| August 13, 2008 Tapes reveal frantic moments before Angel Flight crash
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(John Moroney, NECN: Easton, MA) - Federal investigators arrived on the scene Wednesday in Easton, Massachusetts and began their investigation. So far they have few answers on what cause the plane to go down.
However the audio tapes were released, and reveal frantic attempts by an air traffic controller in Boston to warn the pilot that he was flying to low. At one point, the controller implores the pilot to "climb immediately" after dropping to 1,200 feet and prompting a low-altitude alert. The controller then asks the pilot: "Are you all right, Sir?"
Thomas Monville, senior air safety investigator with the NTSB spoke Wednesday about the fatal plane crash in Easton, Massachusetts.
He says that audio recordings of the plane's final minutes show attempts of Boston air traffic controllers to warn the pilot that he was flying too low.
Monville says that the plane experienced "altitude deviations", but did not provide any reasons why. The plane's intended altitude was 3,000 but was recorded at 1,400 and 1,200 before it disappeared from radar.
The charity flight was carrying Robert Gregory of Riverhead, N.Y., a cancer patient, and his wife, Donna, to Boston's Logan International Airport for treatment at the nearby Dana-Farber Cancer Institute.
Witnesses said the plane appeared to lose power, then nosedive into the parking lot in Easton, about 25 miles south of Boston.
NTSB says the investigation at the crash site will take two
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