Aa77 Fdr Partial Decoder Program, Program available with source code Options

[wstutt]

I have created a program to decode the small portions of AAL77's raw FDR file that are uncompressed.

I am making it available for download along with it's source code and some output files from the program.

It allows you to decode subframes other than just the final flight.

You can read more about it here

Warren.

[dMz]

(IMG:http://pilotsfor911truth.org/forum/style_emoticons/default/cheers.gif) Warren

[UnderTow]

Very nice. I haven't tried the program yet. But I took the POSN data from the complete file, split it up by 0.0 0.0 breaks.
Starting at Track1 to Track13, I quickly converted this to a GE file. Here are pictures.

Miami
(IMG:http://www.aa77fdr.com/pft_forum/TrackFL.jpg)

Chicago
(IMG:http://www.aa77fdr.com/pft_forum/TrackMI.jpg)

LA
(IMG:http://www.aa77fdr.com/pft_forum/TrackLA.jpg)

Dulless
(IMG:http://www.aa77fdr.com/pft_forum/TrackVA.jpg)

Hmm...

Hi all.

[phaeton666]

Hi all,
according to BTS data for N644AA aka N5BPAA (AA77) the plane was doing the following flights in the days before 9/11:
(actual departure times shown, times are local)
7.9. 7:02 ORD-MCO
7.9. 12:11 MCO-ORD
7.9. 14:56 ORD-LAX
7.9. 18:19 LAX-ORD
8.9. 10:12 ORD-LAX
8.9. 13:58 LAX-ORD
9.9. 10:15 ORD-LAX
9.9. 13:59 LAX-ORD
10.9. 9:05 ORD-LAX
10.9. 12:49 LAX-IAD

So the plane was not in Miami, but in Orlando, Chicago, Los Angeles and Washington.

All except the first flight seem to be captured on the flight data recorder.

Seems to be more or less consistent, the other airport locations contained in the output file seem to be artifacts.

Cheers
Phaeton666
(Wow, my first post...)

[dMz]

Hi phaeton,

Que es "N5BPAA"? Also if you can provide source links, that would be greatly appreciated ('cuz painter sez so IIRC (IMG:http://pilotsfor911truth.org/forum/style_emoticons/default/wink.gif) ).

Thank you in advance,
d

[phaeton666]

Hi phaeton,

Que es "N5BPAA"? Also if you can provide source links, that would be greatly appreciated ('cuz painter sez so IIRC (IMG:http://pilotsfor911truth.org/forum/style_emoticons/default/wink.gif) ).

Thank you in advance,
d

Hi dMole,

you can check the bts database here:
http://www.bts.gov/programs/airline_inform...ime_statistics/

Try detailed statistics, Departures, for example, and enter the airports and airline as well as the date(s).

According the explanation in http://www.911omissionreport.com/tailnumbers.html N5BPAA is the designation, under which the plane with the tail number N644AA is known in the BTS database. I remember seeing a detailed list of AA tail numbers vs. BTS numbers, but I cannot seem to find it right now.

Hope that answers your question.
Phaeton666

This post has been edited by phaeton666: Sep 14 2008, 12:40 PM

[phaeton666]

For all that are interested in more information on the L3 Flight Data Recorders:
From the taiwanese website http://open.nat.gov.tw/OpenFront/report/re...sysId=C09601740
you can download a word document describing (in chinese) the participation of a taiwanese investigator in a course in flight data recorder interpretation.
It also contains some details about the data format is most likely used in the FDR files. The technical parts are in english, the rest can be "translated" by google.
Interesting read, but on its own not quite enough detail, for example how the delta huffman coding works exactly.
Have a nice read!
Phaeton666

[paranoia]

I remember seeing a detailed list of AA tail numbers vs. BTS numbers, but I cannot seem to find it right now.

first - welcome to the forum phaeton. second - could you please try and find the above info? i have been doing some BTS digging as well and that info would/might be a huge help, so please please try to find and post it. thank you.

[phaeton666]

first - welcome to the forum phaeton. second - could you please try and find the above info? i have been doing some BTS digging as well and that info would/might be a huge help, so please please try to find and post it. thank you.

I did not read it completely, but the site
http://www.flyerguide.com/wiki/index.php/Tail_Numbers_(AA)
contains lots of useful info for this. I am pretty sure the list I remember is one of the lists mentioned in the links section.

Cheers
Phaeton666

[UnderTow]

WTF are you all babbling about? You are ignoring the data itself.

Oh god, I said Orlando instead of Miami, ooohhhh. p666, do you think IAD is 'in' Washington? It's not even though it's call that. Whether or not I misspelled Dulles for crying out loud.

Realize, the positional data that a lot of people take as smart bomb accurate, is also in error. Unless you think AA77 took off from the grass.

We have 4 sets of points, each geographically separated quite wall across the country. How do they differ in this relation? Is there a correlation between the possible offset and whether you are West, Center, or East coast?

sh*t people, look at it.

[phaeton666]

WTF are you all babbling about? You are ignoring the data itself.

Oh god, I said Orlando instead of Miami, ooohhhh. p666, do you think IAD is 'in' Washington? It's not even though it's call that. Whether or not I misspelled Dulles for crying out loud.

Realize, the positional data that a lot of people take as smart bomb accurate, is also in error. Unless you think AA77 took off from the grass.

We have 4 sets of points, each geographically separated quite wall across the country. How do they differ in this relation? Is there a correlation between the possible offset and whether you are West, Center, or East coast?

sh*t people, look at it.

UnderTow,

I am sorry to have offended you. I did not mean to.
All I was noting was that the BTS data seem to agree with the data that Warren Stutt extracted from the FDR file, regarding the airports on which the airplane was powered on, assuming that these are the frames that Warren could read, because they were not compressed.
Now, as I look at your photo I realize that it actually shows Orlando Airport, which is about 187 miles from Miami Airport, according to Google Earth.
I have never been to these places, so I did not realize it from the photo before.

I know that standard procedure is that before starting the engines, the IRS is aligned to the well known parking position of the plane, so at least in theory it should be quite accurate during the initial phase of the flight, slowly degrading later, unless updated by GPS.

And you are correct, I did not look at the data in detail, just checking basic consistency with other available data.

By the way, if anybody happens to have information about the delta huffman, or modified huffman coding, that is used on the frames, I am sure that Warren Stutt and some others (like me) would be interested.

Phaeton666

[dMz]

For all that are interested in more information on the L3 Flight Data Recorders:
From the taiwanese website http://open.nat.gov.tw/OpenFront/report/re...sysId=C09601740
you can download a word document describing (in chinese) the participation of a taiwanese investigator in a course in flight data recorder interpretation.
It also contains some details about the data format is most likely used in the FDR files. The technical parts are in english, the rest can be "translated" by google.
Interesting read, but on its own not quite enough detail, for example how the delta huffman coding works exactly.
Have a nice read!
Phaeton666

Thanks... I think.

That Chinese document also links to this website. Here is the English version:

Aviation Safety Council
http://www.asc.gov.tw/asc_en/index.asp

Here is the 6.3 MB Chinese document:

http://open.nat.gov.tw/OpenFront/report/sh...&fileNo=001

[wstutt]

I now have the complete data frame layout for AAL77 from the NTSB, however without a decompressed FDR file it does not get me much closer to being able to do my own complete decode. You can read about and download it from my web site here

Warren.

[rob balsamo]

Warren,

It doesnt look anything like the DFL we received through back channels. (this doesnt mean its not authentic)

Have you tried to "network"? Called any FDR companies? Attempted to meet with any of them?

Bottom line.. the DFL doesnt change any of our analysis (matter of fact, it reinforces it... hmmm.. think the NTSB had access to the DFL when they plotted the CSV and animation? "Duhbunkers" dont seem to think so....).


Those who claim to have expertise in FDR analysis and also make excuses for the govt story... fail to produce their own DFL.

I also find it extremely odd that you were able to obtain information proprietary to industry through the FOIA. I guess that explains why your DFL looks nothing like ours? Dunno...

I have emailed UT and Calum to alert them to this thread...

[wstutt]

It doesnt look anything like the DFL we received through back channels. (this doesnt mean its not authentic)

On the surface, they may look different due to how they are laid out, but I believe the information contained in the DFLs will be similar. I have confirmed this for the shortened DFL on UT's site for the parameters it covers.

However, I've just noticed that the FRAME COUNTER parameter which appears in the NTSB CSV file does not appear in the DFL I received so the NTSB must have got the information on that parameter from somewhere else. Also the MANUFACTURER CODE parameter appears in every frame in the DFL I received, but not in the NTSB CSV file.
ETA: However, These two parameters do appear to be correct in Appendix E of the Boeing document I also received.

Have you tried to "network"? Called any FDR companies? Attempted to meet with any of them?

No, I haven't, other than requesting the decompressed file from UT and Calum.

Bottom line.. the DFL doesnt change any of our analysis

I didn't expect it to.

I also find it extremely odd that you were able to obtain information proprietary to industry through the FOIA. I guess that explains why your DFL looks nothing like ours? Dunno...

I know others have said the DFL is proprietary. It appears the NTSB didn't think so when processing my FOIA request, they did say the Flightscape software was proprietary as I would expect.

The main reason I filed the FOIA was to get a decompressed FDR file. I then thought I might as well ask for the DFL the NTSB used to generate the CSV in the same FOIA.

Warren.

This post has been edited by wstutt: Apr 26 2009, 08:47 AM

[wstutt]

I now have the Huffman code tree for the AAL77 FDR. It should only be a matter of time now until I can decompress and decode the file. I'll start a new thread when I have more information available.

Warren.

[dMz]

Thank you for your months+ of hard work, Warren! (IMG:http://pilotsfor911truth.org/forum/style_emoticons/default/salute.gif)

[wstutt]

Thank you for your months+ of hard work, Warren! (IMG:http://pilotsfor911truth.org/forum/style_emoticons/default/salute.gif)

Thanks for your kind words, dMole.

I am continuing to make good progress and should have a decoder program available soon.

Warren.