Translation from the Web Newspaper L’Illustr�
(the Illustrated), No. 50, December 19,
1998

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Headline: A specialist confirms, “The video system was not
functioning.”

Swissair was the first airline to try to use the
revolutionary entertainment system that it installed in its
long-flight aircraft, and a number of anomalies occurred. As
for the manufacturer of the system, it is in the
red.”

“Our in-flight entertainment system is
the best, and it was determined by the Canadian
investigation not to have been a cause.” So confirmed Erwin
Gross, the new boss of In-flight Technologies (IFT), the
American company based in Phoenix, Arizona which developed
this interactive system installed onboard the
long-flight aircraft of Swissair and which system was
mentioned as being among the possible causes of the crash
of flight SR 111 (picture of Swissair
aircraft).

Hyperlinks to other articles:

1. Entertainment
System: On the Cutting Edge
2. Concerns – Is the MD-11
Dangerous?
3. The Lessons to Be Drawn from SR 111: a New
Procedure?

The spokesman for the Office of Transportation
Security of Canada refutes this statement: “That’s false.
The system has not been discounted as a possible
cause. The investigation is continuing, among other
areas, as to the electrical wires that were feeding the
system, certain of which were damaged by heat, without
knowing at this point if they were the cause of the heat
or whether the consequence of something else.”
Nevertheless, this entertainment system installed on the
MD-11’s and Boeing 747’s of Swissair has been put out of
service, awaiting the results of the investigation, and
the Swiss federal office of civil aviation has
cancelled its certification, to the comfort of certain
pilots who note that, “if it’s been disconnected, it was
disconnected for a reason.” A very high-level software
specialist, without taking a position as to the possibility
of the system causing the fire, is nevertheless very
critical based on his personal experience: “I was able to
determine an obvious lack of reliability in this system
before and after the accident.

It often crashed, and it had to be rebooted from
the cockpit, which is worrisome, given the level of
closeness it had to more essential systems (on the
aircraft). It is intolerable that a product of this style is
put on the market if it is not 99% reliable; all the
more so when it is placed on an airplane. In any case,
I would not have done it and in my opinion this
system was not ready to be installed. The company that
developed it was young, and one does not quickly become a
specialist in this area.” The multiplication of breakdowns,
error messages and frozen screens led in August of 1997
to the replacement by the builder of all the hard
drives installed under each passenger’s seat. Other
anomalies accompanied the beginning of the installation of
the system. For example, in business class the
screens installed on the individual seat tables fell out
as soon as the seat was inclined. Additionally, the
excessive heat generated by the devices in business class
forced Swissair to disconnect them. INCREDIBLE
PRESSURE.”

The conditions of installation of the new IFEN
entertainment system also raised questions. A California
company recognized in this area, Hollingshead, which did
the work for IFT, taking advantage of major service
visits of the airplanes at Kloten. The first MD-11 was
outfitted in November 1996 and Adolf Siegenthaler, who was
in charge of the visit (HMV, heavy maintenance
visit) related in the internal bulletin of Swissair,
SAir News, in January 1997, that the “time pressure
was enormous. The In-flight Entertainment system was
not fully functional and they didn’t know if they
were going to get the necessary parts until the last
minute. In parallel fashion, 55 of the U.S. company
workers charged with the installation were with us in the
hangar and wanted to go to work in the airplane, with
our mechanics who were occupied with their inspection
work. With everyone in this plane, there was enormous
pressure and conflicts could only be avoided thanks to the
comportment and spirited camaraderie of each person.”

It was enough to make an uninitiated person
shiver, even if a member of the navigation personnel of
Swissair, therefore someone directly interested in the
reliability of these repair services, did not seem shocked:
“This does not worry me particularly. These operations
are often done under pressure, above all, when one
has to take advantage of the visit in order to
proceed to modifications of the installations, and we
often hear mentioned the term ‘rush job.’ This is not
unusual. On the other hand, one wonders if the company
that installed the electrical wiring system did it in
an absolutely rigorous professional manner; the
question remains open.” The short and eventual story of
Interactive Flight Technologies also raises other questions.
Founded in 1994 in Las Vegas by a Russian emigrant
engineer, Yuri Itkis; moved to Phoenix two years later, the
company never stopped operating in the red in trying to
establish its revolutionary system (see below). Between
1996 and 1997, IFT lost $70,000,000. And business
prospects were not good: No contract followed the Swissair
contract. The Australian company Quantas pulled out after
showing some interest. Moreover, the revenues generated
by the in-flight lotteries were less than predicted,
and the United States has never authorized these
games of chance on flights from or towards the United
States. Finally, an agreement was made with Alitalia for
the installation of four systems (that’s actually
what pushed Swissair to get involved), but the
equipment installed was then removed.

General Haig Resigns:

In these conditions part of the personnel was fired
or laid off in the fall of 1997. Several managers
and members of the Board of Directors left, including
Gen. Alexander Haig, former American Secretary of
State, who had been recruited the prior year. Last May,
IFT gave up on any more efforts toward developing a
market, preferring to find solutions involving
reconversion – buying a new business. In August the company
bought a dry-cleaning business in San Diego and planned
to expand in this area, while still honoring its
contract with Swissair. But some of the shareholders
rejected this idea and one of the investors, Ocean Castle
Partners, filed a complaint with the American securities
authorities, alleging poor management, and was able to take
control of IFT last September 16. Less than two weeks
after the crash of flight SR 111, all of former
management was fired. The dry-cleaning business was sold:
“Our system of onboard entertainment is the best,”
emphasized Erwin L. Gross, the new leader of the company,
and we see good prospects either with airlines or in
exploring other applications of this technology.”

While waiting, Swissair has unplugged its video
screens and does not intend to make any further
commentary on what it had called several months earlier the
“technical magicians” of Phoenix. (The author’s initials are
A. Hz.)

Entertainment System: On the Cutting Edge of Progress

The in-flight interactive
entertainment system IFEN-2 offered by the company IFT is
actually revolutionary in comparison to those which exist
elsewhere, and it should have given Swissair 2-3 years
advance over its competitors. The key part is the
complete liberty the passenger has to choose the moment
when he would watch a movie or music program, being
able to start it, interrupt it and go back according
to his wishes. The passenger has at his disposal a
large touchable (“tactile” screen with 20 movies
available, one of which is offered for free, 16 hours of
music, video games and traditional news. Moreover, he
can play certain games of chance (lottery, bingo)
with winnings up to $3,500 available and a maximum
loss of $200. The profits from these games are paid to
the Intercantonal National Lottery. In the future,
one had planned to add other services such as
inflight retail shopping, with delivery to one’s home or
at one’s arrival at the airport, hotel, airline and
entertainment reservations, direct TV or views of the ground
below by means of a camera mounted on the bottom of the
airplane. The public was very attracted by the freedom one
had with the movies. However, the public did not
appear interested in the games of chance. The total cost
of installation, 100,000,000 Swiss francs, was to be
the responsibility of IFT, which was able to
renegotiate the contract, Swissair being involved at the
level of 46,000,000 francs. This remained an attractive
introductory price.

Concerns: Is the MD-11 Dangerous?
Since
the Halifax catastrophe and certainly after the other
Swissair MD-11 incident which involved the plane having to
return to Singapore after a suspect odor was detected,
some passengers no longer want to fly on this kind of
airplane. Yet there is no “law of series” (law of the
airplane model) except by the increased attention of the
media after the catastrophe, and with Swissair the
technical reliability of the MD-11is higher than that of
the Boeing 747. In fact, from 1990 to 1998 an
American study found 1,089 emergency landings after fire,
smoke or a burning smell was detected (of which 47 were
of an electrical origin), that being more than two
per week, all kinds of airplanes combined, and if the
average incident level has increased a bit since Halifax,
that is due to the pilots being more inclined to
return to the point of origin quickly in case of
doubt.

Lessons of SR 111: A New Procedure?
Discussions
are now being held between Swissair and the builder
of the MD-11, Boeing (purchaser of
McDonald-Douglas), to conceive of a more rapid procedure in case of
smoke detection along the lines of that which is done
on the A320 Airbus aircraft. An emergency wind-
based electrical generator, located in first class,
would be turned on to provide a minimum of electrical
current to the central instruments if all the rest of the
electrical equipment were to lose power. This would permit
one to more quickly locate and extinguish the source
of the smoke. On U.S. planes, this generator is only
utilized in case all the engines stop at a high altitude
(essentially because of volcanic ash). According to a person
responsible for security, “This thinking is comforting.”
“Priority, according to this person, should be given to the
installation of new smoke detectors, above all in the avionics
compartment under the cockpit, to determine in quick fashion
the source of the problem: “We are under-equipped in
this area, but I am persuaded that all of that is
going to change after the Halifax accident.” The SR 111
accident also restarted the debate on the replacement of
the thermal and acoustic insulation material which is
not fire-resistant enough: It needs to be repaired
during major service overhauls (“grandes visites”. This
involves 12,000 aircraft and the cost could exceed one
billion dollars.