Blackwater 61 crash - voice recorder transcript

[DocJacko]

Transcript: The last flight of Blackwater 61

CASA 212 twin-engine turboprop airplane.


The Virginian-Pilot
© July 26, 2006



This is a portion of the transcript from the cockpit voice recorder taken from a CASA 212 twin-engine turboprop airplane flown by Presidential Airways Inc., Blackwater USA’s aviation affiliate. The plane – Blackwater 61 – took off from Bagram, Afghanistan, on Nov. 27, 2004, carrying a three-man civilian crew and three U.S. soldiers. The voices are those of Noel English, the captain; Loren Hammer, the first officer; and Melvin Rowe, the flight mechanic. Families of the soldiers are suing Presidential Airways.

Source: National Transportation Safety Board


English: I hope I’m goin’ in the right valley.

Hammer: That one or this one?

English: I’m just gonna go up this one. … We’ll just see where this leads. … Normally we’d have time to, on a short day like this, we’d have time to play a little bit, do some explorin’, but with these winds comin’ up I want to (expletive) get there as fast as we can. …

Rowe: I don’t see anythin’ over about 13-three is the highest peak in the whole route, I think. …

English: Yeah, so we’ll be able to pick our way around it. … Yeah, with this good visibility, (expletive) it’s as easy as pie. You run into somethin’ big, you just parallel it until you find a way through. … Cool up in here.

Hammer: Yeah, this is fun.


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English: We’re not supposed to be havin’ fun, though. … It’s supposed to be all work. We can’t enjoy any of it.

English: Exactly.

Hammer: ’Cause we’re getting paid too much to be havin’ fun.

English: You’re God (expletive) right. …

Rowe: I don’t know what we’re gonna see. We don’t normally go this route. …

English: All we want is to avoid seeing rock at 12 o’clock. … Ah, yeah, look at this. I swear to God, they wouldn’t pay me if they knew how much fun this was. …

Hammer: Well, this, ah, row of mountains off to our left – I mean, it doesn’t get much lower than about 14,000 the whole length of it, at least not till the edge of my map.

English: OK. Well, let’s kind of look and see if we’ve got anywhere we can pick our way through. … Yeah, if we have to go to 14 for just a second it won’t be too bad. …

Hammer: Boy, it’s a good thing we’re not too heavy today, I guess. …

English: Come on, baby, come on, baby, you can make it.

Rowe: OK, you guys are gonna make this, right?

English: Yeah, I’m hopin’. …

(Stall warning tone; single beep.)

Rowe: Got a way out?

English: Yeah. We, we can do a 180 up in here. …

Hammer: Yeah, let’s turn around.

English: Yeah, drop a quarter flaps.

Rowe: Yeah, you need to, ah, make a decision.

(Sound of heavy breathing starts.)

English: God (expletive.)

Rowe: Hundred, 90 knots – call off his airspeed for him.

(Stall warning tone; continues until end.)

English: Ah, (expletive).

Rowe: Call it off. Help him out. Call off his airspeed for him.

Hammer: You got 95; 95.

English: Oh, God. Oh, (expletive).

Rowe: We’re goin’ down.

Unidentified voice: God.

Unidentified voice: God.

The recording ends as the plane hits a mountain, killing all six occupants

[RRAAMJET]

as cowboy as their ground pounders in Iraq....:mad:

Basically murdered 3 soldiers and a very concerned Flt Engineer...very sad.

[flash8]

The Mechanic/"FE" was obviously concerned - there always is a case for a third set of eyes and ears up front - they can obviously spot something a joint mindset can't being somewhat detached. RIP.

[Algy]

Make of it what you will. (http://www.ntsb.gov/publictn/2006/AAB0607.pdf) I say hats off to the Feds with the commitment to conduct a full investigation in the circumstances.

[MrSkyGuy]

Call me crazy, but this seems like a textbook case for CRM courses to peek into. Lots of little tidbits in that transcript, but we all know its different when the stick is in your lap.

[QDMQDMQDM]

Call me crazy, but this seems like a textbook case for CRM courses to peek into.

Good CRM can only help when a crew has made the decision to behave in a professional manner. Initial cavalier behaviour, no doubt subsequently exacerbated by hypoxia, is not a fertile ground for CRM to save the day.

Nothing will protect a cowboy from the effects of his own actions. The question is what makes a professional pilot suddenly behave like a cowboy? How could anyone be so cocky?

[soddim]

Full of admiration for the integrity of all involved in the publication of this report.

Great shame our aviation fraternity still includes those who take risks they are not able to control, particularly with passengers on board.

The military on active duty should not have to rely on cowboys to transport them - where was the military transport?

Contracting out should not increase the dangers of active duty. Our military professionals deserve better.

[Two's in]

Some interesting behaviors demonstrated here when the crew were far away from supervisory members or any obvious regulatory constraints. Flying safely when on Operations is instinctive because you train for it, this crew appear to have been seduced by the apparent lack of oversight and the opportunity to do some sightseeing. The lack of judgement started well before the hypoxia kicked in. Not saying that they behaved this way because they were civilians in an OA, just that Military types are more aware that when no-one is watching you, the risk levels are higher. Curious that this appears the same day as "Pablo" decides that he can be selective with burdensome rules, similar behavior, just different ends of the spectrum.