Pacific Air Lines flight 308 was a domestic service between Los Angeles, and San Francisco, with intermediate stops at Oxnard, Santa Maria, and Paso Robles, California. The DC-3 took off from Santa Maria’s runway 17 at 20:18 hours local time. A few seconds after the first power reduction following takeoff, a loud explosion was heard and fire was seen in the left engine. The left propeller was immediately feathered, the engine was shut off, and appropriate power was applied to the right engine. At the time this happened the aircraft was at an approximate altitude of 550 feet m.s.l., or 300 feet above the ground. Shortly after this the fire was observed to be out; however, the airplane began to buffet, buffeting became so severe that the aircraft lost altitude and the captain was forced to make an emergency landing about 1-1/2 miles north of the airport. The copilot died in the accident. PROBABLE CAUSE: “The Board determines the probable cause of this accident was that following the failure of the left engine, the left engine’s ring cowl was deformed causing a buffeting and drag condition which made sustained flight impossible. A contributing factor was the scheduling of the aircraft by the company when there should have been reasonable doubt concerning the airworthiness of an engine.”