"Hello everyone.I have talked with my source again regarding the cause, and I have a few things to tell you. First of all, early in the investigation, they had suspicions that the IFEN was involved in the crash. They did some prliminary work in that area, and just when they were getting somewhere with their work, they were "directed" to look for other "probable" causes for a crash. After looking at all other probable causes, they kept coming back to the IFEN."

-Why I know there is some truth in his statements regarding the investigation and the path it took over the years.

Somewhere around '99 or '00, I was told by a very reliable source, that there was a meeting held, I believe here in the U.S. (FAA was present and I believe the NTSB) where the investigation had taken a detour away from the IFEN system and towards looking at the general electrical aircraft design of the MD-11. I even saw an article in a very respectable publication that seemed to address exactly that issue (the general aircraft design being a problem, no mention of the IFEN) regarding sr111 appear around that time. Mark talked to Vic Gerden in April or May of '02 and was left with the strong impression that the IFEN had not been ruled out and furthermore was actively still being looked at as a possible cause at that time. This is just one of the many reasons I believe beanspiller's remarks.

That meeting I am referring to in my previous post took place here in the U.S. in December '00. What was discussed at that time was the design of the MD-11 aircraft as well as concerns about the emergency lighting. I was told that the meeting was supposed to be open to the public but I don't think it actually was.