Release #02.028
April 18, 2002

WASHINGTON, D.C. – The president of the Air Line Pilots Association, International, Captain Duane Woerth, released the following statement today regarding the Justice Department’s airing of the Cockpit Voice Recorder of UAL Flt. 93 for family members of those killed in the crash:

"Pilots across the country mourn their fellow pilots, crewmembers and all passengers who perished on the four flights that crashed at the hands of terrorists on Sept. 11, 2001. We empathize with all surviving family members and certainly understand the desire of those who had loved ones on UAL Flight 93 to seek solace and closure to this horrific act of terrorism. Our compassion and understanding, however, must not overshadow our determination to protect the CVR as an effective tool in the accident-investigation process. We are disappointed that the Justice Department could not be swayed, despite our many requests, from using the CVR in this manner.

Playing the CVR for family members goes against the fundamental principles of the recordings – the gathering of useful information to determine the cause of an accident so future occurrences could be prevented. Pilots embraced this intrusion into their workplace and invasion of their privacy on the strict condition that the CVR, an endless loop tape of 30 minutes, would be used only within the accident-investigation process.

ALPA has long been concerned that leaks of CVR tapes lead to sensationalism and speculation as to causes of an accident, which can taint the accident-investigation process. The release of CVR information has also shown that the public tends to focus on non-pertinent conversations rather than the air safety factors associated with the accident.

At ALPA’s urging, Congress passed legislation in 1982 and 1990 restricting the NTSB from releasing CVR information in an attempt to stem abuses. When the laws concerning CVR use were being written, no one could have predicted the situation in which we now find ourselves, where another government agency with access to the evidence would decide to play the CVR to individuals outside of the investigation. This violates the assurances of privacy that pilots were given by proponents of the CVR concept at the time it was implemented.

ALPA is concerned that the well-intentioned playing of the Flt. 93 CVR could set another precedent that will erode the accident-investigation process as well as the privacy that pilots have a legal right to expect."

Founded in 1931, ALPA is the world’s oldest and largest pilot union, representing more than 62,000 cockpit crewmembers at 42 airlines in the U.S. and Canada. Visit the ALPA website at www.alpa.org.

# # #

ALPA Contact: Anya Piazza, (703) 481-4440

*View the letters ALPA sent to Attorney General John Ashcroft and FBI Director Robert Mueller.

April 17, 2002

Via Facsimile (202) 307-6777 and First Class Mail
Hon. John Ashcroft
Attorney General of the United States
U.S. Department of Justice
Tenth Street and Constitution Avenue, N.W.
Washington, DC 20530

Re: U.S. v. Moussaoui, U.S.D.C. EDVA Crim. No. 01-00455-A; CVR Tape – United Airlines Flight 93

Dear Attorney General Ashcroft:

On behalf of the Air Line Pilots Association ("ALPA") I am writing to express our continued serious concerns over the Justice Department’s plan to play the Cockpit Voice Recorder ("CVR") recording to the families of those who died aboard United Airlines Flight 93 on September 11, 2001. This event is currently scheduled to proceed on Thursday April 18, 2002 in Princeton, New Jersey.

In our opinion, the Department’s planned use of the CVR tape in the above-referenced proceeding is contrary to Congressional intent, contrary to precedent and contrary to the underlying legal principles justifying the existence of the CVR. Based upon the widely-recognized principal that since information saved on the CVR may prevent or explain crashes, pilots have agreed to this extremely intrusive continuous monitoring, knowing that the contents of the tape will likely only be of interest when it records their death.

ALPA as the representative of over 64,000 pilots at 43 airlines in the U.S. and Canada is frequently put in the position of intervening in judicial proceedings to enforce the privacy interest protected by the CVR privilege. As a practical matter, were ALPA not to do so, typically there is no other party with a strong enough interest to ensure that the appropriate judicial protections are put in place. Our concerns have been previously detailed in letters to the Office of the United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia dated April 5 and April 15, 2002. We are informed the Department intends to proceed with the playing of the CVR to the families over our strenuous objections.

It is important for you to consider that many of the family members of the victims are assembling to grieve. These family members can and should grieve in private, with dignity. We request the Department also reconsider the decision to play the CVR recording to those family members, without, at a minimum, an agreement binding those persons to an appropriate protective order of non-disclosure. To our knowledge each and every trial participant over the last ten years in cases where the CVR tape has been used as evidence has been subjected to such an order of non-disclosure (and it has been over 10 years since Congress was last called upon to amend the statute to plug a loophole that allowed an unintended disclosure). Those witnesses included, in at least one instance, the government’s witnesses in a criminal trial.

Instead, the playing of the CVR tape, without any confidentiality protection whatsoever, is an open invitation to family members to go public with their grief into the waiting arms of the commercial media. This use of the CVR tape to promote a public media spectacle surrounding reactions of the families of the dead following air disasters, intentional or not, is contrary to the best interest of aviation, and contrary to good public policy. Such use of the CVR tape in this case sets an extremely bad precedent for future cases.

I wish to reemphasize our views on the minimum safeguards to be observed if the government goes ahead as intended here:

1. The CVR should be exposed to a minimum number of potential trial witnesses, each of whom, for purposes of trial, is under the control of the United States. There should be adequate security control and identification procedures at any facility where the CVR is to be played to prevent unauthorized recording or access.

2. A judicial Protective Order of Confidentiality should bind each person who listens to the CVR.

3. There should be no unnecessary disclosure of the contents of the CVR to the media during trial.

In our opinion, these steps are absolutely necessary to protect the privilege afforded the United Airlines Flight 93 CVR; and absolutely essential to protect the CVR privilege against foreseeable unwarranted demands in the case of future crashes.

In conclusion, we view the Department’s presentation of the CVR tape to proposed victim witnesses without adequate confidentiality protection to be contrary to the established statute and its underlying legal principles, and likely to do far more harm than good.

As I understand it, the best information at this point indicates there are no known United Airlines pilot voices on the CVR tape. (This is possible since this CVR was on a 30-minute recording loop, and the terrorists could have killed the pilots and gained complete control of the cockpit over 30 minutes prior to the crash.) In the event the playing of the tape proceeds as planned by the Department, it is our intention to disclose this information to our pilots in response to the sense of outrage over the playing of the CVR that will certainly follow.

Our 64,000 pilot members appreciate your timely and earnest reconsideration of this decision.

Sincerely,

Duane E. Woerth
President

cc: Via facsimile (804) 771-2316
Honorable Paul J. McNulty
United States Attorney
Eastern District of Virginia
2100 Jamieson Avenue
Alexandria, Virginia 22314

April 17^th, 2002

Via Facsimile (202) 323-2083 and First Class Mail
Hon. Robert S. Mueller, III
Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation
F.B.I. Building
935 Pennsylvania Ave., N.W.
Washington, DC 20535-0001

Dear Director Mueller:

On behalf of the Air Line Pilots Association ("ALPA") I am writing to express our continued serious concerns over the F.B.I. and Department of Justice plan to play the Cockpit Voice Recorder ("CVR") recording to the families of those who died aboard United Airlines Flight 93 on September 11, 2001. This event is currently scheduled to proceed on Thursday April 18, 2002 in Princeton, New Jersey.

In our opinion, the Department’s planned use of the CVR tape in the above-referenced proceeding is contrary to Congressional intent, contrary to precedent and contrary to the underlying legal principles justifying the existence of the CVR. Based upon the widely-recognized principal that since information saved on the CVR may prevent or explain crashes, pilots have agreed to this extremely intrusive continuous monitoring, knowing that the contents of the tape will likely only be of interest when it records their death.

ALPA as the representative of over 64,000 pilots at 43 airlines in the U.S. and Canada is frequently put in the position of intervening in judicial proceedings to enforce the privacy interest protected by the CVR privilege. As a practical matter, were ALPA not to do so, typically there is no other party with a strong enough interest to ensure that the appropriate judicial protections are put in place. Our concerns have been previously detailed in letters to the Office of the United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia dated April 5 and April 15, 2002. We are informed the Department intends to proceed with the playing of the CVR to the families over our strenuous objections.

It is important for you to consider that many of the family members of the victims are assembling to grieve. These family members can and should grieve in private, with dignity. We request the Department reconsider the decision to play the CVR recording to those family members, without, at a minimum, an agreement binding those persons to an appropriate protective order of non-disclosure. To our knowledge each and every trial participant over the last ten years in cases where the CVR tape has been used as evidence has been subjected to such an order of non-disclosure (and it has been over 10 years since Congress was last called upon to amend the statute to plug a loophole that allowed an unintended disclosure). Those witnesses included, in at least one instance, the government’s witnesses in a criminal trial.

Instead, the playing of the CVR tape, without any confidentiality protection whatsoever, is an open invitation to family members to go public with their grief into the waiting arms of the commercial media. This use of the CVR tape to promote a public media spectacle surrounding reactions of the families of the dead following air disasters, intentional or not, is contrary to the best interest of aviation, and contrary to good public policy. Such use of the CVR tape in this case sets an extremely bad precedent for future cases.

I wish to emphasize our views on the minimum safeguards to be observed if the government goes ahead as intended here:

1. The CVR should be exposed to a minimum number of potential trial witnesses, each of whom, for purposes of trial, is under the control of the United States. There should be adequate security control and identification procedures at any facility where the CVR is to be played to prevent unauthorized recording or access.

2. A judicial Protective Order of Confidentiality should bind each person who listens to the CVR.

3. There should be no unnecessary disclosure of the contents of the CVR to the media during trial.

In our opinion, these steps are absolutely necessary to protect the privilege afforded the United Airlines Flight 93 CVR; and absolutely essential to protect the CVR privilege against foreseeable unwarranted demands in the case of future crashes.

In conclusion, we view the Department’s presentation of the CVR tape to proposed victim witnesses without adequate confidentiality protection to be contrary to the established statute and its underlying legal principles, and likely to do far more harm than good.

As I understand it, the Department’s best information at this point indicates there are no known United Airlines pilot voices on the CVR tape. (This is possible since this CVR was on a 30-minute recording loop, and the terrorists could have killed the pilots and gained complete control of the cockpit over 30 minutes prior to the crash.) In the event the playing of the tape proceeds as planned by the Department, it is our intention to disclose this information to our pilots in response to the sense of outrage over the playing of the CVR that will certainly follow.

Our 64,000 pilot members appreciate your timely and earnest reconsideration of this decision.

Sincerely,

Duane E. Woerth
President

cc: Via facsimile (804) 771-2316
Honorable Paul J. McNulty
United States Attorney
Eastern District of Virginia
2100 Jamieson Avenue
Alexandria, Virginia 22314