It had been an uneventful flight from Chicago when the co-pilot of USAir Flight 427 gave routine instructions for his passengers to prepare for landing at Pittsburgh International Airport.
"Folks, we should be on the ground in about 10 more minutes," the co-pilot said. "Uh, sunny skies, little hazy . . ."Hope you come back and travel with us again."
It was the last flight for all 132 aboard the Boeing 737.
This week, the National Transportation Safety Board is holding hearings in an effort to piece together what caused the jetliner to plunge nearly 6,000 feet in 23 seconds and slam into a ravine at nearly 300 miles per hour.
While the NTSB released transcripts of the aircraft's cockpit voice recorder on Monday, officials acknowledged that they provided little clue as to the cause of the Sept. 8 crash.
Flight 427 departed Chicago's O'Hare Airport at 6:10 p.m. for the 55-minute flight to Pittsburgh. The weather was clear and calm. The transcripts show that the flight crew was chatting and joking during the routine flight.
As Flight 427 descended to 6,000 feet, the sound of seat belts clicking could be heard.
Shortly after 7 p.m., air traffic controllers instructed the crew to turn left and reduce air speed to 190 knots.
Then something went terribly wrong. A sound similar to three electrical clicks could be heard.
"Sheez," said Capt. Peter Germano, the pilot in command. "Uh," added First Officer Charles Emmett. Then a thumping sound, followed by a "clickety click."
Germano could be heard breathing heavily, then another thump and another clickety click.
"Hang on," he shouted over the sound of the engines revving.
"Hang on. . . . Hang on. . . . Hang on," he kept repeating. "What the hell is this?"
A warning signal from the aircraft could be heard, then Germano shouted: "What the? . . . Oh, God. Oh, God. . . . Pull, pull, pull!"
The last thing on the tape is the sound of Germano screaming and Emmett shouting, "No!"
From the Pittsburgh airport, air traffic controllers saw dense smoke rising to the northwest. Several witnesses on the ground reported that the airplane was diving "nearly vertical" just before it slammed into the ground.