Blackwater 61 Cockpit voice recording

[ned]

On November 27, 2004, transport flight Blackwater 61, a
turboprop CASA 212-CC, crashed in the mountains of
Afghanistan. The plane was operated by Presidential Airways,
a subsidiary of the private security company Blackwater,
also operating as Blackwater Aviation under contract for the
United States Department of Defense. The crew had left their
regular flight route for "fun" to fly through a canyon, at
the end of which they crashed into a rock wall. The words of
the pilots reveal in stunning detail the cynicism of a war
between audacity and folly, where men reach the edge of reason.

What follows are excerpts from the cockpit voice recorder
transcript, as provided by the National Transportation and
Safety Board (NTSB), with the voices of pilot Noel English,
co-pilot Loren Hammer and flight mechanic Melvin Rowe. Also
on board were US Army soldiers Lieutenant Colonel Michael
McMahon, Chief Warrant Officer Travis Grogan and Specialist
Harley Miller. Miller -- who had almost missed the flight --
was the only one to survive the crash, but he froze to death
before the search teams could find him.

The transcript and recording start at 0318:37 (7:18:37 a.m.
local time)

PILOT: I hope I'm goin' in the right valley.

CO-PILOT: That one or this one?

PILOT: I'm just gunna go up this one.

CO-PILOT: Well, we, we've never or at least I've never done
this Farah.

PILOT: We'll just see where this leads.

CO-PILOT: Twenty seven million people in this country, boy,
you wouldn't wouldn't guess that cause there just
everybody's scattered out.

PILOT: Yeah.

PILOT: But I'm now I mean I was really surprised at how you
can almost always look down and see somebody or somethin' er.

CO-PILOT: Yeah, yeah, there's seem to be dwellings just
about every where you go.

CO-PILOT: Yeah this is fun!

PILOT: We're not suppose to be havin' fun though.

CO-PILOT: Exactly.

PILOT: No fun allowed god-(expletive).

CO-PILOT: It's supposed to be all work we can't enjoy any of it.

PILOT: Exactly.

CO-PILOT: Cause we're getting' paid too much to be havin' fun.

PILOT: You're god-(unintelligible) right.

....

MECHANIC: I don't know what we're gonna see, we don't
normally go this route.

MALE PASSENGER: (expletive).

MECHANIC: Let me get out of the way.

MALE PASSENGER: Naw I'm alright.

MECHANIC: Get yourself a drink.

PILOT: All we want is to avoid seeing rock at twelve o'clock.

PILOT: (unintelligible).

CO-PILOT: Yeah you're an x-wing fighter Star Wars man!

PILOT: You're (expletive) right.

PILOT: This is fun!

....

PILOT: Okay, it's about time we're gunna start climbin' I do
believe.

PILOT: Okay we're comin up to a box up here.

PILOT: Yeah I think this valley might peter out right up here.

CO-PILOT: Yeah it shows us ah you got about twelve I don't
know thirty miles of ah higher altitude, then there's
another valley in the general direction that we're going.

PILOT: Yeah, peters right on out.

PILOT: It was good while it lasted.

....

PILOT: Yeah. It'd be nice to get a real good through my MP3
player in here.

CO-PILOT: (expletive) yeah.

CO-PILOT: That'll be great.

PILOT: Phillip Glass or somethin' suitable new age'y.

CO-PILOT: No, we gotta have butt rock that's the only way to
go. Quiet Riot, Twisted Sister.

....

PILOT: I swear to God they wouldn't pay me if they knew how
much fun this was.

....

PILOT: Well let's kind of look and see if we've got any
where we can pick our way thru. Doesn't really matter it's
gunna spit us out down at the bottom anyway.

PILOT: Let's see find a notch over here.

PILOT: Yeah, if we have to go to fourteen for just a second
it won't be too bad.

CO-PILOT: Yeah.

UNIDENTIFIED VOICE: Whoa, whoa!

UNIDENTIFIED VOICE: There you go.

CO-PILOT: Boy, it's a good thing we're not too heavy today I
guess.

PILOT: Yeah, oh, I wouldn't have done this if we were at gross.

PILOT: We can always turn around up in here.

CO-PILOT: Yeah we could we could do a one eighty here if we
had to.

PILOT: Come on baby, come on baby, you can make it.

MECHANIC: Okay, you guys are gunna make this right?

PILOT: Yeah h-h-I'm hopin'.

MECHANIC: Hope we don't have a downdraft comin' over that, dude.

(Sound similar to stall warning tone single beep)

MECHANIC: Got a way out?

PILOT: Yeah.

PILOT: We we can do a one eighty up in here.

MECHANIC: Yeah, I'd pick one side or the other to... ah.

PILOT: Drop a drop a quarter flaps.

PILOT: (expletive).

MECHANIC: Okay, yeah, you're... ah.

CO-PILOT: Yeah let's turn around.

PILOT: Yeah, drop a quarter flaps.

MECHANIC: Yeah you need to--ah--make a decision.

(Sound of heavy breathing starts)

PILOT: God (expletive)!

MECHANIC: Hundred, ninety knots, call off his airspeed for
him (unintelligible).

(sound similar to stall warning starts and continues until end)

PILOT: Ah (expletive, expletive)!

MECHANIC: Call it off, help him out, call off his airspeed
for him (unintelligible) butch.

CO-PILOT: You got ninety-five.

CO-PILOT: Ninety-five.

PILOT: Oh God!

PILOT: Oh (expletive)!

MECHANIC: We're goin' down.

UNIDENTIFIED VOICE: God!

UNIDENTIFIED VOICE: God!

(End of recording: 0350:00, 7.50 a.m. local time)

Source: National Transportation and Safety Board (NTSB)

[Morgans[_2_]]

"ned" > wrote in message ...
>
>
>
> On November 27, 2004, transport flight Blackwater 61, a
> turboprop CASA 212-CC, crashed in the mountains of
> Afghanistan. The plane was operated by Presidential Airways,
> a subsidiary of the private security company Blackwater,
> also operating as Blackwater Aviation under contract for the
> United States Department of Defense. The crew had left their
> regular flight route for "fun" to fly through a canyon, at
> the end of which they crashed into a rock wall. The words of
> the pilots reveal in stunning detail the cynicism of a war
> between audacity and folly, where men reach the edge of reason.

Sad.

Sounds like a real honest-to-goodness Darwin Award case.

R.I.P.
--
Jim in NC

[Robert M. Gary]

On Oct 8, 10:00 am, "Morgans" > wrote:
> "ned" > wrote in ...
>
> > On November 27, 2004, transport flight Blackwater 61, a
> > turboprop CASA 212-CC, crashed in the mountains of
> > Afghanistan. The plane was operated by Presidential Airways,
> > a subsidiary of the private security company Blackwater,
> > also operating as Blackwater Aviation under contract for the
> > United States Department of Defense. The crew had left their
> > regular flight route for "fun" to fly through a canyon, at
> > the end of which they crashed into a rock wall. The words of
> > the pilots reveal in stunning detail the cynicism of a war
> > between audacity and folly, where men reach the edge of reason.
>
> Sad.
>
> Sounds like a real honest-to-goodness Darwin Award case.

Spoken by a pilot who has a perfect safety records and has never made
a mistake. Morgans could be nominated pilot of the year; heck pilot of
the century!

-Robert

[Gatt]

"ned" > wrote in message ...
>
> (End of recording: 0350:00, 7.50 a.m. local time)
>
> Source: National Transportation and Safety Board (NTSB)


Yeesh. It would be somewhat less depressing if there had not been
passengers onboard.

-c

[Gatt]

"Robert M. Gary" > wrote in message
ups.com...

>> Sounds like a real honest-to-goodness Darwin Award case.
>
> Spoken by a pilot who has a perfect safety records and has never made
> a mistake. Morgans could be nominated pilot of the year; heck pilot of
> the century!

Well, I hope he hasn't made a mistake like that one.

I'm glad they release voice recordings because it reminds guys like me what
not to do. All the hot-shot piloting in the world wouldn't be worth that
last minute of knowledge that I as PIC had royally f'ed up and that people
were going to die.

-c

[Morgans[_2_]]

"Robert M. Gary" > wrote
>
> Spoken by a pilot who has a perfect safety records and has never made
> a mistake. Morgans could be nominated pilot of the year; heck pilot of
> the century!

Let's see how this adds up, here.

He engaged in a very high risk ride, for what? Fun. Their mission did not
require them being there.

He engaged in this high risk ride while they were not exactly sure of where
they were. Not a good idea, IMHO.

They were confident in his ability to make a turn out of trouble, but they
did not, or possible could not have pulled it off, even if he tried.

No, I'm not perfect, but I sure do not go out looking for a thrill that has
a high risk of killing me, and worse, others.

An accident, as you know, if a chain of events that if not broken, lead to
the accident. There was ample opportunity to break the chain, and he did
not.

Poor decision making, to try this kind of stunt. If you can not agree with
this, I am puzzled as to why. It seems pretty damn obvious (to me) that
this was an accident waiting to happen from the start.
--
Jim in NC

[Mike Isaksen]

"ned" > wrote in message...
> On November 27, 2004, transport flight Blackwater 61, a
> turboprop CASA 212-CC, crashed in the mountains of
> Afghanistan.
>
> The transcript and recording start at 0318:37 (7:18:37 a.m.
> local time)
>
> PILOT: I hope I'm goin' in the right valley.
>
> PILOT: Let's see find a notch over here.
>
> PILOT: Yeah, if we have to go to fourteen for just a second
> it won't be too bad.
>
> End of recording: 0350:00 (7.50 a.m. local time)
>

Wow, these guys were hot running unfamiliar Canyons for over 30 minutes. And
it sounds like they may have been unpressurized or w/o pax O2 (ref the 14K).
Young and Bold.

[[email protected]]

On Oct 8, 1:41 pm, "Morgans" > wrote:
> "Robert M. Gary" > wrote
>
>
>
> > Spoken by a pilot who has a perfect safety records and has never made
> > a mistake. Morgans could be nominated pilot of the year; heck pilot of
> > the century!
>
> Let's see how this adds up, here.
>
> He engaged in a very high risk ride, for what? Fun. Their mission did not
> require them being there.
>
> He engaged in this high risk ride while they were not exactly sure of where
> they were. Not a good idea, IMHO.
>
> They were confident in his ability to make a turn out of trouble, but they
> did not, or possible could not have pulled it off, even if he tried.
>
> No, I'm not perfect, but I sure do not go out looking for a thrill that has
> a high risk of killing me, and worse, others.
>
> An accident, as you know, if a chain of events that if not broken, lead to
> the accident. There was ample opportunity to break the chain, and he did
> not.
>
> Poor decision making, to try this kind of stunt. If you can not agree with
> this, I am puzzled as to why. It seems pretty damn obvious (to me) that
> this was an accident waiting to happen from the start.
> --
> Jim in NC

Right on Jim.