The co-pilot in February’s airline crash in upstate New York complained to the flight’s captain that she felt ill and would have skipped the flight but didn’t want to pay for a hotel room, according to a new cockpit voice recorder transcript released Monday. The extended transcript, released by the NTSB, shows Captain Marvin Renslow commiserated with First Officer Rebecca Shaw, but didn’t suggest she pull out of the flight.
The two conversed while Continental Connection Flight 3407 sat on the ground waiting for clearance to takeoff from Newark Liberty International Airport.
Shaw also complained about poor treatment by Colgan Air Inc. of Manassas, Va., which operated the flight for Continental Airlines. She said she earned only $15,800 the previous year and the airline was refusing to give her $200 in back pay she felt she was owed.
Flight 3407 crashed on Feb. 12 as the twin-engine Q400 turboprop began preparations for landing in Buffalo, killing all 49 people aboard and a man in a house below. Testimony at an NTSB hearing in May showed Renslow and Shaw made a series of critical errors leading up to the crash.
Buffalo crash pilots discussed sickness, low pay 
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