3:15 was the departure time listed on the manifest, and although Schuman, the airline owner and Army veteran, told various media outlets the crash happened at 3:15, 3:30, 3:45 and “ten minutes into the flight”, I have to favor 3:22 as the time of the crash, as two passengers’ cheap watches, both showed that time far later into the scenario aftermath.
What is the significance of #201, by the way?
The 3:15 flight was a regularly scheduled flight, subsidized to keep passenger ticket prices down and somewhat affordable for the tourists. I believe the pilot normally waits around between the morning and afternoon flight, but being an 18,000+ hour pilot, this particular flight’s pilot, who also had been Schuman Air’s Director of Operations, would have been a more expensive lay-over than most freshly-minted, building-time-for-the-majors flight instructor-types.
Would never have happened if the correct safety regulations had been followed: