5 ms·

Is there a transcript available?

Stratoscope 13y ago
I transcribed part of it: 0:00-0:02 - Tower: "Asiana 214, San Francisco Tower, runway 28 left, cleared to land" 0:02-0:04 - Asiana 214 pilot: "Cleared to land left, Asiana 214" 0:05-0:08 - Tower: "Skywest 5427, fly runway heading and contact (north cal?) departure" (plane took off and is making a straight-out departure, and now will contact departure control) 0:09-0:12 - Skywest 5427 pilot: "OK, going to departure, Skywest 5427 (free?)" 0:12-0:14 United 885 pilot: "United 885" (pilot makes a quick break call to tower before making a longer request) 0:14-0:16 Tower: "United, uh, 85, OK?" (tells pilot to go ahead) 0:17-0:21 United 885 pilot: "Yes, United 885 at the end, we might need a few more minutes, just a heads-up" (It sounds like 885 is next for takeoff and has taxied into position next to the runway) 0:21-0:25 Tower: "United 885, roger, hold short of runway 28 left, let me know when you're ready" 0:25-0:27 United 885 pilot: "Hold at 28 left, United 885" 0:27-0:32 Skywest 5452 pilot: "San Francisco Tower, Skywest 5452, (quite ?), 28 right" 0:32-0:36 Tower: "Skywest 5452, San Francisco Tower, runway 28 right, cleared to land" 0:36-0:38 Skywest 5452 pilot: "Clear to land, 28 right, Skywest 5452" 0:38-0:41 Tower: "Three Sierra Fox... (garbled)" 0:39-0:41 Voice in background (in tower?) "What? Hell? What happened?" 0:43-0:50 Skyhawk 737ZD pilot: "San Francisco Tower, Skyhawk seven three seven zulu delta (garbled, another transmission saying 'GO AROUND') (something) plus 500 feet please, over San Carlos" (A four seat Cessna is over the San Carlos airport just southeast of SFO and wants to cross the SFO airspace. 737ZD [if I have it right] is the aircraft's tail number, no connection to the Boeing 737.) 0:50-0:52 Tower: "Skyhawk 6389, maintain 3000 [feet altitude]" (It sounds like 6389 is on approach to land and tower is telling him to go around? Not sure) 0:53-0:54 Skyhawk 6389 pilot: "(something) 3000, yes, 389" (speaking quickly to keep the channel clear) 0:55-0:57 Asiana 214 pilot (!!): "Tower, Asiana 214!" 0:57-1:00 Tower: "Asiana 214 heavy, emergency vehicles are responding" ("heavy" refers to any large aircraft) 1:00-1:01 Asiana 214 pilot: "214" (acknowledging) 1:02-1:03 Tower? "Emergency veh(something)" 1:03-1:09 Asiana 214 pilot: "OK, now, uh, uh, and ten or twelve (?) (unintelligible)" 1:10-1:16 Tower: "Cessna 737 Zulu Delta, San Francisco Tower, remain clear of the San Francisco (Fox Bravo?) airspace, contact San Carlos Tower" 1:17-1:21 Skyhawk 737ZD pilot: "Seven Zulu Delta, contacting San Carlos Tower, and remaining clear" There's another minute or so on the recording, but my nerves are shot after doing that much. If anyone would like to pick it up from there, correct it, etc., please do.
- paul_f 13y ago
  Thank you. Amazing job. Was hard to understand the audio.
  - jervisfm 13y ago
    Yeah, I have listened in on some air traffic controller streams that are available online and it's always hard to decipher what it is they are saying. It all sounds like words slurred together with no clear demarcation. I am mostly amazed how pilots and the controllers clearly understand each speaking the way they do.
    - waster 13y ago
      Also, kudos to the tower. It is seriously an amazing thing they do, and to stay cool and calm and efficient all during a crash, to keep the rest of the traffic clear and headed in the right direction.
    - ams6110 13y ago
      It's part learned jargon and part ritual... also (though I don't know) probably easier to hear in a headset than on a low bitrate mp3 recording.
    - VLM 13y ago
      The engineering term to google is data redundancy with a bit of communication theory and stuff like that. 0:32-0:36 Tower: "Skywest 5452, San Francisco Tower, runway 28 right, cleared to land" 0:36-0:38 Skywest 5452 pilot: "Clear to land, 28 right, Skywest 5452" This looks like 6 seconds of jargon containing about 25 words, but it really only contains one single bit of information that being that in the giant state machine of flowchart of flying a plane, everyone mutually agrees its your turn to click forward precisely one step. Once you look at it that way, the "conceptual bit rate" drops dramatically lower. 5452 probably expected to get 28R all along, and based on where he was probably expected to get clearance "right about then" too. "Hey you, its me, you can land over there" "Hey you, its me, I think heard you say I can land over there" (with the implied, if I misheard, you'd best start yelling right about now either at me or at everyone else to get out of my way) When its just business as usual, things click along awful fast. When ATC gives out some "unpredictable" order or a pilot has a weird request, there's always a very dramatic pause due to cognitive load. I can have my scanner monitoring the local tower for fun and Very quickly you learn to tune out BAU chatter until/unless weird tempo strikes. You can also tell purely by cadence and tempo with near perfect accuracy if the pilot is a local or a noob in general or a distant traveler.
sgloutnikov 13y ago
Some more insight regarding the ATC audio: http://www.liveatc.net/forums/atcaviation-audio-clips/asiana-214-crash-at-ksfo/ http://www.liveatc.net/forums/atcaviation-audio-clips/asiana...

I transcribed part of it: 0:00-0:02 - Tower: "Asiana 214, San Francisco Tower, runway 28 left, cleared to land" 0:02-0:04 - Asiana 214 pilot: "Cleared to land left, Asiana 214" 0:05-0:08 - Tower: "Skywest 5427, fly runway heading and contact (north cal?) departure" (plane took off and is making a straight-out departure, and now will contact departure control) 0:09-0:12 - Skywest 5427 pilot: "OK, going to departure, Skywest 5427 (free?)" 0:12-0:14 United 885 pilot: "United 885" (pilot makes a quick break call to tower before making a longer request) 0:14-0:16 Tower: "United, uh, 85, OK?" (tells pilot to go ahead) 0:17-0:21 United 885 pilot: "Yes, United 885 at the end, we might need a few more minutes, just a heads-up" (It sounds like 885 is next for takeoff and has taxied into position next to the runway) 0:21-0:25 Tower: "United 885, roger, hold short of runway 28 left, let me know when you're ready" 0:25-0:27 United 885 pilot: "Hold at 28 left, United 885" 0:27-0:32 Skywest 5452 pilot: "San Francisco Tower, Skywest 5452, (quite ?), 28 right" 0:32-0:36 Tower: "Skywest 5452, San Francisco Tower, runway 28 right, cleared to land" 0:36-0:38 Skywest 5452 pilot: "Clear to land, 28 right, Skywest 5452" 0:38-0:41 Tower: "Three Sierra Fox... (garbled)" 0:39-0:41 Voice in background (in tower?) "What? Hell? What happened?" 0:43-0:50 Skyhawk 737ZD pilot: "San Francisco Tower, Skyhawk seven three seven zulu delta (garbled, another transmission saying 'GO AROUND') (something) plus 500 feet please, over San Carlos" (A four seat Cessna is over the San Carlos airport just southeast of SFO and wants to cross the SFO airspace. 737ZD [if I have it right] is the aircraft's tail number, no connection to the Boeing 737.) 0:50-0:52 Tower: "Skyhawk 6389, maintain 3000 [feet altitude]" (It sounds like 6389 is on approach to land and tower is telling him to go around? Not sure) 0:53-0:54 Skyhawk 6389 pilot: "(something) 3000, yes, 389" (speaking quickly to keep the channel clear) 0:55-0:57 Asiana 214 pilot (!!): "Tower, Asiana 214!" 0:57-1:00 Tower: "Asiana 214 heavy, emergency vehicles are responding" ("heavy" refers to any large aircraft) 1:00-1:01 Asiana 214 pilot: "214" (acknowledging) 1:02-1:03 Tower? "Emergency veh(something)" 1:03-1:09 Asiana 214 pilot: "OK, now, uh, uh, and ten or twelve (?) (unintelligible)" 1:10-1:16 Tower: "Cessna 737 Zulu Delta, San Francisco Tower, remain clear of the San Francisco (Fox Bravo?) airspace, contact San Carlos Tower" 1:17-1:21 Skyhawk 737ZD pilot: "Seven Zulu Delta, contacting San Carlos Tower, and remaining clear" There's another minute or so on the recording, but my nerves are shot after doing that much. If anyone would like to pick it up from there, correct it, etc., please do.

paul_f 13y ago
Thank you. Amazing job. Was hard to understand the audio.
- jervisfm 13y ago
  Yeah, I have listened in on some air traffic controller streams that are available online and it's always hard to decipher what it is they are saying. It all sounds like words slurred together with no clear demarcation. I am mostly amazed how pilots and the controllers clearly understand each speaking the way they do.
  - waster 13y ago
    Also, kudos to the tower. It is seriously an amazing thing they do, and to stay cool and calm and efficient all during a crash, to keep the rest of the traffic clear and headed in the right direction.
  - ams6110 13y ago
    It's part learned jargon and part ritual... also (though I don't know) probably easier to hear in a headset than on a low bitrate mp3 recording.
  - VLM 13y ago
    The engineering term to google is data redundancy with a bit of communication theory and stuff like that. 0:32-0:36 Tower: "Skywest 5452, San Francisco Tower, runway 28 right, cleared to land" 0:36-0:38 Skywest 5452 pilot: "Clear to land, 28 right, Skywest 5452" This looks like 6 seconds of jargon containing about 25 words, but it really only contains one single bit of information that being that in the giant state machine of flowchart of flying a plane, everyone mutually agrees its your turn to click forward precisely one step. Once you look at it that way, the "conceptual bit rate" drops dramatically lower. 5452 probably expected to get 28R all along, and based on where he was probably expected to get clearance "right about then" too. "Hey you, its me, you can land over there" "Hey you, its me, I think heard you say I can land over there" (with the implied, if I misheard, you'd best start yelling right about now either at me or at everyone else to get out of my way) When its just business as usual, things click along awful fast. When ATC gives out some "unpredictable" order or a pilot has a weird request, there's always a very dramatic pause due to cognitive load. I can have my scanner monitoring the local tower for fun and Very quickly you learn to tune out BAU chatter until/unless weird tempo strikes. You can also tell purely by cadence and tempo with near perfect accuracy if the pilot is a local or a noob in general or a distant traveler.

sgloutnikov 13y ago

Some more insight regarding the ATC audio: http://www.liveatc.net/forums/atcaviation-audio-clips/asiana-214-crash-at-ksfo/ http://www.liveatc.net/forums/atcaviation-audio-clips/asiana...