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I have searched for the audio recorded on the CVR from the US Airways Flight 1549, but all clips and audios I found seems to be audio recorded from the flight control and not from microphones inside the cockpit.

For example:

In this clip, we only hear the pilot sparsely, but the air traffic control and the airport tower controls quite often. Although, we can also see a transcript of what is said in the cockpit, so there obviously exists some recordings from the cockpit.

Where can I listen to the audio recorded from the cockpit and not from the air traffic control?

Jimy
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Björn Larsson
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2 Answers2

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You can't, because it is in fact forbidden to release CVR audio under US law. From the NTSB:

The CVR recordings are treated differently than the other factual information obtained in an accident investigation. Due to the highly sensitive nature of the verbal communications inside the cockpit, Congress has required that the Safety Board not release any part of a CVR audio recording.

Other countries may have different rules.

This rule came about after the crash of Delta Air Lines flight 1141, (commented by @MichaelK)

[...] where the crew — in extremely cruel irony — were bantering on the flight deck about what to say that would get captured on the CVR in case of a crash. That irony was then squared in that the bantering was a directly contributing cause of the crash, in that they forgot to deploy flaps and slats

Sanchises
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    You can't listen to it, but you can read the transcripts. This rule is mostly to avoid the stress/grief caused to families as they listen to the last minutes of a loved ones life. – Ron Beyer Jan 09 '19 at 15:08
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    Trivia about that: this decision came about after the fatal accident of Delta Air Lines 1141 in 1988, where the crew — in extremely cruel irony — were bantering on the flight deck about what to say that would get captured on the CVR in case of a crash. That irony was then squared in that the bantering was a directly contributing cause of the crash, in that they forgot to deploy flaps and slats. – MichaelK Jan 09 '19 at 15:52
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    Good Lord, what a story, @MichaelK – Fattie Jan 09 '19 at 17:25
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    @Fattie Want to know the final rub of salt in the wound? It was the CVR recording that revealed that the flap and slat points on the checklists had not been stated by the crew, and that there were no sounds from the handles being moved... thus presenting solid evidence that the flaps and slats were not extended. This recording was then played on the news, the crew's error being laid bare for all hear. As a direct result of this, legislation came into place that the NTSB may not release recordings from CVRs. – MichaelK Jan 09 '19 at 17:33
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    Good Lord man! Actually, an interesting point then, others have suggested the law was made to "spare feelings" (a worthy goal), however more cynically the information you relate suggests it was really made to spare embarassment to the faulted! – Fattie Jan 09 '19 at 17:44
  • It's ironic that this should happen in a country with freedom of speech as the first amendment to its constitution ;) – alephzero Jan 09 '19 at 18:11
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    The 1st amdmt protects a person from being told what to say by the State. It doesn't mandate that investigators have to broadcast the final words of people to the public. – John K Jan 09 '19 at 18:50
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    @alephzero Not releasing something isn't a freedom of speech violation. Banning someone from publishing it if they had it might be, but simply not giving it to them in the first place isn't. – reirab Jan 09 '19 at 19:47
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    "highly sensitive nature" - "[extremely embarrassing and costing us money, so we all got together and lobbied Congress to make it illegal]" – Mazura Jan 09 '19 at 23:55
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    @alephzero What's actually relevant is the 4th Amendment: the right against unreasonable searches by the government. The CVR is a government mandated recording device whose contents could be used against somebody in a legal proceeding. An additional law (49 USC 1154) only allows transcript admissibility only if necessary for a fair trial. – user71659 Jan 10 '19 at 02:55
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    @alephzero What user71659 said: a CVR is a government mandated eavesdropping device, in a workplace. Just extrapolate this in absurdum and imagine if every office and workplace had this; that the government always had recordings of what everyone said in their workplaces. Normally we would never allow such a thing. The CVR is an exception where we find that the use of a CVR outweighs the privacy rights of those that have to endure its presence. As such it is only natural that recordings from CVRs cannot be released willy-nilly. – MichaelK Jan 10 '19 at 09:09
  • @MichaelK Pilots generally press a button to wipe the CVR on landing, so the recording is not going to be accessible unless there is a crash. – forest Jan 10 '19 at 09:16
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    @forest That does not matter. It is still a government mandated eavesdropping device, and it is in your workplace. Constitutionally this is normally not possible, so it is their existence that is the exception, not the prohibition on releasing the audio. – MichaelK Jan 10 '19 at 09:49
  • @MichaelK Also honestly it seems like kind of a cruel irony, considering the physical facts of the crash, that the NTSB report's front page depicts an airliner with its right wing dipped. – Lightness Races in Orbit Jan 10 '19 at 13:30
  • @LightnessRacesinOrbit A T-tailed airliner none the less... with a flaps & main gear configuration suspiciously like that of a B-727. – MichaelK Jan 10 '19 at 13:37
  • @MichaelK Good grief what a flight! – Lightness Races in Orbit Jan 10 '19 at 13:42
  • Yes, and Air Canada 781's aircraft was allowed to continue flying, so by the time it escalated to management that the incident was serious, the plane had flown another umpteen hours and the data was overwritten. So we'll never know what happened in that cockpit. – Harper - Reinstate Monica Jan 10 '19 at 22:56
  • @Mazura Absolutely. How convenient. https://web.archive.org/web/20150711081847/http://archive.news-leader.com/article/20051009/COLUMNISTS11/510090341/-State-secrets-protected-by-lie – Chloe Jan 11 '19 at 05:41
  • @Chloe - I didn't know Blue Thunder was a true story. (the plot of the movie revolving around retrieving a helicopter's black box and the cockpit recording on it of the bad guys talking about criminal intent, whom they were clandestinely observing ;) – Mazura Jan 11 '19 at 05:53
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You can't listen to it due to the regulation mentioned in Sanchises' answer, but you can find the transcripts. There is one here, for example.

reirab
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