‘Not Gonna Make It,’ Tape Shows Delta Pilot Said

A transcript of the cockpit conversation on Delta Air Lines Flight 1141 reveals that the crew members knew their jet was in serious trouble about 21 seconds before it crashed Aug. 31 at Dallas-Ft. Worth International Airport, a newspaper reported Thursday.

The transcript of a tape shows that about nine seconds after an apparently normal takeoff, a cockpit alarm showed that the Boeing 727 was unable to gather enough speed to stay aloft, the Dallas Times Herald reported.

The plane, bound for Salt Lake City, caught fire and broke apart on impact, killing 13 of the 108 people on board.

Appears to Be a Scream

Eleven seconds before impact, Capt. Larry Lon Davis said: “We’re not gonna make it.” One of the final entries on the partial transcript appears to be a scream.

It will be months before investigators pinpoint the cause of the crash, but two primary suspects have emerged--wing flaps, designed to give the plane lift on takeoff, and engine problems during the flight.

The transcript reveals that flight engineer Steven Mark Judd and co-pilot Carey Wilson Kirkland Jr. went through a standard preparation checklist.

In the transcript, Kirkland told Judd that the flaps were extended in the correct position for normal takeoff during the checklist less than a minute before the plane received permission for takeoff.

National Transportation Safety Board investigators said last week that the cockpit recording indicates there were two compressor stalls, which are disruptions of air flow, one each in two of the engines.

The transcript, however, notes five possible compressor stalls within six seconds, a set of two followed within seconds by three more, the newspaper reported.

Cannot Confirm Stalls

Investigators have been unable to determine if any compressor stalls actually occurred, safety board officials said. The engines are being tested at the Pratt & Whitney manufacturing plant in East Hartford, Conn.

A spokesman for the NTSB in Washington, D.C., said the board was upset that a major portion of the transcript was leaked to the newspaper.

“We’re upset because that transcript is an unauthorized, preliminary and incomplete version,” board spokesman Michael Benson said.