APRIL 8, 2015
WASHINGTON, D.C. (CBS)
The National Transportation Safety Board today released some
materials it has been using in its investigation of the plane crash last May
that killed former Philadelphia Inquirer owner Lewis Katz and six others.
Those documents contain some dramatic moments but few
apparent answers.
A transcript of the cockpit voice recorder is incomplete;
the NTSB says it was partially damaged. But the final seconds of the
abortive flight, planned to go from the Boston area back to Atlantic City, were
clearly frantic.
The pilot repeats, eight times, that a lock is stuck, then
says, “I can’t stop it!” Then, “Oh no, no…”
There’s no clear indication of what went wrong, and attorney
Arthur Wolk, who specializes in aviation accidents and is representing the
families of some of the victims, says he is concerned that the documents
released today could be misinterpreted.
“They’ve been tailored to blame the pilots,” he charges,
“and it troubles me that they haven’t provided us with a full transcript.”
Wolk says the NTSB seems to be shaping the investigation to
match its initial finding that the pilots left a control, called a “gust lock,”
engaged, which prevented the plane from becoming airborne.
Wolk says there is evidence that the gust locks were not
engaged.
“Why is there nothing on the instrument panel, once the
engines are started, that says, ‘gust lock engaged’?” he wondered aloud today.
The NTSB is not commenting. It says the documents are
statements of fact, not analysis, and the probable cause of the crash will be
determined later.