2 Pilots in Crash Held Lacking in Experience : Safety Board Gets Conflicting Evidence on Who Was at Controls as Plane Took Off From Denver

Controversy continued to mount Wednesday over the relative inexperience of the pilots of the Continental Airlines jetliner that crashed on takeoff during a snowstorm here Sunday, killing 28 of the 82 aboard.

“It was wrong to put those two people in the cockpit together,” said Wally Roberts, a veteran airline pilot who has served both as an accident investigator and as a safety consultant for the Air Line Pilots Assn.

“The co-pilot was almost right off the street,” Roberts said. “His background was fine, but that meant fine to fly with an experienced pilot. The pilot was fine, but he needed an experienced co-pilot. Together, it left something to be desired.

“I blame the FAA (Federal Aviation Administration). They should have rules to prevent that sort of thing. Continental isn’t doing anything anyone else isn’t.”

Safety Board Briefing

In a press briefing Tuesday night, Jim Burnett, chairman of the National Transportation Safety Board, which is investigating the accident, said that while Capt. Frank Zvonek, 43, of Carlsbad, Calif., had over 12,000 hours total flight experience, Zvonek had “only” 33 hours of time as a captain of a DC-9.

Burnett said the co-pilot, First Officer Lee Bruecher, 26, of Houston, who had about 3,150 hours total flight experience in commuter planes and other smaller aircraft before coming to Continental last July, had “only” 36 hours and 36 minutes of flight time in a DC-9, all of it with Continental.

On Wednesday night, Burnett said a Continental captain who had flown with Bruecher on an earlier flight described him as “slow, but typical of a new first officer.”

While declining to characterize the flight crew as “inexperienced,” Burnett has said repeatedly in the past that captains and first officers with relatively little individual time in a particular aircraft should not be paired in the cockpit of that aircraft.

There was conflicting evidence Wednesday night as to which man was at the controls of the plane as it crashed.

Burnett said preliminary transcripts from the “black box” cockpit voice recorder recovered from the wreckage showed that Zvonek was handling the radio during takeoff.

Under “normal procedures” Burnett said, the non-flying member of the cockpit crew usually handles the radio.

Airline Draws Conclusion

Continental concluded from this that Bruecher was at the controls during the moments before the crash.

But Burnett noted “that procedures are not always followed.”

The NTSB chief said investigators have found that Zvonek’s control yoke, and his arms, were broken by the impact of the crash--evidence that he was grasping the controls when the plane hit the ground.

Burnett pointed out that it is “not unusual” for a co-pilot to be handling the controls during a takeoff.

Both Roberts, who flies jumbo jets today but served as a captain of a DC-9 back in the 1960s, and Barry Schiff, another veteran pilot who consults as an aviation safety expert, said they agreed with Burnett that pilots with relatively little time in a particular aircraft should not be paired in the cockpit.

But Schiff added that cockpit pairings are basically “the luck of the draw.”

Pilots Bid for Routes

At Continental, like most other airlines, a list of upcoming flight routes for periods of several weeks is posted a month or two in advance. Pilots, who need given amounts of flight time each month to fulfill their contracts, bid for these flight segments. The routes are then awarded individually, largely on the basis of seniority.

This bidding system evolved over the last 30 years, primarily through union contract negotiations between pilots and carriers. It is used even by such lines as Continental, which is not unionized, and has a tacit approval of the FAA.

“So Continental is caught between a rock and a hard place,” Roberts said. “They’re simply adhering to national air carrier policy.”

Continental spokesman Bruce Hicks conceded Wednesday that Zvonek and Bruecher, both of whom died in Sunday’s DC-9 crash, were “new to that particular kind of aircraft.”

But Hicks stressed the pilots’ overall experience, arguing that, at this point, “any inference that their time of experience on that aircraft had a causal effect (on the crash) would be premature.” He said that while both men logged their principal flight time on other aircraft, “most pilots, over their careers, move very safely from one aircraft to another.”

The NTSB investigation into what caused the crash Sunday afternoon of Flight 1713 has focused much of its attention on a phenomenon known as “icing.”

Ice accumulated on the wings of an aircraft can add greatly to takeoff weight and can alter the surface configuration so less lift than normal is provided.

Due to their wing design, early model DC-9s like the one involved in the crash are considered especially vulnerable to takeoff problems resulting from icing.

While the plane used Sunday had been sprayed with a hot alcohol solution after leaving the gate, delays--apparently caused in part by the snowy weather and in part by confusion resulting from the pilots’ failure to get proper taxiing clearance from the control tower--held up the takeoff for 23 minutes.

New Ice May Have Formed

Some aviation experts have suggested that was long enough for ice to build up anew, presenting a special problem for a crew not particularly familiar with the plane.

But Schiff argued Wednesday that no matter how many hours a pilot has on a given plane, icing makes it a whole new experience.

“When you’ve got a load of ice on a wing, in effect, you’re a test pilot,” he said. “You’re flying a plane you’ve never flown before.”

Burnett said Wednesday night that Zvonek had had no experience with de-icing as a captain of a DC-9 and Bruecher had had no experience with de-icing since joining Continental.

Continental has suggested that the flight crew, following standard airline procedures, probably checked the wings visually before takeoff to make sure there was no icing problem.

Processing Not Finished

Hicks said these procedures call for the pilot crew to make such checks every 20 minutes, looking back through the cockpit windows to make sure ice is not accumulating.

Thus far, processing the tapes from the cockpit voice recorder has not been completed, so the NTSB has not been able to confirm whether such a check was made.

Officials here reported Wednesday that James Marria, 38, of Boise, Ida., whose wife Karen, 35, had died earlier, died at University Hospital during the night from injuries suffered in the crash.

That raised the death toll to 28. A total of 26 remained hospitalized here Wednesday.