Charlie Victor Romeo
Encyclopedia
Charlie Victor Romeo is a 1999 play
whose script consists of almost-verbatim transcripts from six real-life aviation accidents and incidents
. "Charlie Victor Romeo," or CVR, derived from the NATO phonetic alphabet, is aviation lingo for cockpit voice recorder
. The play is a case study in crew resource management
; a PBS
special described several parallels between the behavior seen in these disasters and in emergency room situations.
The play begins with a flight attendant
demonstrating the safety equipment and reminding the audience to fasten their seat belts and turn off cell phones. Prior to each scene, a display screen shows the name of the flight and reason for the disaster (e.g. "Icing" or "Multiple bird strike
s"). Sound effect
s such as cockpit alarms, aircraft interior ambiences and mechanical sounds are included. At the end of each flight, the screen shows the number of casualties. A few of the transcripts were compressed due to time limitations. At the end of the play, the cast and creators answer questions from the audience.
for pilot training. US Air Force Major General Walter E. Buchanan III awarded the group a letter of gratitude. After February 2002 performances in Perth
, Australia
, the play performed in dozens of venues across the United States
, including Washington, DC's Studio Theatre
.
In 2004 Time listed Charlie Victor Romeo on their Best Plays of the Year list. The play has been performed in the Japanese language by the Rinkogun Theater Company under the direction of Yoji Sakate.
, where an accident is an occurrence aboard an aircraft resulting in an injury or death of one or more persons (passengers or crew members), and an incident is“an occurrence involving one or more aircraft in which a hazard or a potential hazard to safety is involved but not classified as an accident due to the degree of injury and/or extent of damage." The accidents and incidents depicted are:
Directed by: Bob Berger, Patrick Daniels, Irving Gregory.
Developed in collaboration with: Bob Berger, Michael Bruno, Audrey Crabtree, Patrick Daniels, Justin Dávila, Jim Grady, Irving Gregory, Dan Krumm, Peter O'Clair, Julia Randall, Stuart Rudin, Darby Thompson, Oliver Wyman.
Sound design: Jamie Mereness
Original set design and technical director: Patrick Daniels
5th Annual Backstage
West Garland Awards 2002
United States Department of Defense
Visual Information Production Award
New York International Fringe Festival
2000
Absolut Angel Arts and Technology Award 2000
Play (theatre)
A play is a form of literature written by a playwright, usually consisting of scripted dialogue between characters, intended for theatrical performance rather than just reading. There are rare dramatists, notably George Bernard Shaw, who have had little preference whether their plays were performed...
whose script consists of almost-verbatim transcripts from six real-life aviation accidents and incidents
Aviation accidents and incidents
An aviation accident is defined in the Convention on International Civil Aviation Annex 13 as an occurrence associated with the operation of an aircraft which takes place between the time any person boards the aircraft with the intention of flight and all such persons have disembarked, in which a...
. "Charlie Victor Romeo," or CVR, derived from the NATO phonetic alphabet, is aviation lingo for cockpit voice recorder
Cockpit voice recorder
A cockpit voice recorder , often referred to as a "black box", is a flight recorder used to record the audio environment in the flight deck of an aircraft for the purpose of investigation of accidents and incidents...
. The play is a case study in crew resource management
Crew Resource Management
Crew resource management or Cockpit resource management is a procedure and training system in systems where human error can have devastating effects. Used primarily for improving air safety, CRM focuses on interpersonal communication, leadership, and decision making in the cockpit...
; a PBS
Public Broadcasting Service
The Public Broadcasting Service is an American non-profit public broadcasting television network with 354 member TV stations in the United States which hold collective ownership. Its headquarters is in Arlington, Virginia....
special described several parallels between the behavior seen in these disasters and in emergency room situations.
The play begins with a flight attendant
Flight attendant
Flight attendants or cabin crew are members of an aircrew employed by airlines primarily to ensure the safety and comfort of passengers aboard commercial flights, on select business jet aircraft, and on some military aircraft.-History:The role of a flight attendant derives from that of similar...
demonstrating the safety equipment and reminding the audience to fasten their seat belts and turn off cell phones. Prior to each scene, a display screen shows the name of the flight and reason for the disaster (e.g. "Icing" or "Multiple bird strike
Bird strike
A bird strike—sometimes called birdstrike, avian ingestion , bird hit, or BASH —is a collision between an airborne animal and a man-made vehicle, especially aircraft...
s"). Sound effect
Sound effect
For the album by The Jam, see Sound Affects.Sound effects or audio effects are artificially created or enhanced sounds, or sound processes used to emphasize artistic or other content of films, television shows, live performance, animation, video games, music, or other media...
s such as cockpit alarms, aircraft interior ambiences and mechanical sounds are included. At the end of each flight, the screen shows the number of casualties. A few of the transcripts were compressed due to time limitations. At the end of the play, the cast and creators answer questions from the audience.
History
The play was created by Bob Berger, Patrick Daniels and Irving Gregory of Collective:Unconscious. It was taped and used by the PentagonThe Pentagon
The Pentagon is the headquarters of the United States Department of Defense, located in Arlington County, Virginia. As a symbol of the U.S. military, "the Pentagon" is often used metonymically to refer to the Department of Defense rather than the building itself.Designed by the American architect...
for pilot training. US Air Force Major General Walter E. Buchanan III awarded the group a letter of gratitude. After February 2002 performances in Perth
Perth, Western Australia
Perth is the capital and largest city of the Australian state of Western Australia and the fourth most populous city in Australia. The Perth metropolitan area has an estimated population of almost 1,700,000....
, Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
, the play performed in dozens of venues across the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, including Washington, DC's Studio Theatre
Studio Theatre
A studio theatre is a 20th-century term that describes a small theatre space. Studio theatres often have a flexible auditorium whose stage and seating may be re-arranged to suit the specific requirements of a production...
.
In 2004 Time listed Charlie Victor Romeo on their Best Plays of the Year list. The play has been performed in the Japanese language by the Rinkogun Theater Company under the direction of Yoji Sakate.
Accidents and Incidents
The FAA distinguishes between aviation accidents and incidentsAviation accidents and incidents
An aviation accident is defined in the Convention on International Civil Aviation Annex 13 as an occurrence associated with the operation of an aircraft which takes place between the time any person boards the aircraft with the intention of flight and all such persons have disembarked, in which a...
, where an accident is an occurrence aboard an aircraft resulting in an injury or death of one or more persons (passengers or crew members), and an incident is“an occurrence involving one or more aircraft in which a hazard or a potential hazard to safety is involved but not classified as an accident due to the degree of injury and/or extent of damage." The accidents and incidents depicted are:
- American Airlines Flight 1572American Airlines Flight 1572American Airlines Flight 1572, registration N566AA, was a McDonnell Douglas MD-83 flying from Chicago O'Hare that was damaged while landing short of the runway at Hartford's Bradley International Airport on November 12, 1995.-Flight history:...
(12 November 1995) – The crew incorrectly set the altimeterAltimeterAn altimeter is an instrument used to measure the altitude of an object above a fixed level. The measurement of altitude is called altimetry, which is related to the term bathymetry, the measurement of depth underwater.-Pressure altimeter:...
on approach to Bradley International AirportBradley International AirportBradley International Airport is a joint civil-military public airport located in Windsor Locks on the border with East Granby and Suffield, in Hartford County, Connecticut, United States. It is owned by the State of Connecticut....
in Hartford, CT, so they were flying 70 feet lower than they thought they were. This led to them crashing into the treetops as they tried to perform a night landing. The engines ingested the trees and failed, so the pilots lowered the flapFlap (aircraft)Flaps are normally hinged surfaces mounted on the trailing edges of the wings of a fixed-wing aircraft to reduce the speed an aircraft can be safely flown at and to increase the angle of descent for landing without increasing air speed. They shorten takeoff and landing distances as well as...
s 40 degrees to create a "wing in ground" effect, which enabled them to make it to the runwayRunwayAccording to ICAO a runway is a "defined rectangular area on a land aerodrome prepared for the landing and take-off of aircraft." Runways may be a man-made surface or a natural surface .- Orientation and dimensions :Runways are named by a number between 01 and 36, which is generally one tenth...
and land with no casualties. - American Eagle Flight 4184American Eagle Flight 4184American Eagle Flight 4184 was an American Eagle ATR 72 that crashed after flying into unknown icing conditions on October 31, 1994. Control was lost and all aboard were killed.-History:...
(31 October 1994) – A design flaw in the plane's de-icing systems forced the plane into a sudden roll from which the crew was unable to recover. The plane then crashed into a field, killing all passengers and crew. - Aeroperú Airlines Flight 603AeroPeru Flight 603Aeroperú Flight 603 was a scheduled flight from Jorge Chávez International Airport in Lima, Peru , to Comodoro Arturo Merino Benítez International Airport in Santiago, Chile , which crashed on October 2, 1996....
(2 October 1996) – The maintenance crew had taped over the static ports before washing the plane, and then forgot to remove the tape. This resulted in the flight instruments, such as the altimeter and airspeed indicator, failing while the plane was flying through dense fog at 1 AM over the ocean. They had no sense of where they were going or how high they were. The co-pilot began reading through the manual, trying to figure out how to solve the problem. Meanwhile, all sorts of warnings were going off, both because the plane thought that the instrument readings were consistent with various emergencies and because the crew's actions, based on false data, were creating problems. The pilot communicated with the air traffic controllerAir traffic controllerAir traffic controllers are the people who expedite and maintain a safe and orderly flow of air traffic in the global air traffic control system. The position of the air traffic controller is one that requires highly specialized skills...
, who kept telling them that they were at 9,700 feet. Actually, they were flying dangerously low, as indicated by the repeated "Too low. Terrain!"Ground Proximity Warning SystemA ground proximity warning system is a system designed to alert pilots if their aircraft is in immediate danger of flying into the ground or an obstacle. The United States Federal Aviation Administration defines GPWS as a type of terrain awareness warning system...
warning. The pilot decided to descend, and ended up crashing into the ocean. Air traffic control had been relaying the faulty altitude information transmitted by the plane's transponderTransponderIn telecommunication, the term transponder has the following meanings:...
. - United States Air Force Yukla 27 (22 September 1995) – Another plane disturbed a flock of several hundred Canada geese on the runway, which then took off in unison. However, the tower failed to inform the crew before they took off and flew into the flock. Both engines on the left wing ingested birds and failed catastrophically. In accordance with their training, the crew started dumping fuelFuel dumpingFuel dumping is a procedure used by aircraft in certain emergency situations before a return to the airport shortly after takeoff, or before landing short of its intended destination to lighten the aircraft's weight.-Aircraft fuel dump:Aircraft have two major types of weight limits: the maximum ...
in order to lighten the craft. They began a left-hand turn and attempted to return to the airport. The aircraft struck a low-hill on the north side of the airfield and exploded. There were no survivors. - Japan Air Lines Flight 123 (12 August 1985) – A bulkheadBulkhead (partition)A bulkhead is an upright wall within the hull of a ship or within the fuselage of an airplane. Other kinds of partition elements within a ship are decks and deckheads.-Etymology:...
ruptured, causing the loss of the vertical fin and all hydraulics. The crew had no way to control the plane except by adjusting engine throttleThrottleA throttle is the mechanism by which the flow of a fluid is managed by constriction or obstruction. An engine's power can be increased or decreased by the restriction of inlet gases , but usually decreased. The term throttle has come to refer, informally and incorrectly, to any mechanism by which...
s. They flew the plane expertly with what controls they had and kept it aloft for about a half hour, but the plane finally crashed into a mountain, killing 520 of the 524 on board (the deadliest single-aircraft disaster in history). Investigators later attributed the bulkhead rupture to damage from a tail strike six years earlier. - United Airlines Flight 232United Airlines Flight 232United Airlines Flight 232 was a scheduled flight from Stapleton International Airport in Denver, Colorado, to O'Hare International Airport in Chicago, with continuing service to Philadelphia International Airport...
(19 July 1989) – An engine fan disc shattered, severing hydraulic lines and forcing the shutdown of the engine, in effect taking out all three of the triply redundant hydraulic systems. As with Japan Air Lines Flight 123, they had no control of the flight control surfaces, and used left and right engine throttles to control the aircraft. The misconception with this incident is that the crew handed over the controls to a DC-10McDonnell Douglas DC-10The McDonnell Douglas DC-10 is a three-engine widebody jet airliner manufactured by McDonnell Douglas. The DC-10 has range for medium- to long-haul flights, capable of carrying a maximum 380 passengers. Its most distinguishing feature is the two turbofan engines mounted on underwing pylons and a...
flight instructorFlight instructorA flight instructor is a person who teaches others to fly aircraft. Specific privileges granted to holders of a flight instructor qualification vary from country to country, but very generally, a flight instructor serves to enhance or evaluate the knowledge and skill level of an aviator in pursuit...
who was on board the flight, this is in fact incorrect. The original crew remained in control of the aircraft and DC-10 flight instructor was actually a non-revenue passenger aboard the aircraft, who offered his assistance to the Captain. Together they managed to land at Sioux Gateway AirportSioux Gateway Airport-History:The construction of Sioux City Army Air Base began in March 1942, about three months after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. Opened on 5 July 1942, it became a major training center during World War II for crew members of B-24 Liberators and B-17 Flying Fortresses...
. The wings dipped at the last moment leading to a crash killing 110 of its 285 passengers and one of the 11 crew members. The (then somewhat new) concept of current Crew Resource ManagementCrew Resource ManagementCrew resource management or Cockpit resource management is a procedure and training system in systems where human error can have devastating effects. Used primarily for improving air safety, CRM focuses on interpersonal communication, leadership, and decision making in the cockpit...
(CRM) was credited extensively by the crew and the NTSB as a leading factor in keeping a truly horrific accident from being much, much worse, and saving over 180 lives that would have invariably perished had the concept of the "Infallible Captain" still been in use.
Original credits
Created by: Bob Berger, Patrick Daniels, Irving Gregory, of Collective:Unconscious.Directed by: Bob Berger, Patrick Daniels, Irving Gregory.
Developed in collaboration with: Bob Berger, Michael Bruno, Audrey Crabtree, Patrick Daniels, Justin Dávila, Jim Grady, Irving Gregory, Dan Krumm, Peter O'Clair, Julia Randall, Stuart Rudin, Darby Thompson, Oliver Wyman.
Sound design: Jamie Mereness
Original set design and technical director: Patrick Daniels
Awards
Drama Desk Awards 2000- Outstanding Unique Theatrical Experience
- Outstanding Sound Design, Jamie Mereness
5th Annual Backstage
Backstage
Backstage may refer to:* Backstage , by Cher* Backstage , an Australian drama* Back Stage , a silent film starring Oliver Hardy* Back Stage , a silent film starring Buster Keaton...
West Garland Awards 2002
- Sound Design, Jamie Mereness
United States Department of Defense
United States Department of Defense
The United States Department of Defense is the U.S...
Visual Information Production Award
- 2000-01 Creativity Award, Video produced by 367th Training Support Squadron, Media Production Flight, Hill AFB, UT, Office of Primary Responsibility: HQ USAF, Deputy Chief of Staff/Air and Space Operations.
New York International Fringe Festival
New York International Fringe Festival
The New York International Fringe Festival, or FringeNYC, is a Fringe theater festival and one of the largest multi-arts events in North America. It takes place over the course of two weeks every August, spread across several neighborhoods in downtown Manhattan, notably the Lower East Side, the...
2000
- Overall Excellence - Drama
- Overall Excellence - Sound Design, Jamie Mereness
Absolut Angel Arts and Technology Award 2000
- Grand Prize Winner
External links
- Charlie Victor Romeo, official web site.
- Peep – a clip of the reenactment of American Airlines Flight 1572 is available here.