Air Force: Lack of black box
won't hamper Brown crash probe
April 10, 1996
Web posted at: 12:45 a.m. EDTWASHINGTON (CNN) -- U.S. Air Force officials said Tuesday the lack of cockpit voice and flight data recorders will not prevent investigators from discovering the cause of the plane crash that killed Commerce Secretary Ron Brown and 34 other in Croatia last week.
As hundreds of mourners filed through the lobby of the Commerce Department Tuesday to pay their final respects to Brown, the Air Force promised to find the cause of the crash.
In Croatia, U.S. Air Force investigators have begun removing the first pieces of plane wreckage from a rugged hillside, including some parts of navigation instruments which may help explain why the plane was off course on its approach to the Dubrovnik airport on April 3.
But because the Air Force T-43 was not equipped with a "black box," investigators will be missing some valuable clues, such as the plane's speed, course, rate of decent, and conversations between the pilots.
When the Air Force bought Brown's plane in 1973, it was not required to have the "black box" data recorders. In 1974, the Air Force required all new aircraft to be equipped with them.
In 1988, when Brown's plane was converted from a training aircraft to a passenger carrier, it still was not outfitted with voice and data recorders.
"It's always easier if you have the voice data and the flight data recorder. However, with the technology means that we have today, we will be able to replicate almost the entire run and it will not preclude us from finding out what happened in the mishap," said Air Force Safety Chief Brig. Gen. Orin Godsey.
Among the tools available to investigators will be the radar picture of the plane's approach taken by an AWACS control plane.
Air Force officials say that they don't think the limited flying hours of the pilots, Capts. Ashley Davis and Tim Schafer, or pressure from the VIPs on board played any part in the accident. Each pilot had 2,400 flying hours on a variety of aircraft, the Air Force said.
"They're used to that type of pressure if it is in fact pressure. And they know that they serve those individuals best by flying the airplanes safely and according to rules and regulations," said Lt. Gen. Ralph Eberhart. The Air Force deputy operations chief spoke at a Pentagon news conference Tuesday.
Eberhart said the Air Force chooses VIP pilots for their leadership ability as well as for their ability to deal with pressure and meticulously follow safety regulations.
The group of top American business executives were being led by Brown on a mission to restructure the Balkans after the 3 1/2 years of war.
Tests of the Dubrovnik airport's old but serviceable navigation system haven't revealed problems, so the focus has shifted to whether instruments on the plane malfunctioned or whether the pilots made a fatal mistake.
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