They then plowed the DC-9 into a corn field 3 miles from the runway.

In the final moments of flight, the pilots conversed amongst themselves about the then-Arab oil embargo, buying cars, trying to identify a local amusement park, the economic recession and the stock market. News broke of the pilots’ casual, nonchalant conversation as they performed a non-precision approach on that foggy morning in Charlotte, North Carolina. The crash happened just months after I started flying. The above-cited final seconds moments of Eastern 212 always resonated with me. Perhaps I had read too many accident reports to ignore its presence. Eerily, the CVR recording of USAir 405 revealed that minutes before the crash, the crew spoke my name while referring to an article that I had written. I can tell you from experience of having to listen to scores of CVRs, there’s nothing entertaining about listening to one. Years later, Charlie Victor Romeo was made into a film and premiered at the 2013 Sundance Film Festival. In 2004, Time placed Charlie Victor Romeo on its Best Plays of the year list. There was even a theatrical play, Charlie Victor Romeo, aptly named for the phonic initials of CVR, which used CVR transcripts to recreate the final moments of six flights. There’s a certain mystique surrounding the cockpit voice recorder (CVR). 0733:34 Tower: Eastern 212, cleared to land, 36.Ġ733:55 Captain to First Officer: All we got to do is find the airport.

Cvr atc audio