Unexpexted winds killed one in 2014 - Curt Lewis

Transcript shows pilots battling gusts before fatal crash

DENVER (AP) - The pilots of a corporate-style jet that crashed at a Colorado mountain airport in 2014 were desperately battling powerful wind gusts and then began to scream and yell as the plane slammed into the runway, according to a newly released transcript of the cockpit voice recorder.

The transcript also depicts air traffic controllers trying to warn the pilots to abort the landing seconds before the crash, which killed one person.

The National Transportation Safety Board on Wednesday released the transcript and other details of the crash at Aspen-Pitkin County Airport on Jan. 5, 2014.

The documents did not discuss the cause of the crash. That will be part of a final report, which is not expected for several weeks.

The twin-jet Bombardier CL 600 was on a flight to Aspen from Tucson, Arizona, with a pilot, a co-pilot and one passenger, who was also a licensed pilot. All were from Mexico and all were in the cockpit.

"(Expletive) winds are screwed," one person says on the transcript, which was translated from Spanish by safety board investigators. The transcript doesn't identify which of the three men is speaking.

Later, someone says, "No, no. Careful, careful."

After rumbling sounds and cockpit warning tones, an air traffic controller calls out, "Go around" four times.

"Vamanos, vamanos (Let's go, let's go)," someone in the cockpit says.

That is followed by screaming and yelling and a "thunk," the transcript says, and then the recording ends.

The audio hasn't been released.

The safety board report said winds were gusting to 25 knots (28 mph) from shifting directions. Depending on the wind direction at the time of the crash, the gusts were above or near the maximums listed in the plane's manual, the report said.

The report said the pilots were making their second attempt to land when they crashed. They aborted their first attempt a few minutes earlier, telling air traffic controllers the wind was 33 knots (38 mph).

The co-pilot, Sergio Carranza Brabata, was killed. The pilot and a passenger were injured. Authorities have identified the survivors as Moises Carranza and Miguel Henriqez but have not said who was the passenger.

The report said the man serving as pilot on the flight had only 12 to 14 hours of flying time in a Bombardier CL 600, including training. He had a total of about 17,000 hours flying other aircraft, including much larger Airbus airliners. The co-pilot's hours in the CL-600 were not listed.

The passenger was an experienced CL 600 pilot and was a friend of the flight crew, and they had invited him along for advice, the report said.