Tape in Denver Crash Records 4 Engine Stalls

WASHINGTON —  An engine stall was heard four times as Continental Flight 1713 struggled to lift off a snowy runway at Denver’s Stapleton Airport last November, transcripts from a cockpit recording showed today.

But investigators said that even if one of the engines on the McDonnell Douglas DC-9 had a compression stall, it is still too early to determine if that caused the Nov. 15 crash or if the stall was the result of other factors.

The aircraft was bound from Denver to Boise, Ida., when it failed to gain adequate lift, rocked from one side to another, flipped on its back and broke into three pieces. The crash killed 28 of the 82 people aboard the jetliner.

“Positive rate,” Capt. Frank Zvonek advised six seconds after liftoff, a phrase usually indicating that the aircraft was attaining proper lift and the landing gear could be retracted.

But three seconds later the first unusual sound, similar to an engine compression stall, could be heard.

Then came an expletive from co-pilot Lee Edward Bruecher--who was at the controls--another sound of an engine stall and a “bang” followed by two more compression stalls, and the sound of impact, according to the transcript.