Rattling heard in cockpit seconds before crash

NEW YORK -- The cockpit voice recorder from American Flight 587 indicates the pilots struggled to control the plane after a rattling was heard less than two minutes into takeoff, investigators reported Tuesday.

George Black Jr. of the National Transportation Safety Board said investigators do not yet know what caused the "airframe rattling noise."

Also, the pilots spoke of encountering turbulence in the wake of a Japan Airlines jumbo jet that took off ahead of Flight 587, Black said. "Wake turbulence" is believed to have contributed to other deadly airline crashes.

But Black said it was too early to say if there was any relationship between the noises or the turbulence and the crash of Flight 587.

From takeoff to the end of the tape lasts less than 2 minutes, 24 seconds, Black said at a news conference.

The first portion of the flight to the Dominican Republic appeared normal, with the co-pilot at the controls. But 107 seconds after the plane had started its takeoff roll, a rattling was heard; 14 seconds later, a second rattle was audible, Black said.

Twenty-three seconds later -- after "several comments suggesting loss of control" -- the cockpit voice recording ends, he said.

The plane's other black box, the flight data recorder, was recovered Tuesday after a 24-hour hunt through a Queens neighborhood staggered by a double dose of tragedy. At least 262 people were killed when the plane crashed.

The NTSB was also looking at whether the engines failed after sucking in birds, a phenomenon that has caused severe damage to airliners in the past. But Black said an initial inspection of the engines found no evidence of such a collision. He said a more detailed analysis still needs to be done.

262 bodies recovered

All 260 people aboard the twin-engine Airbus A300 were killed, and five others were reported missing on the ground after the fiery crash Monday in the beachfront Rockaway section of Queens.

Mayor Rudolph Giuliani said 262 bodies had been recovered, along with dozens of body parts. Authorities were working with family members to identify remains through DNA.

The flight data recorder -- one of two "black boxes" aboard the jetliner -- tracks speed and the performance of the engine and instruments.

Authorities have not ruled out sabotage or other potential causes but said the evidence so far suggests it was an accident -- perhaps a catastrophic mechanical failure in the engines.

The General Electric engines on the Airbus A300 model have drawn close scrutiny since the spring of 2000, when planes reported engine failures that sent metal fragments flying.

However, NTSB chairman Marion Blakey said Tuesday that the engines were largely intact.

In 1995, an Air Force AWACS surveillance plane in Alaska sucked at least four geese into its engines during takeoff and crashed in a forest, killing all 24 people aboard.

Large flocks of gulls, geese and other birds abound around Kennedy Airport, which is next to Jamaica Bay and a federally protected wetlands.

At least 726 birds and other animals have been hit by aircraft at Kennedy over the past decade, according to Federal Aviation Administration records obtained by The Associated Press under the Freedom of Information Act.

Most of the incidents at Kennedy happened at Runway 31L, where Flight 587 took off. Pilots using that runway reported 139 incidents, at least 62 of which involved gulls. Other animals included barn owls, larks, sparrows, homing pigeons, a peregrine falcon and a jackrabbit.