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Investigators Probe Queens Crash of American Airlines Flight 587
Aired October 29, 2002 - 14:37 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.
MARTIN SAVIDGE, CNN ANCHOR: Investigators are establishing a critical timeline for events in last year's crash of American Airlines Flight 587 in Queens -- you'll remember that. Among the evidence at a public hearing today, dramatic transcripts of the pilot's last words.
CNN's Kathleen Koch following developments now for us from Washington -- Kathleen.
KATHLEEN KOCH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Martin, those transcripts are very short because this flight was only in the air just over a minute and a half. Now, we're going to play some of that for you. We'll be picking it up just after the plane crosses the wake -- kind of like waves in the air that were caused by Japan Airlines 747, a very large plane that took off just before it. So the pilot's words are, "A little wake turbulence, huh?" To which the co-pilot responds, "Yes." The co-pilot is at the controls of the plane. Then you hear the co- pilot say, "250, thank you." He's setting the airspeed at 250 knots.
Then there's a thump. That's what they believe is the second wake encounter, the second time this plane crosses over the air wave from the previous plane. Then the co-pilot, after just the three seconds, calls for maximum power in a strained voice. Then the pilot responds, "Are you all right?" The co-pilot says, "Yes, I'm fine." Then the pilot says, "Hang on to it, hang on to it."
Then there's a sound of a snap. Not clear what that is. Then the co-pilot, again at the controls, says, "Let's go for power, please." Then there's a sound of a loud bang. They think that may be the tail breaking off.
Then, it says, just about three seconds later, the co-pilot says, "Holy," and then expletive deleted. Then not long after that, the co- pilot says, "What the hell are we into? We're stuck in it." You hear a lot of alarms going off, a lot of things indicating some very serious problems are underway.
And then the final thing that we hear on the transcript, on the cockpit voice recorder, is the pilot saying, "Get out of it, get out of it."
The NTSB investigators who spoke to us at the hearing today said at this point two things that have been able to eliminate are terrorism and sabotage.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) BOB BENZON, NTSB LEAD INVESTIGATOR: There was no evidence of high-speed-object impacts, supersonic gas washing, microparticle pitting, or explosive residue on any aircraft component. The board also discovered no unusual indications on the flight data recorder or the cockpit voice recorder that would indicate foul play.
And last, the sequence of events itself as previously described is not consistent with sabotage.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KOCH: Now, the NTSB found at this point no malfunction whatsoever or structural problems with either the rudder or the tail fin that it was attached to, though they're still examining both of those as potential causes.
And the NTSB also says that it believes that these rudder movements that occurred in the last seven seconds that the plane was in the air -- to the right, and then left, right, left, right again -- that those put such stress on the tail fin that was a likely thing that caused it to snap off, because the tail fin was not designed to feet forces that great.
And the question at this point is was it the pilot pushing the rudder pedals that made the rudder move vigorously back and forth, or was there something else that was back driving it, causing the rudder to move on its own.
Also here today were a large number of family members who have driven down in a large bus convoy from New York City. And they're very concerned, they want to know what happened, why is the investigation taking, in their opinion, which is much too long, though these investigations do take some time, Martin. We won't have a final conclusion until probably summer.
Back to you. .
SAVIDGE: Kathleen, you're right. They do take a long time. But for a family member, it is much, much too long.
Thank you very much.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Flight 587>
Aired October 29, 2002 - 14:37 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
MARTIN SAVIDGE, CNN ANCHOR: Investigators are establishing a critical timeline for events in last year's crash of American Airlines Flight 587 in Queens -- you'll remember that. Among the evidence at a public hearing today, dramatic transcripts of the pilot's last words.
CNN's Kathleen Koch following developments now for us from Washington -- Kathleen.
KATHLEEN KOCH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Martin, those transcripts are very short because this flight was only in the air just over a minute and a half. Now, we're going to play some of that for you. We'll be picking it up just after the plane crosses the wake -- kind of like waves in the air that were caused by Japan Airlines 747, a very large plane that took off just before it. So the pilot's words are, "A little wake turbulence, huh?" To which the co-pilot responds, "Yes." The co-pilot is at the controls of the plane. Then you hear the co- pilot say, "250, thank you." He's setting the airspeed at 250 knots.
Then there's a thump. That's what they believe is the second wake encounter, the second time this plane crosses over the air wave from the previous plane. Then the co-pilot, after just the three seconds, calls for maximum power in a strained voice. Then the pilot responds, "Are you all right?" The co-pilot says, "Yes, I'm fine." Then the pilot says, "Hang on to it, hang on to it."
Then there's a sound of a snap. Not clear what that is. Then the co-pilot, again at the controls, says, "Let's go for power, please." Then there's a sound of a loud bang. They think that may be the tail breaking off.
Then, it says, just about three seconds later, the co-pilot says, "Holy," and then expletive deleted. Then not long after that, the co- pilot says, "What the hell are we into? We're stuck in it." You hear a lot of alarms going off, a lot of things indicating some very serious problems are underway.
And then the final thing that we hear on the transcript, on the cockpit voice recorder, is the pilot saying, "Get out of it, get out of it."
The NTSB investigators who spoke to us at the hearing today said at this point two things that have been able to eliminate are terrorism and sabotage.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) BOB BENZON, NTSB LEAD INVESTIGATOR: There was no evidence of high-speed-object impacts, supersonic gas washing, microparticle pitting, or explosive residue on any aircraft component. The board also discovered no unusual indications on the flight data recorder or the cockpit voice recorder that would indicate foul play.
And last, the sequence of events itself as previously described is not consistent with sabotage.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KOCH: Now, the NTSB found at this point no malfunction whatsoever or structural problems with either the rudder or the tail fin that it was attached to, though they're still examining both of those as potential causes.
And the NTSB also says that it believes that these rudder movements that occurred in the last seven seconds that the plane was in the air -- to the right, and then left, right, left, right again -- that those put such stress on the tail fin that was a likely thing that caused it to snap off, because the tail fin was not designed to feet forces that great.
And the question at this point is was it the pilot pushing the rudder pedals that made the rudder move vigorously back and forth, or was there something else that was back driving it, causing the rudder to move on its own.
Also here today were a large number of family members who have driven down in a large bus convoy from New York City. And they're very concerned, they want to know what happened, why is the investigation taking, in their opinion, which is much too long, though these investigations do take some time, Martin. We won't have a final conclusion until probably summer.
Back to you. .
SAVIDGE: Kathleen, you're right. They do take a long time. But for a family member, it is much, much too long.
Thank you very much.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Flight 587>
