The agency released the transcript of the cockpit voice recorder in the last seconds before Colgan Air Flight 3407 crashed, CNN reported. Capt. Marvin Renslow, the pilot, said "Jesus Christ" and "We're down," there was a banging noise and the first officer, Rebecca Shaw said "We're ..." and then screamed.

While Mark Rosenker, chairman of the NTSB, said the hearing will not try to fix blame for the crash, there are expected to be a lot of questions about Renslow's background, training and actions before the crash.

Renslow did not tell his employer, Colgan Air, that he failed three federal flying tests, The Buffalo News reported Tuesday. He reported only one failure.

Shaw and Renslow engaged in chitchat shortly before the crash, a violation of FAA rules about low-altitude behavior. Renslow also failed to act appropriately when warned that the plane was about to stall.

Colgan is under contract to Continental as a feeder carrier.

Transcript: Rebecca Shaw: "Oh yeah it's a lot of ice."

Captain Renslow: "Oh yeah. That's the most I've seen — most ice I've seen on the leading edges in a long time — in a while anyway I should say."

Rebecca Shaw: "I really wouldn't mind going through a winter in the Northeast before I have to upgrade to captain. I've never seen icing conditions. I've never deiced. I've never seen any -- I've never experienced any of that. I don't want to have to experience that and make those kinds of calls. You know I'd have freaked out. I'd have seen this much ice and thought… oh my gosh, we were going to crash."

Captain Renslow: "I would have been fine. I would have survived it. There wasn't -- we never had to make decisions that I wouldn't have been able to make, but now I'm more comfortable."

[later after lowering the landing gear]

Captain Renslow: "Jesus Christ." (c) tPC (c) UPI