The World - News from Feb. 19, 1989

Investigators reportedly are focusing on pilot and controller errors and confusing radio exchanges as likely causes of an airliner crash in the Azores earlier this month that killed 144 people. The New York Times reported that tape recordings of conversations between the pilots and air controllers indicated that the pilots believed they had been cleared to descend to 2,000 feet, when in fact the controllers had said 3,000 feet. Also, the controllers apparently gave the crew an incorrect barometric setting for the chartered Boeing 707’s altimeter, which could have led the pilot to believe the plane was 300 feet higher than it was when it crashed.