Mar. 28, 2003. 05:36 AM

Planes still flying with deadly flaws, report says
Authorities slow to make upgrades, crash probe finds

KELLY TOUGHILL
ATLANTIC CANADA BUREAU

HALIFAX�Thousands of airplanes are still flying around the globe with the same deadly faults that led to the crash of a Swissair jet off the Nova Scotia coast more than four years ago.

That was the disturbing subtext of a final report into the crash delivered yesterday by the Transportation Safety Board. The document shows aviation authorities have failed to follow several key recommendations about preventing and stopping fires in the sky.

"The fire on board Swissair Flight 111 was a wake-up call for the aviation industry," said chief investigator Vic Gerden.

"And like any wake-up call, it is bringing about change."

One grieving relative said yesterday the pace of change is not quick enough.

"We heard a lot of very good recommendations from the Transportation Safety Board today," said Mark Fetherolf, whose 16-year-old daughter Tara died in the crash.

"But there is absolutely nothing in law that requires the Federal Aviation Administration or other regulatory agencies to adopt any of them."

Investigators painted a horrifying picture yesterday of the flight that went down off Peggy's Cove on Sept. 2, 1998, killing all 229 people on board.

A tiny spark from a wire connected to an electronic game system in the first-class cabin started a fire in the ceiling, then raced through highly flammable insulation that burned as easily as newspaper in a fireplace.

There were no fire detection systems in the ceiling, no alarms or smoke detectors to alert the crew about the fire, and most of the smoke was initially sucked out of the plane.

By the time the pilot and co-pilot realized something was wrong, key systems on the plane were failing and the cockpit ceiling was starting to collapse, according to the report.

The board has made 23 recommendations to improve aircraft safety because of problems uncovered by the investigation. Several important recommendations have been followed.

For instance, the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration ordered the kind of game system used on Swissair removed from every aircraft flown in the United States.

It also ordered airlines to remove the kind of highly flammable insulation used on the Swissair plane. Now, only about 700 planes flying in the U.S. still have the insulation, and none in Canada.

But other important recommendations have been ignored, or delayed.

For instance, even though the exact kind of insulation found in Swissair 111 has mostly been removed from planes, similar insulation is still used that investigators say burns far too fast.

The Federal Aviation Administration has flatly rejected a Transportation Safety Board recommendation that new, tougher flammability standards be set for all materials used in airplanes.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
`The wound of losing Tara is something that will not heal. It is one we'll have to live with forever.'

Mark Fetherolf, father of crash victim

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------


"The TSB remains concerned about the flammability of certain cover materials on insulation blankets presently in use," reads the report.

One of the very first recommendations was that planes have a separate power supply for cockpit recorders and flight data recorders. Because the electrical system failed on Swissair 111, both recorders stopped operating in the final six minutes, robbing investigators of crucial information about what caused the crash � and how to prevent similar accidents in the future.

The Transportation Safety Board recommended changes to the system four years ago, but new regulations are still pending in both Canada and the United States.

Finally, investigators recommended more than two years ago that fire detection systems be installed in key areas of the airplane, such as the cockpit ceiling where the fire began on Swissair 111.

Only Swissair, which has since gone out of business, followed the recommendation immediately. Although regulatory agencies agree it's a good idea, they have yet to order it done.

The investigation did provide a clear answer to one of the most troubling questions of the crash: could pilots have done anything to save themselves and their passengers? The answer delivered yesterday was no. Even if the pilots had known about the fire, they didn't have time to get the plane to safety, Gerden said.

"Because of the rapid progression of the fire, they would not have been able to complete a safe landing in Halifax," he said.

Investigators spent more than four years and $57 million probing the crash of the flight bound for Geneva from New York. They scooped more than 2 million pieces of the shattered craft from the rocky ocean floor of St. Margaret's Bay, and put it back together piece by tiny piece to figure out what went wrong.

Relatives of the 229 men, women and children who died in the crash gathered for briefings on the final report yesterday in Halifax, Paris, Geneva, Los Angeles and New York City.

Miles Gerety, whose older brother was among the victims, said he was stunned by the detailed work of the investigators, and chilled to realize how quickly a plane can go down in flames because of a tiny spark.

"It was shocking to me, that the insulation is not only not fireproof, but extremely flammable," he said.

"It was shocking to realize planes have no fire detection (systems), no fire suppression and no fire proofing. I am hopeful that the Transportation Safety Board's recommendations will be followed because they are very important, and they are global."

Several relatives said they took comfort from returning to the city that cared for them so tenderly during the tragedy four years ago.

Margie Topf, whose sister died in the crash, arrived in Halifax yesterday wearing a heart-shaped pendant made from a polished piece of granite from Peggy's Cove.

"This way my sister is always close to my heart, always with me," she said, clutching the pendant. "For me, with the final report, there was closure."

That wasn't true for everyone.

"For me, there will never be closure," Fetherolf said.

"There are phases and chapters, and this report is a milestone. But the wound of losing Tara is something that will not heal. It is one we'll have to live with forever."

http://www.thestar.com/NASApp/cs/ContentServer?pagename=thestar/Layout/Article_Type1&c=Article&cid=1035780016669&call_pageid=968332188492&col=968793972154