U.S. Crash Investigators Talk With Flight 1141’s Injured Co-Pilot

GRAPEVINE, Tex. —  Federal investigators Saturday interviewed Delta Flight 1141’s co-pilot, Carey Wilson Kirkland, who remains hospitalized in stable condition with a back injury suffered Wednesday in the crash that killed 13 people.

A spokesman said reporters likely would be briefed on Kirkland’s statements today at the National Transportation Safety Board’s command center at Dallas-Ft. Worth International Airport.

About 30 people in hip boots and bib overalls slogged through ankle-deep mud at the crash site Saturday afternoon, looking for clues to the cause of the crash. Lee V. Dickinson Jr., who is heading the NTSB investigation, said investigators are concentrating on the position of the wing flaps at takeoff and whether the left engine stalled during the takeoff.

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

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

About half of approximately 300 people at the funeral Friday night for attendant Rosilyn Marr were uniformed Delta flight attendants and pilots, who were joined by a handful of flight attendants from American Airlines and Braniff.

Earlier Friday, more than 2,200 mourners gathered for services for Phil and Thelma Vogel, who were instrumental in helping the homeless in Dallas.

The Washington Post, quoting a source who had heard the cockpit voice recorder tape, reported Saturday that the three men in the Delta cockpit joked that they should say something about their flight attendants so that the news media would have something to report if they crashed.

The three were referring to the crash of a Continental Airlines jet last November. Remarks about one of the flight attendants deleted from the official tape transcript were published for the first time last week by the Denver Post.

Dickinson earlier reported on the interview with 1141’s flight engineer, Steven Mark Judd, who was released from the hospital Friday.

Pilot Larry Lon Davis, 48, was in fair condition with fractures, internal injuries and a back injury and was too seriously injured to be interviewed, officials said.