Reply #103: the cockpit voice recorder showed they violated sterile cockpit rules

[amborin]

"For most of their 59-minute flight, from Newark to a spot five miles northeast of a runway in Buffalo on Feb. 12, the two pilots of Continental Connection Flight 3407 chatted happily about career options, family plans and the merits of various kinds of airplanes.

The captain, Marvin D. Renslow, regaled his first officer, Rebecca Shaw, with the story of how wide his passengers’ eyes grew one day when he called maintenance to the plane after a light in the cockpit signaled loose metal chips in the engine.

Some of the banter violated federal rules banning nonessential conversation below 10,000 feet. Some of the talk was serious. The pilots spoke of the ice they saw gathering on the windshield of their commuter plane, and of their apprehension during previous brushes with ice. They prepared for landing...


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"The pilots’ chatting obviously violated Federal Aviation Administration rules that ban nonessential conversation when a plane is below 10,000 feet, as the Continental flight was as Captain Renslow asked about Ms. Shaw’s head cold.

The pilots — clearly distracted — let their speed drop too low, and failed to notice, according to documents released Tuesday by the safety board...."


<http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/13/nyregion/13crash.html?scp=1&sq=colgan%20check%20flight%20crash&st=cse>