FAA Tapes Reveal Drama of Obama Jet Incident, Audio Contradicts FAA Account of "No Emergency"

[maddezmom]

Source: ABC

The incident involving Sen. Barack Obama's campaign plane last month was much more serious than the airline or the Federal Aviation Administration said, according to FAA control tower tapes obtained by ABC News.

At the time, an FAA spokesperson said the pilot did not declare an emergency and the airline owner, Midwest Airlines, said safety "was never an issue."


The tapes, to be broadcast tonight on ABC News' World News with Charles Gibson, show otherwise.


Just 41 seconds after discovering he no longer had full control of the plane's up and down movements, the pilot told an FAA air traffic controller "at this time we would like to declare an emergency and also have CFR standing by in St. Louis."



Read more: http://www.abcnews.go.com/Blotter/Politics/story?id=5581453&page=1

[MiaCulpa]

1. OMG

I wonder how this was kept quiet? (D'oh what am I saying?) I'm kinda glad I didn't know at the time I think.

Thanks for the heads up.

-Diane

[Alexander]

2. Here's hoping that was just a one-time accident.

[isentropic]

3. The emergency declaration was a little bit premature but understandable given who was on board.

If the pax were "regular" people they would never have done it.

[MercutioATC]

18. Not at all. If they were having controllability issues, they were 100% justified.

Granted, an emergency declaration requires paperwork...so many pilots would have just said they had a problem and requested the descent...but the declaration was absolutely valid.

[ladjf]

19. Any lack of pitch control is very serious. Further, the amount of

control still available to the pilot could have changed for the worse at any moment. We have had at least two fatal airline accidents that I know of within the past ten years.

As it turned out, the problem was caused by an inflated slide that was binding the flight control cables. Pieces of the slide could have shifted so as to completely jam the controls.

[damntexdem]

34. Which doesn't mean that such practices are correct ...

only that they are in the airlines' and the pilots' interests (well, the pilots' interests only if they are not killed in a crash).

[Name removed]

4. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[bagrman]

5. Didn't Ron Pauls plane have a hiccup about a month ago also. Probably just a reminder.

Of who's in charge.

Latr

[ecstatic]

6. The pilot sounds awfully calm... I would have been freaking out! nt

[TrogL]

8. Pilots are trained (or have the natural temperament) not to freak out

[jberryhill]

20. That's one way of putting it...

I believe pilots are totally out of their minds.

But in a way that is extremely useful for pilots.

[Doctor_J]

15. They're good at that. There's a famous one in which the pilot keeps

that same affect right up to and including the line "I love you mom" at which point the tape ends.

[heliarc]

32. I recommend a play that is often touring...

called CVR (Charlie Victor Romeo). The play's text is cockpit voice recorder transcripts which end in fatalities... The actors perform the roles of the pilots in the tapes, and it is one of the most effective and visceral theater experiences I have ever had. Notably the show has toured so long because it has a following of flight personnel around the country.

http://www.charlievictorromeo.com/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charlie_Victor_Romeo

What is interesting about the interpretations of the actors is that flight professionals who know the people who were involved in crashes they depict are very very convinced by the performances of these fine actors. The show turns your stomach, and also notably the actors are mic'ed and the sound design is loud enough to make you feel that you too are on board the flight as you hear their radio chatter. It's incredible, and what is most interesting is how calm the cockpit is... and how sometimes no one knows what is about to happen.

[ecstatic]

33. That is incredible. I wonder why though: Is it because they don't

want to be heard sounding shrill on the recordings? Or is it because in the back of their mind they've been prepared for that day? I just wonder...

Thanks for the play info, but I'm nervous enough about flying as it is! My latest concern involves birds getting into the engine!! lol

[heliarc]

36. My wife and I fly a lot for work...

And the effect of the show was tremendous. Like getting hit in the gut... We also work in theater so we appreciate something so moving.

I would assume that the pilots forget about the recording, but most I'm sure are prepared for that day. In a couple of the reenacted examples cockpit personell are being quite candid and very unprofessional in the moments leading up to the crash... flirting with each other or telling jokes... passing the time... What is so interesting is that the "plot" of the show is not at all a development leading towards the fate of the characters. The crash can come at any moment and the examples are actual transcripts even if the recordings were not available. Some reenacted flights the cockpit crew has NO idea that the crash is going to happen (and so neither does the audience), and in others they are working to solve the problem and you may even believe that they will resolve it when you hear the overwhelming sound of the crash and the lights go out. Then they project the number of souls on board and the problem that caused the crash. Stunning. After 2 reenactments the next one begins and your stomach turns because you don't know when its going to hit you). They end with a reenactment where it is clear that good communication in the cockpit saved lives... but in some of the other examples reenacted... good communication would not necessarily have saved the souls on board. There was one that was fascinating: Pilots of a flight leaving Peru and attempting to navigate in heavy fog have an altimeter that does not function. They must read a manual that is in English even though they speak only Spanish... the substance of the text was them trying to get a manual translated over the radio. In the end no translation would have helped them. The sensors were accidentally taped over by maintenance crews on the ground. Caught in the trecherous valleys of the Andes without so much as a clue how high they were and with zero visibility they crashed into the mountainside.

Amazing work. I would say that it is must see theater, for anyone who thinks theater is dead... this is the show to see.

[mn9driver]

37. The tailcone slide inflated?

This slide is designed to inflate automatically when the tailcone is jettisoned, via a pin and lanyard system. In my many years and many thousands of hours flying this airplane, I have never heard of this happening without the tailcone leaving the aircraft.

This area is easily accessed when the aircraft is on the ground for servicing. Rigging the pins to slip out and allow the slide to inflate at the least disturbance would also be a fast and easy thing to do. If this was deliberate---and in my professional opinion it may be---it would be a perfect way to cause a high probability of a control problem during a critical phase of flight:

1. Easy to do
2. Fast
3. Likely to happen right at liftoff (which DIDN'T happen in this case)
4. Totally undetectable afterward

Just sayin'....

[heliarc]

41. huh?

I appreciate your perspective, but I'm not so sure I understand how this was in response to my post. Care to elaborate?

[phillip1955]

42. CIA Assassination attempt - No Doubt

I checked the entire NTSB database of incidents for the MD-81, -82, -83, and -88 model aircraft, 85 total reports spanning the years 1982 to 2008,and not one of them reported anything similar to midair inflation of an escape chute.

You can search the database here:
http://www.asias.faa.gov/pls/portal/PORTAL.wwa_app_module.show?p_sessionid=112569
EVENT TYPE : "Incident"
AIRCRAFT MAKE-NAME : "McDonnell-Douglas-Boeing"
AIRCRAFT MODEL NAME : "MD-80"

In fact, you can run a search for NARRATIVE TEXT : "escape chute deployed midair" and "escape chute deployed inflight" without specifying aircraft mfg/model and there are ZERO returns for the entire database for either "Accident" or "Incident" in EVENT TYPE. According to the NTSB database, there are no previously recorded instances of an escape chute deploying inflight.

And for those who say it would have happened had the CIA attempted it, look to North Korean Leader Kim Jong-il. His father, Kim Il-sung, was assassinated July 8, 1994 by the CIA. It was reported to the world that he had died of a heart attack, but I was present during a video-taped session in June, 1994 when it was stated in no uncertain terms that the leadership of North Korea was "going to be removed very soon." The video was made for a now-defunct program that was airing on Fox at the time. A preview of the segment was shown one week prior to its air date and after the assassination, but was suddenly pulled and was never broadcast. Additional information from the session that was not recorded made it absolutely clear the U.S. government was behind the assassination.

Kim Il-sung's son, the current leader, was also the target of an assassination attempt by the CIA on April 22, 2004. The official version says careless workers mishandled electrical lines over a rail car loaded with ammonium nitrate fertilizer and showered sparks down onto the cargo. Later it was reported that the rail car contained dynamite, since ammonium nitrate fertilizer by itself is harmless - it must be mixed in the proper proportions with another substance such as fuel oil.

At any rate, the Dear Leader was scheduled to pass through the rail station at precisely that moment as he headed home from a visit to Beijing (he's afraid of flying so he travels by train), but in an "amazing coincidence" his entourage suddenly left ahead of schedule.

http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9B00E3D7123AF937A15757C0A9629C8B63

This too was confirmed to be an assassination job by the CIA but was not addressed until after the fact because there had been no sessions prior to the attempt.

So just because the CIA tries to assassinate someone does not guarantee they will succeed.

We are now living in a brownshirt, fascist police state that will murder political opposition to remain in power. The United States as we knew it is history. It's probably only a matter of time before we hear the jackboots marching in the night. Thank you, you bushlickers, for voting twice to destroy America.

[WannaJumpMyScooter]

7. is there a single thing this government

does not lie about?

[question everything]

9. FAA Tapes Reveal Drama of Obama Jet Incident

Source: ABC

Audio Contradicts FAA Account of "No Emergency"
By BRIAN ROSS, JOSEPH RHEE, and ERIC LONGABARDI

August 14, 2008—

The incident involving Sen. Barack Obama's campaign plane last month was much more serious than the airline or the Federal Aviation Administration said, according to FAA control tower tapes obtained by ABC News.

At the time, an FAA spokesperson said the pilot did not declare an emergency and the airline owner, Midwest Airlines, said safety "was never an issue." The tapes, to be broadcast tonight on ABC News' World News with Charles Gibson, show otherwise.

Just 41 seconds after discovering he no longer had full control of the plane's up and down movements, the pilot told an FAA air traffic controller "at this time we would like to declare an emergency and also have CFR standing by in St. Louis."

An FAA spokesperson acknowledged today that its statements at the time of "no emergency" were wrong, based, the spokesperson said, on erroneous reports from FAA air traffic managers.



Read more: http://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/Politics/story?id=5581453&page=1

[aaroh]

10. inside job?

[Trekologer]

11. On a side note...

Nice to see the Obama campaign giving Midwest Airlines business. That airline certainly is struggling lately.

[gateley]

21. That's nice to hear --

but the article says he's since switched to a 757 which he was having retrofitted at the time he was using the Midwest airplane. I'm glad they got his business for a while anyway.

[Name removed]

12. Deleted sub-thread

Sub-thread removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[miles 2 go]

13. what was it they said was wrong with the plane

something inflated in the back of the plane. What was that and how did it get inflated?

[Doctor_J]

14. Big Media tried to ignore this one so when the next one happens it won't

be so suspicious. I hope Charlie can contain his hatred for Obama during the broadcast.

[Doctor_J]

16. So the FAA is full of lying Bushies now too, I guess

:shrug:

[MercutioATC]

17. "erroneous reports from FAA air traffic managers"???? I'm speechless!

:eyes:

[libnnc]

22. lol

yup

[redqueen]

29. "The FAA had not publicly corrected the record until today, after being contacted by ABC News."

Well, isn't that special.

Fucking hell.

[JCMach1]

23. Sounding more and more like an assassination attempt

and a possible coverup

How often does an escape stair inflate without cause?

And why didn't the NTSB investigate.

[Festivito]

24. Another REPUBLICANIZED entity LYING to us. Oh, my!

Move along. Nothing more to see here.

No assassination attempt here. None whatsoever. Move along.

FAA admits they lied, that's enough so move along now.

MOVE ALONG!

[MnFats]

28. yeah. first thing i thoughtwhen i heard of this was "Paul Wellstone'

but then i'm just a nervous nellie.
right? Right?
Dr. Lecter? Dr. Lecter?

[damntexdem]

35. It does show how much less competent the administration has become since 2002.

Thank goodness in this case.

[Festivito]

38. Also could have destroyed CON's ad campaign of elitism.

Overcoming a death scare elicits fondness and destroys the notion of elitism.

Can't have that.

It's just that I'm tired of not being able to know anything anymore.

[RUMMYisFROSTED]

25. I thought destroying the recording was FAA protocol.

:shrug:

[melm00se]

26. better to declare

an in flight emergency and bring it down with all due care and diligence than to slam into the ground like a lawn dart, yes?

[lovuian]

27. in other words someone had control of their plane

I have heard that airplanes have their autopilots which are computerized allow to let someone else use the controls

this sounds like a confirmation of that

[JeanGrey]

30. I honest to god am not surprised. In my heart I think

this was only the first attempt...............

[DU GrovelBot]

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[goforit]

39. Cheney's such a busy, busy, busy, busy guy.

[bobd0]

40. Months ago while discussing Obama's candidacy

The wife and I were talking about Obama's chances of winning and it reminded me of that line from the movie, "The Karate Kid", where Daniel asks Miyagi if he actually has a chance of winning and Miyagi says, "Better you just survive." (Or words to that effect)

That's how this story makes me feel about Barack Obama. He has a good chance of winning but can he survive?

This sounds like an inside job, particularly with the FAA lies and media cover up. AND after reading mn9driver's post above. This could be something as complicated as a government plot or something as simple as some technician that doesn't want to see a black president.

Just sayin'.