Pentagon officials said it was five minutes after the time of impact before the mayday call was issued, indicating the pilot was struggling to regain control of the crippled plane.
Informing ground control on initial contact and indicating an intent to fly the Bay Tour paves the way smoothly for obtaining the Class Bravo clearance to transit through the San Francisco airspace.
Mr Morgan said that in his probation report, which he described as being "saturated with remorse", Uddin accepted what he had done, indicating that he had "lost all self control at the time".