Editorial: Flight rule needs enforcement

Saturday, Jan. 27, 2007 | 7:13 a.m.

There are times when chitchat at the workplace can be dangerous, such as when pilots are talking politics during takeoffs or landings. That is exactly what was happening in 1974 when a plane crashed during a rough-weather landing in Charlotte, N.C., killing 74 people. It was the impetus for a 1981 Federal Aviation Administration rule that bars unnecessary conversation in the cockpit while a plane is taxiing, or flying below 10,000 feet.

Federal investigators brought attention to this "sterile cockpit" rule on Jan. 17, when they released transcripts of the conversation between the pilots of a Comair commuter jet that crashed Aug. 17 in Lexington, Ky. The plane, having taken off on the wrong runway - one that was too short for the plane's size - crashed almost immediately after liftoff, killing 49 of the 50 people aboard.

According to an Associated Press report, in the moments before the crash one of the pilots was talking about the colds his young children were suffering. The other pilot talked about his four dogs. And together, as the plane was racing toward doom, the two talked about pay and working conditions, even while the airport's controller was radioing instructions.

As part of its report, the AP checked on several other crashes and found similar transcripts. Among them: Pilots were engaged in "nonstop joking and expletive-laden banter" just before a 2004 crash in Kirksville, Mo., in which 13 people died. In a 1988 crash that occurred 22 seconds after takeoff, a crash blamed on the cockpit crew for setting the flaps incorrectly, the crew had been discussing political figures. Fourteen people were killed.

The AP reported that it is extremely rare for cockpit recordings to be listened to unless there is a crash. We believe this should be changed. Pilots can have their licenses suspended or revoked for ignoring this critical rule that bears so heavily on safety. With consequences that severe, the rule is obviously important and it should be enforced before tragedies occur, not after .