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Recorders Indicate Hanscom Plane Aborted Takeoff

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(Fred Thys/WBUR)
(Fred Thys/WBUR)

The cockpit voice recorder and the flight data recorder recovered from the Gulfstream jet that crashed at Hanscom Field this weekend are revealing that the crew went through all the procedures necessary right up to the moment the plane should have taken off.

But at that point, the pilots aborted the takeoff.

Why the pilots aborted the takeoff remains a mystery. On the cockpit voice recorder, or CVR, the call to rotate is heard. That's the call to pull back the controls so that the plane will climb.

"After the rotate call out, the CVR captured comments concerning aircraft control," said Luke Schiada, the National Transportation Safety Board's lead investigator into the crash. "The aircraft reached a maximum speed of about 165 knots [190 miles per hour]."

Schiada would not say what the comments about control of the aircraft were. He did reveal that the flight data recorder, or FDR, shows that the plane never left the ground.

"The aircraft did not lift off the runway," Schiada said. "FDR data shows thrust reversers deploying and wheel brake pressures rising as the aircraft decelerates. Data ends about seven seconds after thrust reverser deployment, when the aircraft is at about 100 knots."

So it appears that the pilots attempted to stop the aircraft. But investigators still don't know why.

This segment aired on June 4, 2014.

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Fred Thys Reporter
Fred Thys reported on politics and higher education for WBUR.

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