The IRE Resource Center is a major research library containing more than 23,250 investigative stories — both print and broadcast. These stories are searchable online or by contacting the Resource Center directly (573-882-3364 or rescntr@ire.org) where a researcher can help you pinpoint what you need. Browse or search the tipsheet section of our library below. Stories are not available for download but can be easily ordered by contacting the Resource Center:
Search results for "cockpit" ...
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Blackwater 61
The story investigates the plane crash that killed six people in Afghanistan, including three American servicemen. The flight should have been routine, even insignificant. A cockpit voice recorded revealed incompetence among the pilots involved.
Tags: plane crash; soldier; Afghanistan; Blackwater; Blackwater 61
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Cockpit Security
According to this report, French airline company, Air Tahiti Nui leaves the door to the cockpit open on international flights even the ones coming into the United States. Aviation regulations require that the door remain closed from take-off to touch-down. When this station contacted the Federal Aviation Administration, they were told that foreign carriers could not be regulated with the same rules.
Tags: French airline; Air Tahiti Nui; 9/11; cockpit safety; cockpit; pilots; Federal Aviation Administration
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Final Approach
In 2002 October, U.S. Senator Paul Wellstone died in a plane crash amidst speculation that the crash was part of a conspiracy. With this investigation, the reporters deduced that the crash was in fact pilot error. The investigation involved extensive collection of FOIA data and interviewing sources who had never spoken about the crash before.
Tags: airplane crash; U.S.Senator killed in crash; U.S.Senator Paul Wellstone; Paul Wellstone; FOIA; FAA; NTSB; pilot error; crashes due to pilot error; crash experts; back box; cockpit; cockpit voice recorder
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Captain WOW: When is Mental State Of a Pilot Grounds for Grounding Him?
The Wall Street Journal reports on the case of a pilot, Capt. Witter, diagnosed with personal disorder. "The Witter case, offering a look inside the normally closed world of the cockpit shows just how difficult it can be to decide whether a pilot is mentally fit to fly. Of 5.066 pilot groundings for medical reasons in the past two years, 915 involved psychological or psychiatric disorders."
Tags: domestic violence aggression; alcohol abuse; FAA; NTSB; safety; Delta
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The Widow-Maker
The Harrier attack jet can take off and land vertically, much like a helicopter. It can also be the single most dangerous plane to fly in the American air force, leading to 143 major accidents and the loss of one-third of the entire fleet. Forty-five marines, including some of the nations finest pilots, had died in the cockpits of these machines. The LA Times uncovered many of these shortcomings, and showed how the military moved haltingly to fix known shortcomings that had taken pilots' lives.
Tags: Aircraft; crash; military; war; Harrier attact jet; airplanes; planes; Marines; United States
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From the Tower, Voices From the Sky
A two-part ABC News investigation attempts to find a fresh angle to the story of the September 11 terrorist attacks. The first report tells what happened through the eyes of the air traffic controllers at Dulles International Airport. One of the findings is that American 11 that crashed into the Pentagon had most probably targeted the White House at first but the terrorists could not see it well because the sun was in their eyes. The second part broadcasts "the actual sound of hijackers storming the cockpit" of United 93 which crashed into a Pennsylvania field.
Tags: TAPE; TRANSCRIPT; Sept. 11; pilots; hijackers; airlines; World Trade Center; Federal Aviation Administration (FAA)
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The Real Story of Flight 93
Newsweek depicts the circumstances preceding the crash of United Flight 93 near Pittsburgh on September 11. The story tells how "the passengers and crew revolted against the hijackers," and reveals the content of recordings from the Flight's cockpit. The reporters find evidence that "the passengers did in fact retake control of the plane's cabin and were on the verge of breaking into the cockpit, when the panicked hijackers forced the plane to crash." Newsweek's investigation refutes the conspiracy theory that the flight had been shot down by the U.S. military forces.
Tags: aviation; United Airlines; Osama bin Laden; Islam; Muslims; pilots; FBI; law enforcement; Verizon Airfone officials
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Death at 35,000 feet
Wilkinson recounts the death of 19-year-old Jonathan Burton, who was apparently beaten to death by his fellow passengers on a Southwest Airlines flight in August, 2000. Fifteen passengers reportedly restrained and then beat Burton after he tried to break down the door to the plane's cockpit. Early news accounts attributed his death to a heart attack, but an autopsy fingered asphyxiation as the cause of death. Despite these findings, the U.S. attorney's office has decided not to prosecute the passengers who beat him. These passengers say they were only watching out for their own safety and that of other passengers.
Tags: Southwest Airlines; air rage; Jonathan Burton; air safety
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Special Report: Airline Safety
The story covers: suppression of a dissenting report detailing safety flaws within the U.S. airline industry submitted to the White House Commission on Aviation Safety and Security, the FAA's refusal to mandate that children under two be buckled in seats despite reports of deaths and turbulence, dramatic underreporting of turbulence-related incidents/accidents aboard U.S. airlines, dangerous flaws in cabin and cockpit safety/monitoring that the FAA is not correcting.
Tags: None
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No title (id: 13329)
Pilots at Southwest, American, Delta and USAir who fly comparable jets are roughly paid equal salaries. But, as The Wall Street Journal reports, each month, the pilots at Southwest Airlines clock more than 70 hours on average in the cockpit; while other pilots average fewer than 50. (Nov. 9, 1995)