Press Release Source: International Aviation Safety Association

IASA Calls for Criminal Investigation of FAA and Others on Release of Swissair 111 Final Report
Thursday March 27, 4:24 pm ET

NEW YORK, March 27 /PRNewswire/ -- The Chairman of the International Aviation Safety Association (IASA), Mrs. Lyn S. Romano, today called for an immediate investigation into the "criminally negligent homicide" of those parties implicated in the Report -- including the United States Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). Mrs. Romano's comments were made at the Halifax, Nova Scotia, release of the Final Report into the September 2, 1998, crash of Swissair flight 111 that claimed the lives of all 229 passengers and crew.
The FAA failed in every respect to ensure the safety of the 229 people that boarded that aircraft -- an aircraft I shall continue referring to as a "flying coffin". I hold the FAA responsible for a lack of oversight."

"First, the FAA project management structure did not ensure that the required elements were in place to design, install and certify a system compatible with the MD-11 type certificate. Second, the FAA delegated a critical component of the their oversight role -- without any provision or other authority allowing them to do so. Third, the organization they delegated to were not qualified to undertake the job at hand. I haven't even had the opportunity to read through the whole report and already there is a case for a criminal investigation into the FAA's complete dereliction of its regulatory function and criminal negligence that is implicated in the unnecessary deaths of two hundred and twenty nine people"

Mrs. Romano also renewed her calls for access to the Draft Report into the crash that was distributed to a restricted group of parties -- including the manufacturers and airline concerned -- in August last year:

"I cannot see what justification there can be for denying me access to the Draft Report now that the Transportation Safety Board of Canada has released the Final Report into the crash of Swissair 111. I consider it a great injustice to deny me access to this critical component in the investigative process and call upon the Canadian officials concerned to right this wrong -- not only for my benefit but for the benefit of the next person who will suffer a loss in similar circumstance" and continued "I shall not rest until I have a copy of the Draft Report in my hands".

In concluding her remarks Mrs. Romano called for the FAA to act in a more proactive and progressive manner:

"The FAA are reactive and this results in innocent human beings losing their lives. The FAA knew of the flammability characteristics of M-PET covered thermal acoustical insulation blankets years before the crash of Swissair 111 -- but did nothing about it. The FAA knew of the arcing and flammability characteristics of Kapton insulated wires years before the crash of Swissair 111 -- but did nothing about it. They did nothing about these two issues and a host of other issues and my husband and two hundred and twenty eight other people are dead because of it. I will do something about it. This was not an accident -- as so many in the aviation community have referred to it -- but an accident waiting to happen"

Note

Mrs Lyn S. Romano formed the International Aviation Safety Association (IASA) on March 4, 1999. Lyn's forty-four year-old husband, Ray M. Romano, was one of the 229 people killed when a Swissair operated MD11 aircraft crashed off the coast of Nova Scotia, Canada on September 2, 1998.

IASA is a non-profit politically and financially independent organization concerned in all aspects of aviation safety. IASA is best known for raising awareness of the safety hazards associated with wiring in aging aircraft.

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Source: International Aviation Safety Association