Jet’s Cockpit Recorder Gives Investigators No Answers to Aborted New York Takeoff

National Transportation Safety Board officials said Thursday that a preliminary examination of the cockpit voice recorder of USAir flight 5050 gave no indication why the pilots suddenly aborted the flight from La Guardia Airport Wednesday night, sending the plane skidding into the East River.

Two women passengers were killed when the Boeing 737-400, on a late flight to Charlotte, N.C., broke up at the end of the runway. Fifty-five other passengers and a crew of six survived, although 19 passengers were hospitalized with a variety of injuries.

NTSB sources said Thursday that the pilot and co-pilot, who have not been identified, have declined to talk to investigators until they talked to attorneys and representatives of the Airline Pilots Assn.

May Interview Soon

However, acting NTSB Chairman James L. Kolstad said Thursday night that the NTSB talked with the pilots’ association and expected to interview the cockpit crew soon.

Kolstad said the cockpit voice recorder had “a good tape,” but that “we heard no voices that indicate any engine problems or (other) reasons why the takeoff was aborted.”

The NTSB, which briefed reporters on the status of the investigation into the crash, said it knew only the last name of the chief pilot, Martin. The agency said it had not determined the experience of the flight crew, or which pilot was at the controls during takeoff.

Air traffic controllers told investigators that they heard a USAir pilot say he was aborting takeoff moments before the plane slid off the rain-slicked runway. “There was no indication of why he was aborting,” said Federal Aviation Administration spokesman Fred Farrar. “Until we know why the guy aborted the takeoff, we have no way of knowing the cause of the accident.”

Much Work to Do

“We’re a long way from making any kind of concrete conclusion,” Kolstad said.

Investigators are anxious to pinpoint not only why the pilots decided to abort the flight, but when. The plane may have skidded into the river if the decision was made too late in the takeoff, or if the pilots made the decision in time but other factors, such as a brake failure, prevented the plane from stopping.

Kolstad said the controllers could not tell whether the plane was going “too slow for takeoff or too fast to stop.”

“The pilot seemed to be accelerating but didn’t have enough power to get the plane up,” said passenger Larry Martin. “He put on the brakes. The plane took a dip and the next thing I knew all hell broke loose.”

Plane in 3 Parts

The plane broke into three parts about 50 to 100 feet into Bowery Bay, its front sections resting above the water on a trestle that held runway lights, its back sections submerged. The two women who died were seated in the rear.

The flight data box recording, which was also recovered from the plane, indicated that the plane swerved slightly instead of moving straight down the runway and showed some “deviations” in rudder movement, Kolstad said, but investigators did not immediately understand what effect that might have had on the takeoff. Pilots may use the rudder to counter wind gusts on takeoff.

The plane was 9 months old and it had no history of mechanical problems, said airline spokeswoman Nancy Vaughan. A three-member Boeing crash team planned to examine the aircraft.