Hello everybody. I talked with my friend at length today, and as a result, I am able to clarify a lot of the details I gave you, and also answer some of your questions.

1. Without a doubt, there WAS IFEN equipment in galley 8.

2. Originally I had said that the wire for the IFEN was not in conduit as required. I was partially correct. there is conduit for the wiring, but is not tubular. It is more like a channel. There were two of them running fore and aft, parrallel to each other.

3. I said temperatures reached 3000 F in the cockpit. I was told today that some of the aluminum on the front right side door channel had done what was referred to as "broomstraw". In otherwords, it had crystallized. it takes a tremendous amount of heat to do this.

4. The cabin roof was supported from above by what was described to me as "T" bar. The wiring for the IFEN equipment in galley 8 ran up through the roof, and diangonally across the bare t bar to the main bus panel in the cockpit on the right side. The wiring passed in front of a wiring hub just aft of the bus panel. It is in front of the hub, that the fire originated. Instead of having it's own circuit, it was wired directly into the bus panel. As you know, an aircraft shakes and moves. The t bar had a sharp edge at the top, and all the moving and shaking caused it to chafe, and short out.

5. To answer Barb's question about wheter the IFEN was powered up on the ground or in the air; it WAS powered up on the ground. The LCD screens were attached to the armrests, not the headrests as I had mistakenly thought, and were running the safety procedures for the passengers.

6. When the fire started, it burned slowly. However, when the crew were doing their fire checklist, it required them to ventilate certain areas of the aircraft in order to determine where the smoke was coming from. When they ventilated the cockpit, they gave the fire what it needed, a breath of fresh air. It instantly became an inferno, burning the smoke barrier, and allowing smoke to enter the cockpit. Also I have been told that there are some cold air inlets in the nose of the aircraft that let cold air cool the avionics. By ventilating, the crew turned a small flame into a blowtorch.

I hope this helps clear up a few things. If I can remember more, I will post a follow-up.

Beanspiller

Beanspiller, It is great to have you back again. We are always very interested in any information you can provide. Thanks for clarifying those points. It makes a lot of sense that the IFEN would have been powered on the ground as opposed to during flight considering the way it was hooked into an essential bus. I will always wonder if the IFEN problem was festering from the very beginning of the flight out of JFK and the first manifestation of this was a temporary loss of contact between the aircraft and ATC at Boston Centre. It could certainly be unrelated, but considering what happened next, it seems like a logical question. I'm not sure if we will ever have the answer to that.

Beanspiller, I can't even begin to tell you how much I appreciate that you have the courage to come forward with information and hope you will continue to keep us updated as you can.

Thank you from the bottom of my heart for caring. You are always welcome here.

Barbara