AMR 587 Airbus CVR transcript released
Bloomberg News is reporting the following;
AMR Flight 587 Pilots Didn't Know Tail Came Off Before Crash
Washington, Oct. 29 (Bloomberg) -- The pilots of American
Airlines Flight 587 didn't know their Airbus SAS plane's vertical
tail fin broke off before the aircraft's fatal Nov. 12 crash in a
New York neighborhood, a U.S. board's records show.
Co-pilot Sten Molin, who was flying the AMR Corp. unit's
plane, said "What the hell are we into?'' and "We're stuck in
it'' nine seconds after the fin sheared off, according to a
timeline and cockpit voice recorder transcript released by the
National Transportation Safety Board before a hearing today.
Molin acknowledged wake turbulence from a preceding aircraft
about seven seconds before the plane's rudder made five large
swings. Seven seconds after the rudder movements, the tail fin
sheared off, the NTSB records show. The board is investigating the
possible role of the turbulence in the crash, which killed all 260
people on the plane and five people on the ground.
The Airbus A300-600, headed for the Dominican Republic,
crashed less than two minutes after takeoff from New York's John
F. Kennedy International Airport. The board released evidence
collected in its investigation as the NTSB begins four or five
days of hearings on the second-deadliest U.S. aviation accident.
Less than 30 seconds before his last words, Molin, who was
flying the plane, acknowledged pilot Edward States' comment of
"little wake turbulence, huh.'' Then he said, "Yea, I'm fine''
when States asked, "You all right?'' The final exchange came
during the rudder movements, according to the NTSB timeline.
Rudder Movements
The board is investigating whether Molin initiated rudder
movements as part of a maneuver to escape the wake vortex. The
NTSB in February said the rudder swings and plane's angle may have
created too much force, shearing off the aircraft's tail before it
plunged into a Queens neighborhood.
The NTSB hasn't concluded whether pilot action or a
malfunction caused the rudder movements and won't decide a
probable cause at least until next year. The hearing will focus on
pilot training, the rudder design, jetliner wakes and Federal
Aviation Administration design standards, the board has said.
The rudder is a movable part of the plane's vertical tail fin
that directs the nose of the aircraft left and right. In the seven
seconds after the plane hit a second vortex from the preceding
jetliner, the rudder moved right, then four times in opposite
directions before the tail fin came off.
American since 1996 has trained pilots to use rudders in some
emergencies, such as when planes are in steep angles. The NTSB has
found that many pilots of planes such as the A300-600 didn't know
a small amount of foot-pedal force can cause a large rudder swing.
That finding raises the possibility that Molin intended slight
movements and instead caused wide swings.