Whereas the incident with the air-traffic controller who left his child direct airplane during take-off at New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport is now notorious, the air crash which took place at Yeager Airport in Charleston, W. Va. shed bad light on the pilots this time.
On January 19, a twin-engine Bombardier jet ran off the runway at the aforementioned airport and smashed into into a crushable concrete safety zone at the end of the strip. None of the 34 people on board were hurt but, as usual, an investigation into the matter was launched. From day 1, authorities believed the crash was the result of the pilots engaging in a conversation not related with the take-off maneuver.
Guess what they were talking about? That's right, Corvettes. The conversation between the pilots was made public this week by Jalopnik and is reproduced both below (the 120 seconds before the crash) and in the photos at the end of the article.
16:11:14 plus she- and then have a uh...she wants a coupe cause she can't take her- there's a road course at the Corvette museum in Bowling Green, Kentucky, but you can't take the ragtops out there.
16:11:22 yeah...ohhh.
16:11:26 it's got to be a coupe. which I mean if the ragtop's got a rollbar- a roll cage in it I don't see what it matters.
16:11:33 yeah yeah.
16:11:34 and she said well- I'd put one in and take it out there.
16:11:45 just need to get hers paid off.
16:11:47 before takeoff checklist.
16:11:52 and ladies and gentlemen once again welcome on board flight twenty four ninety five service to Charlotte. this time we're number one for departure should only be about another oh two or three minutes. I'd like to ask Gayle to please have a seat.
[92 Seconds Later...]
16:13:24 oh.
To be clear, FAA rules prohibit in-cockpit conversations during takeoff and landing which don't directly relate to the flying of the plane part. Because they were busy doing something else, the pilots forgot to set the plane's flaps in the proper position...
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