Judge Backs Pilots Over Cockpit Tapes

Oct 10, 2002

Airline pilots in the US have won their legal battle to prevent cockpit voice tapes being played in open court at the trial of an alleged terrorist.

The Airline Pilots Association has been granted permission to intervene in the trial of Zacarias Moussaoui, accused of involvement in the September 11 attacks, to stop a motion by news media seeking access to cockpit voice recorder (CVR) tapes.

The union argued that releasing the tapes would violate a federal law which protects the privacy of victims in airline crashes and won the backing of US District Judge Leonie Brinkema.

Radio transmissions from the United Airlines flight, which was hi-jacked by the September 11 terrorists and crashed in a field in Pennsylvania, were recorded by a second aircraft. Prosecutors had asked permission to play them in open court.

Passengers are believed to have tackled the hi-jackers before the jet crashed.

In a statement, the union said the motion to intervene by the Air Line Pilots Association, International was granted yesterday. Along with the motion, ALPA filed a brief citing federal statutes that protect CVR tapes from public access.

In the brief, ALPA notes that "the CVR statute allows use of CVR tapes and transcripts at trial, where necessary, 'only if the court places the part of the transcript or the recording under seal to prevent the use of the part of the transcript or the recording for purposes other than for the proceeding.'"

An amendment to the statutes in 2000 also made it clear that the restrictions applied even when an investigation of criminal activity was involved.

http://news.airwise.com/index.html

Wonders never cease to end. Finally, someone in the legal system has used not only the law, but
common sense as well. What in the world could be accomplished by playing the tapes in open, or
closed court, that a written transcript could not just as well suffice. I was and I am still uneasy about the tapes having been played for victim�s family, and I surely do not support other reasons. Now perhaps all can get an idea why there is resistance to video in the cockpit. Just as sure as I sit here writting this, once videos are taken, they will find their way to your TV.