On the afternoon of Sept. 8, 1994, a Boeing 737 flown by USAir approached
Pittsburgh International Airport. The weather was good, and the pilots
of flight 427 were expecting a routine descent and landing. The first
sound on the recording from either pilot is, in fact, a yawn. They are
at cruise altitude.
Flight attendant in the cockpit: Do ya know what I'm thinkin' about?
Pretzels.
Captain: Pretzels.
F. A.: You guys need drinks here?
Captain: Uh, I could use a glass of somethin', whatever's open. Water,
uh, water, a juice.
First Officer: I'll split a, yeah, a water, a juice, whatever's back
there, I'll split one with 'im.
F. A.: Okey-dokey. Do you want me to make you my special fruity juice
cocktail?
Captain: How fruity is it?
F. O.: All right, I'll be a guinea pig.
The pilots talk to air traffic controllers about reducing their
speed. The flight attendant returns with the drinks.
F. A.: If you don't like . . . . I didn't taste 'em so I don't know
if they came out right.
Captain: That's good.
F. O.: That is good.
F. A.: It's good.
F. O.: That is different. Be real, be real good with some dark rum in
it.
The pilots then talk with Pittsburgh controllers about their approach
heading, and then talk more with the flight attendant about their juice
drinks.
Captain: It tastes like a ***.
F. O.: Good.
Captain: There's little grapefruit in it.
F. A.: No. (sound of laughter.)
F. O.: *** cranberry.
F. A.: Yeah, you saw that from the color.
Captain: How else is in it?
F. O.: Uh, Sprite?
F. A.: Diet Sprite.
F. O.: Huh.
F. A.: And I guess you could do it with Sprite. Prob'ly be a little
better if you do.
Captain: Yeah, there's more?
F. A.: One more.
F. O.: Ah, O.J.?
F. A.: You got it. Cranberry, orange and Diet Sprite.
F. O.: Really nice.
F.A.: It's different. Could ya keep comin' out, aaah, whataya' got different
and . . . .
Captain: I always mix the cranberry and the grapefruit. I like that.
(sound of aural tone similar to altitude alert)
F. A.: *** O.K., back to work.
A controller tells the pilots to descend and maintain an altitude
of 6,000 feet. They make some checks of landing data, shoulder harnesses
and other matters. The first officer remarks,"Oops, didn't kiss
'em 'bye," and then tells passengers about weather conditions in
Pittsburgh and thanks them for choosing USAir. The pilots slow the aircraft
as they descend.
Captain: Boy, they always slow you up so bad here.
F. O.: That sun is gonna be just like it was takin' off in Cleveland
yesterday, too. I'm just gonna close my eyes. (laughter) You holler
when it looks like we're close. (laughter)
Captain: O.K. (sounds follow that are similar to electrical clicks and
thumps) Whoa . . . hang on . . . hang on .. . hang on . . . .
F. O.: Oh, (expletive).
Captain: Hang on. What the hell is this . . . What the . . . oh, God
. . . oh, God . . . .
F. O.: (expletive)
Captain: Pull.
F. O.: Oh, (expletive).
Captain: Pull.
F. O.: God. (sound of screaming) No.
End of recording.
The plane's rudder had moved, forcing the plane to skid to the left.
The jet then rolled and went into a 300-mile-an-hour corkscrew plunge
to the ground, killing all 132 people on board. The safety board has
not yet determined what caused the crash.
© 2003 Daniel X. O'Neil
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