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CNN Live At Daybreak

Memory Module in Flight Data Recorder of AA Flight 587 Damaged

Aired November 14, 2001 - 08:25   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
PAULA ZAHN, CNN ANCHOR: Back now, to another tragedy that New York is still reeling from, and that is the crash of American Airlines Flight 587. Investigators want to know whether turbulence from another plane may have been a major factor.

But a critical source of information could be lost. Officials are now saying a memory module in the plane's data recorder was damaged, and could prove to be a problem for the investigation.

CNN's Jason Carroll joins us from the crash site with an update -- good morning, Jason.

JASON CARROLL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: And good morning to you, Paula.

Well, the NTSB is calling it a significant development. They found the flight data recorder out here at the crash site yesterday. The flight data recorder can track some 200 instruments on board an aircraft. But as you say, downloading some of that information could be somewhat problematic. The NTSB is saying that most of the significant information should come from the data recorder, if they can fix the problems with downloading that information.

But early analysis of a cockpit voice recorder has given investigators some valuable information in terms of what happened seconds before the crash.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GEORGE BLACK, NTSB: A second airframe rattling sound was heard at 121 seconds after the start of the takeoff roll. The copilot calls then at 125 seconds after the start of the roll for max power. There are several comments suggesting loss of control of the aircraft at 127 seconds after the takeoff roll initiation. And the cockpit voice recording ends at 144 seconds after the start of the takeoff roll.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CARROLL: Paula, I am hearing that we have some developments on your end, so I'm going to turn it back over to you.

ZAHN: All right, Jason.

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