New Forum & News Updates

[nickyb233]

Did everyone see this?

Yes. I am the one that got the audio and there is more that I am working on recovering. It's probably the most important piece of outstanding evidence to date and I'm glad that I was able to bring it to the community. Ryan did an amazing job cleaning the audio up because what I got was rough.

[Shutter]

This is the kind of evidence needed...arguing over who said what or how someone walks gets you nowhere...

[nickyb233]

This is the kind of evidence needed...arguing over who said what or how someone walks gets you nowhere...

Amen Shutt.

[Dfs346]

I am the one that got the audio and there is more that I am working on recovering.

Many thanks for sharing these audio files. Some questions if I may:

* Are these audio files sourced (as reported on other forums) from the lady who now lives in Washington state and in 1971, worked for Northwest in Detroit?
* Is there any way to establish the authenticity of these recordings?
* Are the audio files arranged as follows:
  00m00s to 04m33s: Sea-Tac ground control frequency (121.7 mhz)
  04m33s to 07m12s: Northwest company frequency (131.9 mhz)
  07m12s to 09m26s: Sea-Tac ground control frequency (121.7 mhz)
  09m26s to 12m05s: Northwest company frequency (131.9 mhz)
* How are the speakers identified? For example, how does one distinguish the Captain from the First Officer?
* How would the crew be able to talk to Soderlind in real time, when the crew were at Sea-Tac and Soderlind was in Minneapolis (far out of radio range), and there were no cell-phones?

[Olemisscub]

* Is there any way to establish the authenticity of these recordings?

Are you suggesting this is a hoax or from a movie or something? The audio tapes were barely audible when I got them. I was only able to restore the 12 minutes you are hearing after an entire laborious week working on their restoration. It would be nice to have something to confirm their provenance to know where they came from, but their authenticity seems self evident.

* How are the speakers identified? For example, how does one distinguish the Captain from the First Officer?

Having written a book on this case, surely you know Rataczak and Scott's voices...no? There is plenty of audio out there of them both talking about the case. Those are clearly their voices. Both have very distinct and unique voices.

* How would the crew be able to talk to Soderlind in real time, when the crew were at Sea-Tac and Soderlind was in Minneapolis (far out of radio range), and there were no cell-phones?

It is also well documented that Paul Soderlind was in communication with 305 throughout the event.

This from Tosaw, who spent a significant amount of time with Rataczak and Soderlind.




This from NWA themselves:


As for how it worked, Northwest Airlines maintained a company VHF radio station at SEA-TAC. To communicate with the crew, Soderlind spoke into a telephone landline that was patched into this Seattle NWA company radio transmitter. The Seattle ground station then broadcast his voice over VHF to the aircraft.

[georger]

If it wasnt posted, here is Tom's CC25 talk on particles. You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login

[Shutter]

Excellent work on the audio..top notch...

[Olemisscub]

Excellent work on the audio..top notch...

Thanks! Nicky can attest that what the source gave him was damn near unlistenable. It was a chore but I’m so glad to have it.

[Dfs346]

* Is there any way to establish the authenticity of these recordings?

I selected the clip from 11m19s to 12m05s (46s), which is the longest clip attributed to the First Officer; and a clip of comparable length (3m48s to 4m55s) from the First Officer's presentation to the Northwest Airlines History Center on September 8, 2012 (recognizing that this was 41 years after the events); and uploaded both to an online voice similarity checker. The similarity score was 0.6152, which the application interpreted as "different people".

I further compared the clip from 11m19s to 12m05s with the First Officer's comments at a press conference in (I think) 1971, published at , clip from 00m36s to 01m18s. The similarity score was 0.5783, which the application interpreted as "different people".

Would you recommend another sample from the First Officer's voice?

[Dfs346]

* How would the crew be able to talk to Soderlind in real time, when the crew were at Sea-Tac and Soderlind was in Minneapolis (far out of radio range), and there were no cell-phones?

To clarify my question: prior to take-off at 7:36 pm PST, how would the crew talk in real time to Soderlind, when the phone patch would not be in place until 8:18 pm at the earliest?

[Olemisscub]

* Is there any way to establish the authenticity of these recordings?

I selected the clip from 11m19s to 12m05s (46s), which is the longest clip attributed to the First Officer; and a clip of comparable length (3m48s to 4m55s) from the First Officer's presentation to the Northwest Airlines History Center on September 8, 2012 (recognizing that this was 41 years after the events); and uploaded both to an online voice similarity checker. The similarity score was 0.6152, which the application interpreted as "different people". Would you recommend another sample from the First Officer's voice?

Doc, really? You uploaded clips to a voice similarity checker? Holy smokes. This is Bill Rataczak’s voice. You wrote a book on this case, do you really need to run the audio through software to know that’s Bill Rataczak’s voice? His tone and cadence is entirely unique.

Forgive me, but your skepticism is baffling. Perhaps you don’t have a good ear for American accents and voices? That is clearly Bill Rataczak’s voice. Who else’s voice could that be? Or are you suggesting that this is some sort of AI deep fake? I assure you, Doc, I didn’t spend about 30 hours of my time going second by second restoring audio of a hoax tape. The audio comes from a video a woman took on her phone of an old cassette player. One can see the cassette in the videos she sent.


 

[Olemisscub]

* How would the crew be able to talk to Soderlind in real time, when the crew were at Sea-Tac and Soderlind was in Minneapolis (far out of radio range), and there were no cell-phones?

To clarify my question: prior to take-off at 7:36 pm PST, how would the crew talk in real time to Soderlind, when the phone patch would not be in place until 8:18 pm at the earliest?

There were multiple phone patches. The first was on the company frequency out of Sea-Tac on 121.7

The 8:18 phone patch was because they were no longer in range of their Seattle NWA Company frequency. NWA knew they would eventually lose their Seattle frequency, so they went and set up an ARINC phone patch on frequency 138.1. They would lose that frequency at 20:45 and had to switch to a new phone patch frequency of 129.13. At 22:30 around Red Bluff they again have to switch to a new ARINC phone patch frequency, this time of 130.6.

I hope that clarifies things.

[georger]

* Is there any way to establish the authenticity of these recordings?

I selected the clip from 11m19s to 12m05s (46s), which is the longest clip attributed to the First Officer; and a clip of comparable length (3m48s to 4m55s) from the First Officer's presentation to the Northwest Airlines History Center on September 8, 2012 (recognizing that this was 41 years after the events); and uploaded both to an online voice similarity checker. The similarity score was 0.6152, which the application interpreted as "different people".

Would you recommend another sample from the First Officer's voice?

0.61 may actually be a high score of similarity. The same person's voice separated by 41 years difference in voice anatomy and other factors. Context of samples is crucial. 

[Olemisscub]

* Is there any way to establish the authenticity of these recordings?

I selected the clip from 11m19s to 12m05s (46s), which is the longest clip attributed to the First Officer; and a clip of comparable length (3m48s to 4m55s) from the First Officer's presentation to the Northwest Airlines History Center on September 8, 2012 (recognizing that this was 41 years after the events); and uploaded both to an online voice similarity checker. The similarity score was 0.6152, which the application interpreted as "different people".

Would you recommend another sample from the First Officer's voice?

0.61 may actually be a high score of similarity. The same person's voice separated by 41 years difference in voice anatomy and other factors. Context of samples is crucial.

Yes, context is very important. The hijacking audio is a high stress context and the sound quality itself is absolutely terrible and it’s through a radio. The press conference is very clean audio and he is speaking very slow slowly and measured. And the other audio is four decades later.

But again, I find this exercise to be rather unnecessary. His voice is extremely unique in its tone and cadence. I’m surprised that anyone could listen to it who has heard Rat’s voice before and not realize that it’s absolutely him. Scott also has a very identifiable Dakota accent.

[nickyb233]

You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login