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1.14.3.10.9 When the roll angle reached about 23°, larger erratic control wheel movements were recorded up to almost 30° left hand down, but there was no noticeable increase in the rate of roll to the left. The DFDR then indicated that autopilot A was selected to the Manual mode in which it remained for the rest of the recording. The DFDR may have recorded the position of the selector only. The selection was accompanied by the sound of a second autopilot disconnect warning.
1.14.3.10.10 The aircraft reached a maximum altitude of 38 250 ft with a reduction in calibrated airspeed from the initial 286 kt to 220 kt. As the aircraft started to descend, the control column first slowly and then more rapidly returned towards the neutral position; the vertical acceleration then increased significantly. For a short period, the rate of descent increased to over 12 000 ft/min and the speed increased to 284 kt. Simultaneously with the more rapid movements of the control column to neutral, the control wheel moved to 25° right hand down, the roll attitude reached 52° left wing down and then decreased.
1.14.3.10.11 During this period, KE 007 contacted Tokyo Radio and transmitted "rapid compressions" and "descend to one zero thousand." Accentuated breathing during the transmission indicated that an oxygen mask was being worn.
1.14.3.10.12
The vertical acceleration increased to just over 2.0 g, at which level it started to fluctuate. With a forward movement of the control column, the aircraft recovered to level flight and rolled right wing down.
1.14.3.10.13 The recordings ceased simultaneously on both the DFDR and the CVR 104 seconds after the attack as the aircraft rolled through 49° right wing down on a magnetic heading of 200° at an altitude of 33 850 ft with a speed of 282 kt CAS and a rate of descent of about 5 000 ft/min.
1.15
1.15.1
1.15.1.1
Communications recordings
Anchorage ATC recordings
The representatives of the United States reported that the original Anchorage ATC tapes were no longer available, but provided certified authentic copy tapes of the recordings as follows: Anchorage CD/TWR/APP (118.3 MHz) between 12:45 and 13:10 hours, Anchorage ARTCC Sector RD 5/6 (125.7 MHz) between 12:59 and 13:39 hours, Anchorage ARTCC Sector D 2/3 (125.2 MHz) between 13:00 and 14:13 hours, Anchorage ARTCC Sector D 10/11 (127.8 MHz and 128.2 MHz) between 13:45 and 17:47 hours, and Anchorage IFSS (HF) between 14:44 and 17:22 hours.
1.15.1.2 The Anchorage CD/TWR/APP, ARTCC and IFSS communications were recorded by separate recording equipment in Anchorage and minor adjustments were made to the recorded times of transmissions to achieve synchronization.
1.15.1.3
The representatives of the United States also made available a copy tape that contained a segment of the Anchorage ARTCC recording at 14:34 hours. This segment of the tape contained nearly inaudible and unintelligible words that had been alleged in 1985 to be the phrase "persons should warn them". This segment had been analyzed by the laboratory of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) of the United States in 1985 and a copy of the report was made available. The FBI report concluded that "an aural examination of the designated portion of channel 4 ... revealed that no decision can be made