too intense to allow any rescue attempts. Firefighters fought the massive blaze for at least 30 minutes before the wreckage could be approached, by which time many of the victims were charred beyond recognition. The Dallas Aviation School and American Magnaflux buildings were almost destroyed and the hangar was extensively damaged. The parked airplane that was struck by the DC-6 burned so extensively that little remained of it afterwards. Investigation The Civil Aeronautics Board (CAB) held a hearing in Dallas in December 1949 to investigate the causes of the accident. During the hearings, it was revealed that neither Claude nor Forbes knew that Lewis had feathered the No. 4 propeller; Claude did not find out until hearing Lewis' statement being read to the CAB. After investigating the remains of the aircraft, conducting flight tests to replicate the accident scenario, and completing the hearing, the CAB concluded in August 1950 that the probable cause of the accident was "the faulty execution of an engine-out approach." A series of significant mishaps by the crew contributed to the final outcome: The captain failed to align the aircraft with the runway centerline after the final turn. After realizing the misalignment, the captain attempted to correct it with a risky "S"-turn at low altitude. There is little room for error if a problem arises during this maneuver because as the angle of the bank increases, so does the probability of stalling the airplane. The crew made no attempt to balance the airplane's fuel load after the No. 1 engine failed. The DC-6 is equipped with four main fuel tanks that serve individual engines, while a network of valves allow fuel to be transferred from one engine's tank to feed other engines. The crew did not cross feed fuel from the tank serving the failed engine to balance the plane's weight as recommended in the flight operations manual. Flight 157 had flown for almost three hours with the No. 1 engine out, and the CAB concluded that the No. 1 main fuel tank was holding about 1,400 lbs (635 kg) more gasoline than the other three main tanks when the plane arrived at Love Field. The investigators primarily attributed the left wing's sharp drop to the excessive weight of the fuel at its outboard end. The captain applied excessive rudder during the "S"-turn, causing a condition known in aviation terminology as a skid. This maneuver would