Posted on Fri, Mar. 28, 2003

Electrical Spark Linked to Swissair Crash
TOM COHEN
Associated Press

HALIFAX, Nova Scotia - An electrical spark in wiring of an in-flight entertainment system likely started the fire that brought down Swissair Flight 111 four years ago, and pilots had no chance to save the 229 people on board, a long-awaited report concluded Thursday.

But the investigation - the largest in Canadian history - ended without determining unequivocally what caused the blaze that fed undetected on insulation above the cockpit.

Flight 111 plunged into the Atlantic Ocean off the Nova Scotia coast Sept. 2, 1998 - 74 minutes into its New York-to-Geneva trip. Pilots reported smoke in the cockpit 53 minutes into the flight, and the electrical systems began failing less than 15 minutes later.

The comprehensive safety board report contained imprecise language when referring to the cause of the fire. The spark between a wire in the plane's in-flight information system and another wire is referred to as arcing.

"It was determined that the fire most likely started from an electrical arcing event that occurred above the ceiling on the right side of the cockpit," the executive summary said.

A lack of smoke or fire detection and suppression devices, which were not required at the time, left the crew with few resources, the report said. The pilots had no chance to try an emergency landing.

"We have concluded that, even if the pilots could have foreseen the eventual deterioration due to the fire - because of the rapid progression of the fire, they would not have been able to complete a safe landing," chief investigator Vic Gerden said.

The four-year, $40 million investigation reconstructed almost the entire MD-11 aircraft from 2 million pieces of debris, some as small as a dollar coin, in what the brother of one victim called a "Herculean task."

Flight 111 took off from New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport at 8:17 p.m. EDT. The crew detected an unusual odor in the cockpit 53 minutes later, and smoke was visible in the cockpit three minutes after that.

The plane tried to divert to Halifax, Nova Scotia, and started dumping fuel. Its electrical systems then failed and, at 9:31 p.m. EDT, the plane hit the water off Peggy's Cove, Nova Scotia, at almost 350 mph, killing everyone on board.

Investigators' 338-page report focused on the in-flight entertainment system aboard the McDonnell-Douglas aircraft, saying a flaw in its installation went undetected and the spark "most likely" started in the system's wiring.

In addition, the report cited shortfalls in the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration's certification of the entertainment system, which allowed first-class and business-class passengers to watch videos and play video games. It said the FAA failed to ensure that the entertainment system for the MD-11 was designed and installed properly.

Gerden, however, said there was no apparent connection between the installation flaw and the spark.

While offering no specific reason for the spark, the safety board recommended more scrutiny when certifying new systems - such as the in-flight entertainment system - that are added to aircraft already in service.

It also called for more stringent testing of wiring and insulation to prevent the possible spread of fire, and raising industry standards for resetting circuit breakers.

The nine recommendations also called for testing insulation materials and electrical systems, and improving the flight cockpit and data recording systems.

Safety board investigators previously made 14 recommendations that led to the removal of some flammable insulation material from aircraft and improved fire reaction measures for pilots.

Relatives of passengers killed in the crash said the FAA and other regulators should implement the recommendations immediately.

"There are problems, serious problems, with the wiring of aircraft," said Miles Gerety of Redding, Conn., whose brother, Pierce, was a passenger. "I wonder if the FAA will make the airlines spend the money."

Mark Fetherolf of Palm Beach, Fla., whose 16-year-old daughter, Tara, died in the crash, said the entertainment system should be investigated.

"For me, there will never be closure for this," he said.

Three years ago, the Canadian safety board recommended that airlines do a better job of training and equipping crews to detect and fight fires on planes.

An earlier recommendation by investigators noted safety problems with the plane's insulation blankets, which were suspected of spreading fire. The FAA then required that insulation blankets be removed from all U.S.-registered MD-11 aircraft.

Swissair since has gone out of business in the wake of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks in the United States that crippled the airline industry.

In March 2002, a U.S. federal judge dismissed claims for punitive damages for families of victims of the Swissair crash.

http://www.kansascity.com/mld/kansascity/news/breaking_news/5498986.htm

I am sorry that some of these links are somewhat repetitive, but many times a paragraph is added to a previous article that is of some interest to those of us following this investigation.