Pilots uneasy over playing of Flight 93 cockpit tape

Wednesday, April 17, 2002

By Don Phillips and Dan Eggen, The Washington Post

WASHINGTON -- Many airline pilots and aviation experts are upset by the FBI's decision to let victims' families hear the cockpit voice recording from hijacked United Airlines Flight 93, fearing it could set a precedent that would allow such tapes to be used in a variety of ways after future airline crashes.

While pilots express sympathy for families of the people aboard the Sept. 11 flight, which crashed in rural Pennsylvania after an apparent struggle for control of the aircraft, they argue that the final words of pilots and crew members are too personal and anguished for public review under any circumstances.

The FBI, facing escalating criticism and threats of a lawsuit from some relatives, recently reversed its position and announced it would allow interested families to listen to the 30-minute tape tomorrow in Princeton, N.J. The move was guided in part by the strong possibility that the tape will be used in the government's prosecution of alleged hijacking conspirator Zacarias Moussaoui, sources said.

About 50 people, more than half of those eligible, have signed up for the session so far, FBI officials said.

The decision breaks new ground for the use of cockpit voice recordings, which have never officially been played for anyone other than investigators and the parties involved in court cases.

Hank Krakowski, United Airlines vice president for corporate safety, security and quality assurance, said the recordings were "never envisioned to be used in this manner."

Pilots contacted by The Washington Post expressed opposition to using a cockpit tape for purposes other than an accident investigation.

One called the exercise "gruesome." Some pilots also said they believe it's unlikely the tape will remain truly private after families listen to it and then describe its contents publicly. "They'll be on 'Larry King Live' that very night," one pilot said.

Added John Mazor, spokesman for the Air Line Pilots Association, "As a practical matter, they've got the tape and they're going to do what they want with it." The situation puts the union "in a hard place," he said.

http://www.post-gazette.com/nation/20020417flight93tape0417p2.asp

My opinion regarding allowing family members to listen to a cvr is that they should but I would opt not to listen. It would be far too upsetting for me to go there. As far as the pilot that says it is gruesome- air crashes are are horribly gruesome and the press will report things far worse anyway. I'm afraid no matter how painful it is, it's always best to have the truth out in public. I wish that we had far more information regarding sr111 than we do. JMHO

Any thoughts?

How sad. My apologies to you in advance, Barbara, but personally, I do not see how this benefits anyone, particularly aviation safety. Remember the purpose of the CVR. It is to aid in the investigation of an accident, not to be used as a media event, which it is certainly to become. Tune in on CNN, or any of the host programs, and I will bet you can "hear" the "jucy" portions reported. Thank God there was no video in the cockpit, otherwise, that too would be aired. The crew are dead. If nothing else, why not respect the dignity they rightfully deserve.

Barbara... I have had time to rethink this. Initially, my reaction was of the knee jerk type, which makes me oppose any public release of CVR conversations. While still borderline however, in this case, IF, I say IF, what they are releasing is the recorded voices of the hijackers, and the passengers if any, then I think I can go along with it. I hope to goodness that ANY and ALL crew voices have been removed from the release.

Cecil, No need to ever apologize. I was hoping that you would express your opinion as it is always appreciated. We are just coming from different experiences on this but you always give me something to think about even if I don't always arrive at the same conclusions. Thank you for taking the time to post a response. Believe me, I think I do understand your point of view on this. This is a tough one for me because though I do see your side of it, I'm thinking that from my own experience far too much information has been kept away from the families of sr111. I have to tell you that as I said before, I would personally be unable to listen to the CVR of sr111 or for that matter any tragedy. I wonder how many of the surviving family members will actually be able to listen to it?

As far as who's voices they will hear on the particular tape, I'm not sure. You could be right about it mainly being the hijacker's voices and maybe the passengers that attempted to fight them off. This is obviously going to be extremely painful for these people.

Barbara

04/17/2002 - Updated 06:00 PM ET





Flight 93 tape haunts, intrigues

Rick Hampson, USA TODAY


Gene J. Puskar, AP
FBI investigators recovered the cockpit recording from the crash site of United Flight 93.

They have traveled far and wide to hear a tape they know will scare, upset and confuse them, make hearts race and palms sweat. A tape that could cause nightmares, destroy comforting illusions, and raise questions rather than answers.

But relatives of those who died on United Airlines Flight 93 say they need to hear for themselves the cockpit recording of the 30 minutes before the hijacked jetliner crashed in Pennsylvania on Sept. 11.

"Put yourself in my position," says Meredith Rothenberg of Scotch Plains, N.J., who lost her husband of 30 years. "I don't know if I can explain it, but I feel compelled to listen."

"If we didn't listen, we'd always wonder," says Jerry Guadagno of Ewing, N.J., whose son was onboard.

So today, they and more than 50 other people face an ordeal experienced by only a few people in U.S. commercial aviation history: They will hear the last minutes of a flight on which their loved ones died.

The FBI, which will play the tape in group sessions at a hotel in Princeton, N.J., has urged the relatives to "think carefully about whether (to) listen. ... The content is violent and very distressing. ... It may not be possible to forget the sounds and images it evokes."

Alice Hoglan of Los Gatos, Calif., says she hopes to hear her son's voice: "As ugly and excruciating as it's going to be, we're hoping for some glimmer of conversation that we recognize."

Four terrorists hijacked Flight 93 en route from Newark, N.J., to San Francisco. They turned the jet toward Washington, apparently planning to crash into the Capitol or the White House. Passengers, who learned via cell phone of other terrorist attacks on the same day, rushed the cockpit. Minutes later, the jet crashed.

Within hours, several relatives were asking to hear the cockpit voice recording, which was made with two microphones in the pilots' headsets and one embedded in the ceiling. The tape runs on a continuous 30-minute loop, and is designed to help investigators understand the causes of airline accidents.

But after the Flight 93 recorder was recovered, the FBI classified it as evidence and refused to let the relatives hear it. The bureau added that the voices on the recording were "indistinguishable."

The National Transportation Safety Board, which investigates airline crashes, almost never allows anyone except investigators to hear such tapes. Only in a few legal cases have judges allowed them to be played, only in closed court.

But Flight 93 relatives kept lobbying, and last month, FBI Director Robert Mueller changed his mind. The bureau offered to pay the travel expenses of two members of each family, and will have counselors present when the tape is played.


The rest of the article:

http://www.usatoday.com/news/attack/2002/04/17/flight-93-tape.htm

From Air Safety Week:

Sacred Voices

"Nothing good can come out of this," predicted Capt. Hank Krakowski, United Airlines' [UAL] vice president of safety, a few days before families were allowed to hear the cockpit voice recorder (CVR) of Flight 93's last moments. The airplane was one of the four hijacked Sept. 11, 2001, and in which at least three passengers attempted to recapture the cockpit. The airplane crashed in Pennsylvania at 10:10 a.m., killing all aboard. Screams on an open cockpit microphone were heard at about 9:28 a.m. by an air traffic controller in Cleveland. The first sound on the CVR tape began at about 9:30, after the hijackers had stormed the cockpit.

Krakowski predicted a "media circus" after families heard the tape. The decision to afford them this opportunity was made by Robert Mueller, director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). Families made repeated requests to hear the tape, arguing that the opportunity to do so would add to their understanding of the event. Mueller's decision may have been influenced by the likelihood that the tape eventually might be played publicly during the trial of Zacarias Moussaoui, who is charged with being one of the conspirators in the plot. The crash of Flight 93 is considered a criminal case; therefore the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) has no jurisdiction.

However, the NTSB has successfully rebuffed previous requests to make public the actual recordings, not just written transcripts of CVR tapes. In fact, the statute under which the NTSB operates prohibits release of CVR tapes, allowing only for release of transcripts in support of an accident investigation. NTSB Chair Marion Blakey described the playing of the tape as "entirely the call of the FBI."

Former NTSB Chairman James Hall expressed grave concern about the precedent set by allowing families to hear the CVR:

"I think it is most unfortunate. The decision does not respect the precedent and history surrounding the use of CVR recordings. As NTSB chairman, I had to turn down families' requests repeatedly.

"The sacred voices captured on those tapes should only be used for accident investigation to make flying safer for everyone. The FDR [flight data recorder] and CVR are the two most important tools to the NTSB. The information they contain has helped save thousands of lives."

To these comments, Hall added that the playing of the CVR tape sets bad precedent for handling of cockpit video recordings. During his tenure, he strongly advocated the addition of a video recording capability covering cockpit activity to provide additional information as to instrument readings, control inputs by the crew, and so forth, as an adjunct to the information captured on the FDR/CVR. Basically, if sound recordings are played to the families, showing them video recordings is likely to be even more traumatic, inflicting additional emotional pain with no benefit with regard to accident investigations or air safety.

As it turned out, Krakowski's feared "media circus" did not occur. Perhaps this was due to the fact that new deaths tend to shove earlier deaths into the background. The Flight 93 tape was played on the same day as the fatal derailment of an Amtrak auto train in Florida, and on the same day a light plane with an apparent engine failure crashed into the tallest building in Milan, Italy. Although deemed an accident, the airplane's fiery impact into the Pirelli Building recalled the Sept. 11 attacks into the twin towers of the World Trade Center.

The Flight 93 tape was played in the morning for family members of the flightcrew and in the afternoon for the passengers' relatives. The families were discrete in their public pronouncements afterward. Some said the experience gave a measure of "emotional closure." >> Hall, tel. 202/312-0600 <<