Investigators Say Co-Pilot Unable to Recall Moments Before Crash

GRAPEVINE, Tex. —  Federal investigators said Saturday that the co-pilot in the crash that killed 13 people here had no recollection of the crucial moments in the aircraft’s cockpit.

A spokesman said investigators still had some work to do at the muddy wreckage site, but some members of the National Transportation Safety Board team were being sent back to Washington.

“We’re satisfied that we have documented the information we need to collect,” Lee V. Dickinson Jr., who is heading the NTSB investigation, said at a news briefing Saturday night. “Our field phase is winding down.”

Dickinson said team members interviewed co-pilot Carey Wilson Kirkland, but he had no recollection of the Wednesday morning crash of Delta Flight 1141, from the time the plane left the gate at Dallas-Ft. Worth International Airport until Thursday night in the hospital.

Kirkland was released from a suburban hospital Saturday. The NTSB has not interviewed Capt. Larry Lon Davis, who was piloting the jet.

Davis, 48, was in fair condition at Parkland Memorial Hospital, but Dickinson said Davis’ doctor had not given investigators permission to talk with him.

Investigators Saturday determined the plane had a normal takeoff roll, using about 50% of the 11,300-foot runway. Earlier, the NTSB said the plane’s short flight may have been affected by a long takeoff roll.

No signs of damage have been found on any of the Boeing 727’s three engines, which were shipped Saturday to Pratt & Whitney in Hartford, Conn., Dickinson said.

Evidence has not yet confirmed witnesses’ accounts that the engines trailed flame during takeoff, a NTSB official said.

Cranes and trucks hoisted engines and the cockpit from the wreckage Saturday afternoon as some 30 people in hip boots and bib overalls slogged through ankle-deep mud searching for clues.

Ninety-five people survived when the plane, en route to Salt Lake City, crashed and burst into flame on takeoff.

Funerals for three of the victims were held Saturday. Services were held Friday for a Dallas couple and a veteran Delta flight attendant.