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New details from ValuJet voice recorder

Unidentified noise first sign of trouble

Flight recorder

May 30, 1996
Web posted at: 9:30 p.m. EDT

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Safety officials investigating the crash of a ValuJet DC-9 said Thursday they had picked up an unidentified noise on the cockpit flight recorder just before the pilot said she had to turn back to Miami.

The National Transportation Safety Board released details of the tape's contents after completing its initial work transcribing the DC-9's cockpit voice recorder.


The first indication of trouble aboard ValuJet Flight 592 is a brief, unidentified sound nearly six minutes after the plane took off from Miami, officials said. -- The recorder picked up the plane's captain questioning the noise and, 17 seconds later, discussing the need to return to Miami. -- Five seconds later, voices were heard from the passenger cabin reporting a fire. -- Eleven seconds after that, the first officer asked Miami air control for clearance to return to the airport, which was immediately granted.

The DC-9 crashed in the Florida Everglades May 11, killing all 110 people on board.

The investigators said the plane's public address system seemed to function properly during the cockpit recording and that the plane and its systems appeared normal prior to the unidentified sound.

The investigators said one of two gaps in the cockpit tape started one minute and 39 seconds after the unidentified sound and lasted about one minute and 17 seconds. The other occurred shortly before the end of the tape.

They said they were working to link the timing of the apparent power interruptions that caused the gaps to information from the plane's flight data recorder and air traffic control and radar data.

Investigators have been looking into whether a fire may have started in the plane's cargo hold when one or more oxygen generators being carried there accidentally activated.

CNN Correspondent Carl Rochelle and Reuters contributed to this report.

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