CVR Audio Files

UPDATE:  All CVR files are now offered in WAV as opposed to MP3. My current host does not allow MP3 files to be stored on their server.

All of the audio files here are presented in WAV format. You can hear WAV files simply by clicking the link.

Delta Airlines Flight 191, a Lockheed L-1011-385-1, crashed while approaching the Dallas/Ft. Worth International Airport on August 2, 1985.  Microburst induced windshear caused the flight crew to lose control.  Failure of Air Traffic Control to pass on several important PIREPS to the flight crew also contributed to the accident.

Download (2,451k) Delta 191's Cockpit Voice Recording in WAV format.

Delta Airlines Flight 1141, a Boeing 727-232, crashed on takeoff from runway 18L at Dallas/Ft. Worth on August 31, 1988.  The crew, preoccupied with a discussion with a flight attendent, failed to ensure that their flaps were properly set.  Although the flap lever had been moved to 15 and the green agreement light had illuminated, the crew failed to visually check the flaps position, and in turn took off with their wings in the improper configuration.  The aircraft stalled, hit the localizer antenna, and crashed in a field.

Download (1,123k) Delta 1141's Cockpit Voice Recording in WAV format.

United Flight 232, a DC-10-10, crashed while attempting an emergency landing at the Sioux City Gateway Airport, Iowa, in 1989.  While cruising at FL370, a hair-line fracture in the number two fan blade caused the tail engine to spin out and shower the rear of the aircraft with shrapnel.  Due to a design flaw in the DC-10, all three main hydrualic fluid lines were brought together in this area, and all were severed.  With no hydraulic fluid or pressure, every movable surface on the aircraft became useless.  Flaps, ailerons, rudder, speedbrakes, wheelbrakes; all were useless.  The crew, including a dead-heading DC-10 instructor pilot, brought the plane down using differential thrust only.  Unfortunately, due to their high descent rate, the airplane broke up and lives were lost.

Download (201k) United 232's Cockpit Voice Recording in WAV format.

Air Florida Flight 90, a Boeing 737-222B, crashed on takeoff from runway 36 at Washington National Airport on January 13, 1982.  Immediately after the airport had been reopened from a snow removal closure of 1 hour, Palm 90 was cleared to push from the gate.  In the heavy snow conditions, however, the TUG found it impossible to push the aircraft, and reverse thrust was used for assistance.  This technique, however, had the effect of sucking a large amount of snow and ice into the engines, where it froze on the EPR pressure probe, which measures engine power.  What happened next baffles investigators to this day.  While completing the pre-taxi checklist, the Captain called out "engine anti-ice," and the First Officer replied "off."  Compounding the error, when Palm 90 was number 2 for takeoff, the Captain positioned the aircraft directly behind a New York Air DC-9, using the DC-9's exhaust to melt ice off of the Air Florida aircraft's wings.  This had the effect, however, of pushing the water back to the rear of the wing to refreeze, as the wing anti-ice equipment, which was selected on, could not reach that area of the surface.  Takeoff was attempted with icy wings, and the frozen probes caused the crew to roll with 70% power.  The plane stalled, hit the 14th Street Bridge over the Potomac River, and sank to the bottom within minutes.

Download (545k) Palm 90's Cockpit Voice Recording in WAV format.

Northwest Airlines Flight 255, a McDonnell Douglas MD-82, crashed on takeoff from Detroit Metropolitan Airport in 1987.  The crew, in a hurry to takeoff to beat noise curfews at their destination, failed to set their wing flaps.  The aircraft stalled on takeoff, hit several light poles, and came to rest inverted on a busy airport highway.  A 2-year-old girl was the sole survivor.

Download (373k) Northwest 255's Cockpit Voice Recording in WAV format.

VASP Flight 168, a Boeing 727-200, crashed on approach to Fortazela, Brazil after controlled flight into terrain.  After being cleared for a night visual approach, the crew kept the lights of the city in view to their right while they flew left to line up on a base leg.  Seconds before impact, an altitude alert horn sounded, indicating that they had descended 300 feet below the altitude selected on their autopilot / flight director.  The First Officer also commented "there are some hills, you see 'em?" With the city's lights still in sight, the aircraft crashed into the hill directly in front of them.  Everyone aboard was killed.

Download (404k) VASP 168's Cockpit Voice Recording in WAV format.

PSA Flight 182, a Boeing 727-200, crashed while approaching the San Diego Lindbergh field after colliding with a Cessna 172 owned by Gibbs Flight Services. When the PSA jet reported the Cessna in sight, the tower instructed the crew to "maintain visual separation from that traffic." Flying due east into the morning sun, the crew lost the aircraft, and they collided minutes later. This is NOT the Cockpit Voice Recording from the 727, but rather the ATC tapes taken from SAN Tracon and Tower the day of the accident.  Only conversations between PSA 182 and the approach controller / tower are featured.

Download (535k) PSA 182's Air Traffic Control tapes in WAV format.

ValuJet Flight 592 (aka Critter 592), a DC-9-32, crashed minutes after takeoff from Miami International Airport after a fire in the cargo hold.  Improperly packaged oxygen canisters ignited causing all of the aircraft's controls to be rendered useless.  These are actual recordings from Miami Center of the ATC communications between the doomed aircraft and the controller.

Download (299k) "Critter 592 needs to come back to Miami... smoke in the cockpit, smoke in the cabin."
Download (193k) "Critter 592, we need, uh, the closest airport available."
Download (206k) Controller advises airport manager of the situation
Download (344k) No response from Critter 592 - 1
Download (215k) No response from Critter 592 - 2

Last Updated: 6/11/99