKINRIDGE. You were flying at what height?
Lieutenant Commander WILEY. Two thousand feet.

Colonel BRECKINRIDGE. From there you steered to Wilmington?
Lieutenant Commander WILEY. Yes, sir.

Colonel BRECKINRIDGE. At what time were you first conscious of those flashes to the south?

Lieutenant Commander WILEY. About between 8:20 and 8:30. Colonel BRECKINRIDGE. At that point, as I understand, airmanship would present one or more alternatives, one steaming to the west to get to the westward of the storm, where the winds are lighter and the conditions more safe; the other, steaming in an easterly, or southeasterly direction, with the idea of getting to the front, and finally around to the rear of the storm?

Lieutenant Commander WILEY. Yes, sir.

Colonel BRECKINRIDGE. Are there other alternative courses that you think of?

Lieutenant Commander WILEY. Well, those are the two main ones; you might vary those by a little different direction, that is all.

Colonel BRECKINRIDGE. Your own inclination, as expressed to the commanding officer at the time, would have been to pursue the westerly course?

Lieutenant Commander WILEY. Yes, sir.

Colonel BRECKINRIDGE. Did conditions justify that decision? Suppose that had been followed, from your study of the weather conditions would that have brought you into a greater probability of safety?

Lieutenant Commander WILEY. It is hard to say, but I think so, sir; may I expand on that a little bit?

Colonel BRECKINRIDGE. Yes, sir.

Lieutenant Commander WILEY. The thing is that any average person can predict the weather about 50 percent of the time-he can say it is good or bad, and he will be 50 percent right, and a trained observer can predict about 75 percent of the time correctly. Now, the expert may get as high as 83 percent, but that is all he can say. Now, I felt that conditions would be better to the westward, but I could not state with any degree of accuracy more than the captain could that they would be, nor could anybody say absolutely the conditions to the westward would be right, and with average experience, be more than 83 percent right, therefore you could not say if we had gone west we would have been all right, because I am not sure about that.

Colonel BRECKINRIDGE. The captain, I understand, told you that he had also seen lightning flashes in the west?

Lieutenant Commander WILEY. At that time when I suggested running to the westward he said he had seen two flashes to the westward.

Colonel BRECKINRIDGE. Do I understand that the partial weather map was constructed from the 8 p.m. broadcast?

Lieutenant Commander WILEY. No; the partial weather map is the 4 p.m.

Colonel BRECKINRIDGE. Well, what about the 8 p.m.?

Lieutenant Commander WILEY. That is a complete weather map. Colonel BRECKINRIDGE. Did you get it all?

Lieutenant Commander WILEY. No, sir; only about two thirds. Colonel BRECKINRIDGE. So, as far as what you had, it was partial? Lieutenant Commander WILEY. Yes, sir.

Colonel BRECKINRIDGE. The partial nature of it being due to the interference with radio reception?

Lieutenant Commander WILEY. Yes, sir.

Colonel BRECKINRIDGE. Due, as I understand, to drawing up the antenna of the radio?

Lieutenant Commander WILEY. That was one reason, and the static was very bad.

Colonel BRECKINRIDGE. Now, the partial weather map, did that show bad weather conditions to the west, over the Allegheny Mountains?

Lieutenant Commander WILEY. I do not remember that, sir; I only glanced at that map and saw the storm had developed over Washington, and went down directly to the control car again, because I knew the thing we had to worry about was the Washington storm. Colonel BRECKINRIDGE. Does any research that you have made since then show that there were those bad weather conditions, or disadvantageous weather conditions further west?

Lieutenant Commander WILEY. I have not studied subsequent maps; I only saw them at the court of inquiry, but my impression is, in general, conditions were very good to the westward; I am not sure of that; that is, after that time, however, I do know that there were thunderstorms in the vicinity of Philadelphia and Trenton, N.J., as late as 11 o'clock that night.

Colonel BRECKINRIDGE. Are the conditions over broken ground and mountainous territory more turbulent, or less so, than over level ground and water?

Lieutenant Commander WILEY. Decidedly more turbulent, and generally you have more vigorous lightning over country of that kind. Colonel BRECKINRIDGE. If there were bad weather conditions to the west, and you had proceeded to the west, you would have proceeded over more broken ground, would you not?

Lieutenant Commander WILEY. Yes, sir; after we got about 60 miles west of Philadelphia, we would have begun to hit the mountainous country.

Colonel BRECKINRIDGE. Those considerations might have weighed with the commanding officer of the ship?

Lieutenant Commander WILEY. They might have.

Colonel BRECKINRIDGE. In your changing courses to east and northeast, and finally out to sea, was there a constant veering away from the most intense lightning areas?

Lieutenant Commander WILEY. There was; that is on the east and northeast courses, after we left the coast, we were completely surrounded by lightning on all sides.

Colonel BRECKINRIDGE. Before that?

Lieutenant Commander WILEY. Before that; yes, sir.

Colonel BRECKINRIDGE. When you turned a little south of east of Wilmington?

Lieutenant Commander WILEY. He changed to the left when the lightning seemed to get closer, and kept heading to the left; I think once or twice he changed back to the right for a short time, a few degrees 15 degrees.