Aeromexico Pilot’s Last Words: ‘Oh, This Can’t Be’

“Oh (expletive deleted), this can’t be,” the pilot of Aeromexico Flight 498 said in Spanish, giving the first indication that he knew the jetliner was in trouble in the sky over Cerritos Aug. 31, according to transcripts of cockpit conversations released today by the National Transportation Safety Board.

The pilot’s statement came 10 seconds after 11:52 a.m, the moment that sources close to the investigation of the disaster fix as the time that the Aeromexico DC-9 collided with a small, private plane that had entered controlled airspace without permission. Eighty-two people, including 15 on the ground, were killed.

There were no additional entries reflecting cockpit conversation in the transcript except an indication at 11:52 a.m. and 32 seconds that the tape had ended, presumably on impact.

Investigators said the cockpit voice recording is of “extremely poor” quality and provided no clues about the cause of the collision, or any indication that the Aeromexico crew saw the single-engine Piper Archer before it slammed into the DC-9’s tail section.

The transcript, which covered the last 11 minutes of the flight, began when the Aeromexico jet was at 10,000 feet and had checked in with the coastal air traffic control.

The recording indicated that at 11:51 a.m. and 30 seconds all appeared well aboard the jetliner as the captain was heard to say, “Thank you.” The context of the remark could not be established.

Fifteen seconds later, the Los Angeles air traffic controller directing Flight 498 on a routine approach told the aircraft to maintain its present speed and the pilot responded.

“All right, we’ll maintain one niner zero,” the pilot told air traffic control at 11:52 a.m. Ten seconds later came the cryptic “Oh . . . , this can’t be” on the cockpit recorder.

(An FAA transcript released earlier this week showed that the LAX air traffic controller handling the jet had had two brief exchanges with a third plane, a private aircraft which had entered the terminal control area without prior authorization, before the collision of Flight 498 and the single-engine Piper occurred.

(But sources close to the investigation discounted speculation that the third plane had distracted the controller’s attention from the Aeromexico jet.)