Swissair Flight 111
2 September 1998 10:31pm ADT
Photographs of Memorial
Bayswater Lunenburg County Nova Scotia
Located on the west side of Highway 329
GPS location: 44°29’58″N 64°04’07″W
Also see: Whalesback memorial, Swissair Flight 111
Photographed on 4 November 2002
Photographed on 4 November 2002
Photographed on 4 November 2002
Photographed at 7:12am, 15 November 2002, ten minutes before dawn
Photographed at dawn, 7:22am, 15 November 2002
Photographed at dawn, 7:23am, 15 November 2002
Map showing location of the Swissair Flight 111 memorials
at Bayswater in Lunenburg County, and Whalesback in Halifax County.
Photographed on 4 November 2002
Photographed on 4 November 2002
Photographed at dawn, 15 November 2002
Panel one: photographed at dawn, 15 November 2002
Panel two: photographed at dawn, 15 November 2002
Panel three: photographed at dawn, 15 November 2002
Panel four: photographed at dawn, 15 November 2002
Panel five: photographed at dawn, 15 November 2002
Panel six: photographed at dawn, 15 November 2002
Panel seven: photographed at dawn, 15 November 2002
Table of Contents
Swissair Flight 111 Archives
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# Top Ten
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# Air Safety Week
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# SouthShoreNow.ca
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# Lunenburg Progress-Enterprise
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# Bridgewater Bulletin
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# Halifax Chronicle-Herald
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# Halifax Daily News
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# Nova Scotia Government press releases
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# Swissair press releases
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# DND Marlant press releases
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# RCMP press release
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# Journal of Air Transportation
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# Aviation Safety & Security Digest
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#
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# BBC
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# CBC
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# CNN
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# IASA: International Aviation Safety Association
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# IFALPA: International Federation of Air Line Pilots’ Associations
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# IFT: Interactive Flight Technologies Inc.
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# SBA: Santa Barbara Aerospace Inc.
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# TSB: Transportation Safety Board (Canada)
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# NTSB: National Transportation Safety Board (U.S.)
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# JAA: Joint Aviation Authorities (Europe)
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# EASA: European Aviation Safety Agency
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# ALPA: Air Line Pilots Association International
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# NADA: National Air Disaster Alliance
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# Daily Telegraph
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# London Times
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# New York Times
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# Seattle Post-Intelligencer
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# Seattle Times
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# USA Today
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# Washington Post
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# Huffington Post
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# Newsweek
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# Time
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# US News & World Report
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# U.S. Dept. of Transportation
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# United States Navy press releases
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# Aviation Safety Network
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# Yahoo News
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# CFO.com
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# Other
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# 2008 Sep 2: Tenth Anniversary of the Crash
Transportation Safety Board
TSB Official Report on Swissair Flight 111
Appendix C Swissair ‘Smoke of Unknown Origin’ Checklist
Swissair 111 Investigation Report: Executive Summary Transportation Safety Board
http://www.tsb.gc.ca/eng/medias-media/fiches-facts/A98H0003/sum_a98h0003.asp
Transportation Safety Board of Canada: Official Report on Swiss Air Flight 111
(Copy archived in Canada)
http://www.tsb.gc.ca/eng/rapports-reports/aviation/1998/a98h0003/a98h0003.asp
Transportation Safety Board of Canada: Official Report on Swiss Air Flight 111
(Copy archived in Switzerland) PDF: 32 megabytes
http://www.bfu.admin.ch/common/pdf/1762_en.pdf
Brief history of the disaster On 2 September 1998 at 2118 ADT
Swissair Flight 111, a McDonnell Douglas MD-11 aircraft,
departed John F. Kennedy airport, New York, en route to Geneva…
http://www.swissair111.org/Background.html
Information and discussion of the crash, investigation, victims and
survivors of Swissair 111, what went wrong, why, who was responsible
and how will such tragedies be prevented in the future…
http://www.swissair111.org/
Lost at Sea: The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer Transcript 3 Sep 1998
Last night, Swissair Flight 111 plunged into the ocean off the coast of
Nova Scotia, leaving no survivors. After a background report, a former
Federal Aviation Administration chief discusses the investigation that will
try to determine what went wrong.
http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/
transportation/july-dec98/swissair_9-3.html
PBS NOVA: Crash of Swissair Flight 111
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/aircrash/
Photograph: Swissair McDonnell Douglas MD-11 HB-IWB
taking off from Geneva on 25 February 1996
Photographed by Stefano Pagiola
http://www.airliners.net/photo/Swissair/McDonnell-Douglas-MD-11/0010075/L/
Air Traffic Control Preliminary Transcript of Swissair Flight 111 2 Sep 1998
http://aviation-safety.net/investigation/cvr/transcripts/atc_sr111.php
Swissair Flight 111 Nationmaster Encyclopedia
The aircraft, a McDonnell Douglas MD-11, serial number 48448,
was manufactured in 1991… The airframe had a total of 36,041 hours.
The three engines were Pratt & Whitney 4462s. The cabin was configured
with 241 seats (12 first-, 49 business-, and 180 economy-class).
First- and business-class seats were equipped with an in-flight
entertainment system…
http://www.nationmaster.com/encyclopedia/Swissair-Flight-111
Before Swissair Flight 111 crashed, the pilot reported an in-flight fire.
Have such fires happened before? If they have, do all on board usually die?
http://www.airlinesafety.com/faq/faq8.htm
Swissair flight 111
http://www.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swissair_flight_111
Fact Sheet: State Department on Swissair/Delta 111 Crash
http://www.usembassy-israel.org.il/publish/press/state/
archive/1998/september/sd6910.htm
Bill No. 115: Flight 111 Special Places Memorial Act
http://www.gov.ns.ca/legislature/legc/statutes/flight11.htm
Swissair Crash Tests Relations With Insurers Wall Street Journal
http://www.calbaptist.edu/dskubik/air_insu.htm
Swissair’s Drama – SR111 Aircraft Crashes Record Office, Geneva
http://www.baaa-acro.com/sr111_an.html
Swissair 111 Reconsidered by William Henry, AirLiners.net
http://www.airliners.net/aviation-articles/read.main?id=116
How to crash an in-flight entertainment system 2007 Feb 09
http://blogs.csoonline.com/how_to_crash_an_in_flight_entertainment_system
ISASI; International Society of Air Safety Investigators
http://www.isasi.org/
Swissair Flight 111: The Accident that redefined CRM
http://www.landings.com/_landings/editorials/editorial-sep98.html
Speech by Mr Jeffrey G. Katz President and CEO, Swissair
International Aviation Club, Washington, DC, 16 May 2000
http://www.iacwashington.org/katz51600.pdf
Swissair 111 Memorials To Carry Airline Name And Flight Number
http://news.airwise.com/stories/99/07/932731976.html
Jack Gallagher, Canadian Coast Guard Auxiliary, 3 Sep 1999
http://www.ccga-gcac.org/news/pc_03sep99_e.asp
List of Mayday episodes (TV series)
Fire on Board; Fire in the Sky – Episode 4, Season 1
A McDonnell Douglas MD-11 operating as Swissair Flight 111 experiences a fire in the
cockpit due to faulty wiring. The pilots divert the aircraft toward Nova Scotia, Canada
with the intent of landing at Halifax Stanfield International Airport,
but vital systems start failing…
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Mayday_episodes#Season_1
List: Swissair historical McDonnell Douglas MD-11s
http://www.planesregister.com/airline/Swissair-history-md11.htm
Swissair destroyed-after-incident McDonnell Douglas MD-11
http://www.planesregister.com/airline/Swissair-destroyed-md11.htm
McDonnell Douglas MD-11 production list
http://www.planesregister.com/aircraft/list-md11.htm
ABC Evening News for Thursday, Sep 03, 1998
Headline: Canada / SwissAir Flight 111 Crash
Vanderbilt Television News Archive
http://web.archive.org/web/20060917201343/
openweb.tvnews.vanderbilt.edu/1998-9/1998-09-03-ABC-2.html
NBC Evening News for Sunday, Sep 06, 1998
Headline: Canada / Swiss Air Flight 111 Crash / Peggy’s Cove
Vanderbilt Television News Archive
http://web.archive.org/web/20060917205927/
openweb.tvnews.vanderbilt.edu/1998-9/1998-09-06-NBC-2.html
United States District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania:
in re Air Crash near Peggy’s Cove, NovaScotia on September 2, 1998 2000April14
Memorandum of Law in response to Defendants’ Joint Motion to dismiss claims
filed on behalf of all French and Swiss decedents…
http://www.kreindler.com/kreindler_news/pdf/swissair_fnc.pdf
Table of Contents
Swissair stopped flying on 31 March 2002
Farewell Swissair
http://www.airways.ch/files/2002/0302/001/farewell.htm
Lighthouse Publishing Inc., Bridgewater
Swissair Flight 111 Archive
Bridgewater Bulletin
Lunenburg Progress-Enterprise
Forty stories
Story 01: World comes crashing down in Nova Scotia
Story 02: When disaster strikes – the local story
Story 03: The crash of Swissair Flight 111 in brief
Story 04: Early hours after plane crash focused on finding survivors
Story 05: Fishing trip becomes nightmare for Chester Basin man
Story 06: Blandford firefighters first to respond after report of downed passenger jet
Story 07: Auxiliary, fishermen integral part of search
Story 08: Residents shocked at sound of Swissair crash
Story 09: Hospitals mobilized to deal with expected survivors
Story 10: Disaster worst ever for aircraft, company
Story 11: Survivors wouldn’t have lived long
Story 12: Swiss residents grieve their country’s loss
Story 13: Hospitality industry also playing a role
Story 14: Nova Scotians extend helping hand to families
Story 15: At the scene of the crash
Story 16: Retired firefighter recalls Canada’s worst air disaster
Story 17: Weekly Inspiration – Thoughts about the crash off Peggy’s Cove
Story 18: Editorial Comment – Commendable rescue effort
Story 19: Editor’s Diary – Tragedy hits close to home
Story 20: The final words of Swissair Flight 111
Story 21: Crash cause won’t be known for some time
Story 22: Crash victims came from 15 countries
Story 23: Residents helping soldiers at Blandford encampment
Story 24: A day of mourning at Peggy’s Cove
Story 25: EMO operations mobilize in Chester
Story 26: Anxious fishermen asked to be patient
Story 27: Coast guard auxiliary helps with search, recovery effort
Story 28: ‘Food came from everywhere’
Story 29: Workers, volunteers should seek support
Story 30: Gander remembers: Even the strong will need help
Story 31: Memorial services providing comfort to residents, searchers
Story 32: Coming together in grief
Story 33: Crash information beginning to emerge
Story 34: Swissair tragedy may be linked to electrical failure
Story 35: Debris from downed jet does not pose health threat
Story 36: Finances last concern of fishermen impacted by Swissair catastrophe
Story 37: Local search team assists with recovery efforts
Story 38: Editor’s Diary – Coping with the crash aftermath
Story 39: Editorial Comment – Reality sucks
Story 40: Officials plan to lift Flight 111 debris
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Halifax Daily News
Swissair Flight 111 Archive
Story 2, 1998 Sep 03: ‘There was thud, silence’ – Residents startled by sound of crash
Story 3, 1998 Sep 03: Canada’s Worst Crashes
Story 4, 1998 Sep 04: Passengers’ effects a grim reminder
Story 5, 1998 Sep 04: QEII staff hoped they could make a difference
Story 6, 1998 Sep 04: Sorrow hangs over Nova Scotia landmark (not found)
Story 7, 1998 Sep 04: Night guard heard pilot’s final words
Story 8, 1998 Sep 04: Searchers sprang into action after crash
Story 9, 1998 Sep 04: Hotels fully booked
Story 10, 1998 Sep 04: Trip through debris field a shocking slap of reality
Story 11, 1998 Sep 04: “We watched these people say goodbye”
Story 12, 1998 Sep 04: Divers race against time to find black boxes
Story 13, 1998 Sep 04: In Geneva airport, sign said ‘delayed’
Story 14, 1998 Sep 04: ID team faces ‘enormous problem’
Story 15, 1998 Sep 04: Political leaders reach out to families of victims (not found)
Story 16, 1998 Sep 04: Confirmed on board
Story 17, 1998 Sep 04: MD-11s had wiring faults
Story 18, 1998 Sep 04: Investigation will likely take months
Story 19, 1998 Sep 04: Families are top concern, Swissair says
Story 20, 1998 Sep 04: About the MD-11
Story 21, 1998 Sep 04: What happened to Flight 111
Story 22, 1998 Sep 04: “My God, that’s us”
Air traffic controllers ‘sickened, disheartened’ by crash
Story 23, 1998 Sep 04: Want to help?
Story 24, 1998 Sep 04: Searchers losing hope of survivors
Story 25, 1998 Sep 05: Wreath starts spontaneous fund drive
Story 26, 1998 Sep 05: Generosity abounds
Story 27, 1998 Sep 05: Work long and difficult for military searchers
Story 28, 1998 Sep 05: Police cautious about crash debris
Story 29, 1998 Sep 05: Crash victims to be checked for smoke
Story 30, 1998 Sep 05: Pilot not panicked in final minutes
Story 31, 1998 Sep 05: Toxic fumes possible cause of crash
Story 32, 1998 Sep 05: Grieving families arrive… (not found)
Story 33, 1998 Sep 05: Churches planning memorial services
Story 36, 1998 Sep 05: Search focuses on black boxes
Story 38, 1998 Sep 06: Lawyers arriving
Story 39, 1998 Sep 06: Jet’s wing on fire
Story 40, 1998 Sep 06: Diary ends just before crash
Story 41, 1998 Sep 06: Pilot would’ve turned 50
Story 42, 1998 Sep 06: Chretien to attend memorial service
Story 43, 1998 Sep 06: ‘A comforting, beautiful place’
Families gather at Peggy’s Cove for goodbyes
Story 44, 1998 Sep 06: One body ID’d; others won’t be as easy
Story 45, 1998 Sep 06: Chief medical examiner faces ‘biggest challenge’
Story 46, 1998 Sep 06: Black box recovery hoped for today
Story 47, 1998 Sep 06: Families to ID debris
Story 48, 1998 Sep 06: ‘We have to land’
Story 50, 1998 Sep 05: Sealing area proving costly for fishermen
Story 51, 1998 Sep 05: City responding to tragedy
Story 52, 1998 Sep 05: Military effort puts air show in jeopardy
Story 53, 1998 Sep 05: Services, song memorials to crash victims
Story 55, 1998 Sep 05: Photograph aided first identification
Story 57, 1998 Sep 05: Flight 111 developments
Story 59, 1998 Sep 08: Peggy’s Cove returning to normal
Story 60, 1998 Sep 08: Divers risk lives in black-box effort
Story 61, 1998 Sep 08: Stress counsellors keep searchers functioning
Story 64, 1998 Sep 08: Air show cancelled ‘out of respect’
Story 65, 1998 Sep 08: What is a black box?
Story 67, 1998 Sep 09: Be ‘wary,’ lobby group tells families
Story 68, 1998 Sep 09: Airlines, gov’t cost-cutting concerns former pilot
Story 69, 1998 Sep 09: Tour buses return
Story 71, 1998 Sep 09: Former UN chief honours those ‘working for peace’
Story 73, 1998 Sep 09: Flight crew calm in crisis
Story 74, 1998 Sep 09: Chretien, Swiss president at today’s service
Story 75, 1998 Sep 09: Cockpit shows heat damage
Story 76, 1998 Sep 09: Tripping breaker ‘sealed fate’ – experts
Your tendency would be to reset that circuit breaker to see
what happens and, in so doing, you’ve sealed your fate…
Story 77, 1998 Sep 10: Bay fishing season over
Story 78, 1998 Sep 10: U.S. ship to lift wreckage
Story 79, 1998 Sep 10: First lawsuit filed
Story 80, 1998 Sep 10: Pilot ‘shouldn’t have screwed around’ – flyer
Story 81, 1998 Sep 10: Search effort continues
Story 82, 1998 Sep 10: MD-11 didn’t fare well in safety study
Story 83, 1998 Sep 10: Rabbi to confirm Jewish deaths
Story 84, 1998 Sep 10: Voice recorder search today
Story 85, 1998 Sep 10: Chretien, Cotti visit Peggy’s
Story 86, 1998 Sep 10: Memorial attracts 1,000
Story 87, 1998 Sep 11: Barely two per cent of airliner found
Story 88, 1998 Sep 11: Two ID’d, Grim work wears on pathologists
Story 89, 1998 Sep 11: Plane besieged by electrical problems
Story 90, 1998 Sep 12: Swissair probe expected to be Canada’s most expensive
Story 91, 1998 Sep 12: Second black box recovered
Story 92, 1998 Sep 12: HMCS Preserver, crew gets relief,
HMCS Halifax takes over salvage duties
Story 93, 1998 Sep 13: Head pathologist rests after 11 straight days
Story 94, 1998 Sep 13: Heli crews relieved
Story 95, 1998 Sep 13: Fisherman angry Bay still closed
Story 96, 1998 Sep 13: Dive site a hellish world
Story 97, 1998 Sep 13: Black box gives ‘lots to work with’
Story 98, 1998 Sep 14: Cargo manifest to be released
Story 100, 1998 Sep 14: Salvage ship readying to lift wreckage
Story 101, 1998 Sep 15: Wreckage lift could be days away,
Crash to be re-enacted today
Story 102, 1998 Sep 15: Beacon trouble caused confusion
Story 105, 1998 Sep 15: Boats, planes allowed limited access to area around crash
Story 106, 1998 Sep 15: Fishermen seeking compensation
Story 107, 1998 Sep 16: Healing service for workers slated for Friday
Story 108, 1998 Sep 16: Lawyer denies breaking law, signs client
Story 110, 1998 Sep 17: Eighty-three families take Swissair’s offer of aid
Story 112, 1998 Sep 18: Fishermen get no promises for Swissair compensation
Story 113, 1998 Sep 18: DNA helping ID victims
Story 114, 1998 Sep 18: Mangled jet slows experts
Story 115, 1998 Sep 19: Service held for searchers
Story 116, 1998 Sep 19: Swissair helps fishermen
Story 117, 1998 Sep 20: U.S. therapist helps Swissair families
Story 118, 1998 Sep 20: Halifax P.I. on Swissair case
Story 119, 1998 Sep 21: Searchers fuelled by mission
Story 120, 1998 Sep 21: Relief group apologizes for its inexperience
Story 121, 1998 Sep 22: Eight Swissair victims ID’d
Story 122, 1998 Sep 23: Third recorder could shed light
Story 124, 1998 Sep 24: Search window closing
Story 125, 1998 Sep 25: Wiring safety questioned since 1973
Story 126, 1998 Sep 25: Debris offering clues to fate of Flight 111
Story 127, 1998 Sep 26: Searching for Flight 111 wreckage an arduous task
Story 129, 1998 Sep 27: Woman who lost parents thinking about staying
Story 131, 1998 Sep 29: Swissair sets ‘standard’ for response
Story 132, 1998 Sep 29: Time short for salvage operation
Story 134, 1998 Sep 30: Flower memorials laid at crash site
Story 136, 1998 Oct 01: No one at controls – expert,
Flight 111 crew died, left cockpit before crash
Story 137, 1998 Oct 02: U.S. heavy lifter Grapple ends Flight 111 effort
Story 138, 1998 Oct 02: Black box needs backup power supply – group
Story 139, 1998 Oct 05: Battery-powered black box ‘easy’ – manufacturer
Story 140, 1998 Oct —: Searchers should be wary of flashbacks
Story 142, 1998 Oct 08: Barge heads to Flight 111 crash site
Story 144, 1998 Oct 09: Police warn scavengers
Story 146, 1998 Oct 09: Flight 111 chronology
Story 149, 1998 Oct 11: Salvage delayed
Story 150, 1998 Oct 11: Plans begin for memorial cemetery near crash site
for Swissair victims
Story 154, 1998 Oct 15: Salvage a race against weather
Story 155, 1998 Oct 16: Weather forces salvage halt
Story 156, 1998 Oct 16: FAA advisory, Flight 111 not linked – safety board
Story 157, 1998 Oct 17: Swissair engine found
Story 158, 1998 Oct 19: Shifting Swissair wreckage sends divers below again
Story 159, 1998 Oct 20: Flight 111 engine found
Story 160, 1998 Oct 22: Smoke-, fire-related reports up after Swissair crash
Story 162, 1998 Oct 23: 7,000 get counselling in wake of Swissair crash
Story 163, 1998 Oct 26: Swissair heavy-wreckage recovery called a success
Story 164, 1998 Oct 26: Rescue beacons unnecessary – airlines
Story 166, 1998 Oct 28: Gems, cash recovered
Story 167, 1998 Oct 28: Investigation crucial for safety board
Story 168, 1998 Oct 28: Swissair recovery winding down
Story 169, 1998 Oct 30: Equipment not on Canada’s airplanes
Story 172, 1998 Nov 02: Flight 111 dragging effort halted
Story 173, 1998 Nov 02: Swissair crash might reverse dangerous trend
Story 174, 1998 Nov 03: Families of Flight 111 victims form support group
Story 175, 1998 Nov 04: Flight 111 investigators rebuild cockpit for clues
Story 177, 1998 Nov 07: Swissair family files homicide charges
Story 178, 1998 Nov 07: High temperatures confirmed around cockpit
Story 179, 1998 Nov 09: Fishing vessel to drag for debris
Story 181, 1998 Nov 11: Flight 111 memorial ‘important’
Story 182, 1998 Nov 12: Flight 111 emotion remains strong, Ontario panel told
Story 184, 1998 Nov 13: Flight 111 investigators in Zurich, Atlanta
Story 185, 1998 Nov 16: Swissair recovery may soon find end in sight
Story 187, 1998 Nov 21: Flight 111 fire melted ceiling – One engine failed doomed jet
Story 188, 1998 Nov 23: Swissair defends in-flight entertainment system
Story 189, 1998 Nov 24: Flight 111 families plan Peggy’s Cove reunion
Story 190, 1998 Nov —: Strange smell in Swissair MD-11
Story 192, 1998 Nov 29: Swissair families make pilgrimage
Story 194, 1998 Dec 06: Thieves target Swissair,
Break-ins in Halifax and Zurich might be related
Story 195, 1998 Dec 10: Flight 111 probe prompts wire check
Story 196, 1998 Dec 13: Flight 111 probe might revamp black-box rules
Story 197, 1998 Dec 14: Swissair 111 plane’s wiring ‘accident waiting to happen’
Story 199, 1998 Dec 14: Man of constant sorrows,
Miles Gerety lost a brother in the Swissair crash
Story 200, 1998 Dec 16: Flight 111 IDs nearly done.
Name of final victim expected later this week
Story 201, 1998 Dec 22: Deleting Jesus angers Christians
Story 202, 1998 Dec 22: Fire found in jet’s ceiling
Story 205, 1998 Dec 27: Ocean still hides Swissair treasure
Story 206, 1999 Jan 02: Crash unified South Shore,
Nova Scotians rallied during Swissair tragedy
Story 207, 1999 Jan 06: Flight 111 investigation resumes
Story 208, 1999 Jan 07: Going about its business,
Swissair carries on after Flight 111 disaster
Story 210, 1999 Jan 13: Wiring not problem – safety expert
Story 211, 1999 Jan 15: Boeing to issue warning
Story 212, 1999 Jan 17: Investigation of Flare disaster stalled by Swissair
Story 213, 1999 Jan 17: Chretien says sorry,
PM ‘regrets’ Christ left out of Swissair service
Story 215, 1999 Jan 22: TSB irked by leaked transcript
Story 216, 1999 Jan 22: Latest report merely ’20-20 hindsight,’ victim’s brother says
Story 218, 1999 Jan 23: Should have landed
Story 220, 1999 Jan 23: Swissair pilot rejects clash-in-cockpit theory
Story 222, 1999 Jan 25: Investigation using submarines
Story 223, 1999 Jan 25: Swissair relative troubled by report of clash
Story 225, 1999 Jan 29: Public to have its say on Flight 111 memorial
Story 226, 1999 Jan 29: Wiring inspection ordered
Story 227, 1999 Feb 01: Fuel dump in question
Story 229, 1999 Feb 02: Wire find should ring bells
Story 231, 1999 Feb 03: Emergency fund gone,
Swissair $25,000 donation exhausted
Story 233, 1999 Feb 04: Air directives fall short, U.S. agency member says
Story 234, 1999 Feb 04: Residents want humble memorial
Story 236, 1999 Feb 05: Swiss woman raises funds to thank Flight 111 salvagers
Story 239, 1999 Feb 15: Old lessons lost, former pilot says,
After deadly Air Canada blaze, industry was told to land when fire was detected
1983: Word went out to all the pilots: if you have an in-flight fire, land the plane.
Story 240, 1999 Feb 15: Divers may be recalled for Flight 111 recovery
Story 241, 1999 Feb 20: Swissair sweetens pot for locals
Story 242, 1999 Feb —: Widow fights for aviation safety
Story 243, 1999 Feb —: American law could help Swissair defence effort,
Act may reduce compensation, lawyer says
Expects Death on the High Seas Act to be invoked…
Story 244, 1999 Feb 24: Families, TSB keep in contact
Story 245, 1999 Feb 26: Swissair salvage changing again
Story 246, 1999 Mar 02: Families’ rep meets TSB
Story 247, 1999 Mar 02: Swissair increases European payments
Story 248, 1999 Mar 03: Flight 111 wing slats raise questions
Story 249, 1999 Mar 06: Inquiry cost hits $63M,
Flight 111 bill mainly used for wreckage recovery
Story 250, 1999 Mar 06: Safety group formed
Story 251, 1999 Mar 08: Mechanical problem offers Swissair clue
Story 254, 1999 Mar 26: Investigation a learning process
Story 255, 1999 Mar 26: Flight 111 team shares lessons
Story 257, 1999 Apr 05: Flight 111 transcript tied up in legalities
Story 261, 1999 Apr 12: Flight 111 families want burial place
Story 262, 1999 Apr 21: FAA orders MD-11 inspections
Story 264, 1999 Apr 29: Wiring warnings overlooked
Story 265, 1999 Apr 30: Swissair soulmates,
Strangers connect on Canada’s west coast
Story 266, 1999 May 05: Swissair burial site decided
Story 267, 1999 May 09: Family files Swissair suit
Story 268, 1999 May 12: Bayswater picked as Flight 111 burial site
Story 269, 1999 May 13: Parents sue over Swissair crash
Story 270, 1999 May 14: Premier supports mass burial
Story 271, 1999 May 19: No media frenzy
Story 272, 1999 May 26: Buskers: Swissair crash hurt us
Story 273, 1999 May 26: Key debris items found
Story 274, 1999 May 28: Dredging ship may salvage last pieces
Story 277, 1999 May 29: Rescuers get medals
Story 279, 1999 Jun 09: Ottawa to pick up $600k Swissair bill
Story 280, 1999 Jun —: Swissair sites get protection (not found)
Story 281, 1999 Jun 21: Salvage ongoing
Story 282, 1999 Jun 22: Swissair responds to bagpipers’ lawsuit
Story 283, 1999 Jul 12: Markers won’t show Swissair identity, death count
Story 284, 1999 Jul 13: Memorial may get Swissair mention
Story 285, 1999 Jul —: (not found)
Story 286, 1999 Jul 19: Unwanted memories
Swissair families flooded by unexpected personal effects
Story 287, 1999 Jul 23: A ‘perfect’ Flight 111 memorial
Story 292, 1999 Aug 05: Investigators called in former chief steward
Story 294, 1999 Aug —: Swissair offer a ploy – lawyer (not found)
Story 295, 1999 Aug 10: Memorials set for Flight 111
Story 298, 1999 Aug 14: Swissair suit bolstered by Mylar – lawyers
Story 299, 1999 Aug 17: Searchers still relive event
Story 300, 1999 Aug 17: Swissair families sue Du Pont
Story 301, 1999 Aug 27: Memorial plans panned
Story 302, 1999 Aug 28: Device counters smoke in cockpit
Story 303, 1999 Aug 28: Folk trio pens memorial song
Story 305, 1999 Aug 28: Media banned from internment
Story 306, 1999 Aug 30: Swissair search on final leg
Story 307, 1999 Sep 01: Coffins move to memorial site
Story 308, 1999 Sep —: (not found)
Story 309, 1999 Sep 02: Flight 111 remembered: Crash forces EMO changes
Story 310, 1999 Sep 02: Flight 111 remembered: Probe will bring changes
Story 311, 1999 Sep 02: Flight 111 remembered: Art captures emotions
Story 312, 1999 Sep 02: Flight 111 remembered: Flight 111 – a year in review
Story 314, 1999 Sep 02: Flight 111 remembered,
Memorial was close to being cancelled
Story 315, 1999 Sep 02: Flight 111 remembered: Families, province grieve
Story 316, 1999 Sep 02: Flight 111 remembered: ‘I feel peace here’
Story 317, 1999 Sep 03: Butt readies for semi-retirement
Story 318, 1999 Sep 03: Pilot’s wife still flight attendant,
Swissair job helps ease family’s grief
Story 319, 1999 Sep 03: Candlelight service a chance to heal (not found)
Story 320, 1999 Sep 03: ‘We owe you all a lot’
Families of victims give locals warm thank you
Story 321, 1999 Sep 08: FAA delays anger Flight 111 families
Story 322, 1999 Sep 09: Flight 111 families reject settlement
Story 323, 1999 Sep 09: Canada to study airline-crash policy
Story 325, 1999 Sep —: Goalie recalls fatal flight (not found)
Story 326, 1999 Sep 14: Swissair argues against damages
Story 328, 1999 Sep 22: Swissair knew risk, says suit
Story 329, 1999 Sep 23: Swissair calls suit P.R. stunt,
Says families trying to win case in media
Story 331, 1999 Sep 29: Winding down – Flight 111 salvage nears completion
Story 332, 1999 Sep 30: FAA bans Swissair inflight fun system
Story 333, 1999 Oct 18: Rescue team earns kudos – Work after Swissair crash recognized
Story 334, 1999 Nov 03: Crash zone reopened
Story 335, 1999 Nov 07: Timely Swissair donation helps pay bills
Story 336, 1999 Nov 10: Swissair begins replacing Mylar
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
USA Today
Swissair Flight 111 Archive
USA Today, 2003 February 16
Doomed plane’s gaming system exposes holes in FAA oversight
A small Las Vegas company with large ambitions and marquee
investors sold U.S. regulators and Swissair on a video gaming
system for airplanes. Until Flight 111 crashed, no one
realized how many chances had been taken with passengers’ safety…
http://www.usatoday.com/money/biztravel/2003-02-16-swissair-investigation_x.htm
USA Today, 2003 February 17
Changes since FAA review of Flight 111
http://www.usatoday.com/money/biztravel/2003-02-17-findings_x.htm
Note: The following item is one of the best descriptions
I’ve seen, of the management and regulatory failures
that led to the Swissair Flight 111 disaster. ICS
USA Today, 2003 February 17
Doomed plane’s gaming system exposes holes in FAA oversight
Even on an airline famous for its service, Swissair’s night flight from
New York to Geneva was something special. Flight 111 was dubbed
“the U.N. shuttle” for its popularity with United Nations officials, although
passenger lists regularly carried the names of prominent scientists,
researchers and business executives, too. Hours after the jumbo jet
crashed into the Atlantic Ocean on Sept. 2, 1998, killing all 229 people
aboard, Canadian and U.S. aviation authorities zeroed in on something else
that was distinctive about Flight 111. The McDonnell Douglas MD-11 was
one of only a few jets in the world with a pioneering interactive entertainment
system that let passengers select and watch movies on personal consoles,
shop and, on various international flights, use credit cards to play computer
casino games. Although the final accident report has not yet been released,
the Canadian government has considered the system’s electronics as a
possible source of an electrical fire that may have caused the crash…
Mlynarczyk says IFT’s system was very rudimentary and unsuitable for
aircraft use, but the company pressured him to accelerate the certification
process. He says much work was needed before the equipment could pass
FAA tests, including environmental and electromagnetic interference tests.
“They had no clue what it would take to get an STC,” says Mlynarczyk.
“They would send some information about the system, and when we’d say,
‘That’s not good enough,’ they’d say, ‘You’re trying to gouge us for more
money.’ They were running out of funds and trying to shortcut so many
things”… In August 1997, the MD-11 jet that would later crash as
Swissair Flight 111 entered a hangar for a maintenance overhaul by Swissair
mechanics and an entertainment system installation by Hollingsead.
directors began leaving the company in the fall, a year before the crash…
http://www.usatoday.com/travel/news/2003/2003-02-17-swissair.htm
USA Today, 2003 February 25
FAA failings in Swissair crash follow a too-familiar pattern
…In all three tragedies, the FAA botched its paramount mission:
to make sure that those inspecting, maintaining and modifying
commercial airliners do their jobs properly… The Swissair crash
underscores the risks of further delay. USA Today reported
last week that the airline had fitted some of its planes with a
sophisticated entertainment system that let passengers watch
movies, shop and gamble. The FAA failed to oversee the
installation, and problems later surfaced with both the system
and Santa Barbara Aerospace, the company that signed off on
the safety of the planes. Before the crash, the FAA repeatedly
cited the firm for poor performance and even briefly suspended
it while the entertainment system was being installed on Swissair
planes. Those concerns should have prompted the FAA to take
a closer look at the project. But it didn’t. Swissair Flight 111
carried a system suspected of sparking a deadly electrical fire,
though an official cause has not yet been released. Only after
the crash did the FAA acknowledge risks with the system
and Santa Barbara Aerospace’s procedures…
http://www.usatoday.com/news/opinion/editorials/2003-02-25-our-view_x.htm
USA Today, 2003 March 09
Officials to probe use of aviation contractors
http://www.usatoday.com/money/biztravel/2003-03-09-swissair_x.htm
USA Today, 2003 March 26
Employees warned of heat on jets’ entertainment systems
http://www.usatoday.com/money/biztravel/2003-03-26-swissair_x.htm
USA Today, 2003 March 27
Crash report points to wiring
An electrical wiring problem was the most likely cause of a fire that
caused Swissair Flight111 to crash into the Atlantic Ocean near Halifax,
Nova Scotia, in1998, Canadian investigators said in a report Thursday…
The entertainment system was made by a U.S. company, Interactive
Flight Technologies. After the crash, Swissair disconnected the system
from its planes and the Federal Aviation Administration, citing problems
with its design, banned it from airliners…
http://www.usatoday.com/money/biztravel/2003-03-27-swissair-crah_x.htm
USA Today, 2003 July 08
In-flight entertainment systems linked to scores of jet ‘difficulties’
http://www.usatoday.com/money/biztravel/2003-07-08-plane-cover_x.htm
USA Today, 2003 December 31
Report on air-safety checks nears finish
http://www.usatoday.com/money/biztravel/2003-12-31-gao_x.htm
USA Today, 2004 June 07
Fatal fire hazards find hiding places inside planes
http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2004-06-07-plane-fires_x.htm
USA Today, 2005 March 04
Troubled airline industry in for more costs
The FAA in 2000 required that the insulation on certain models
made by McDonnell Douglas be replaced, following the investigation
of Swissair Flight 111, which crashed off the coast of Nova Scotia
in 1998. The deadline is June 30, 2005…
http://www.usatoday.com/travel/flights/2005-03-04-insulation-replacement_x.htm
USA Today, 2005 April 01
FAA: Safety rules require aircraft insulation change
http://www.usatoday.com/travel/news/2005-04-01-boeing-insulation_x.htm
USA Today, 2005 April 03
FAA: Replace jet insulation to cut fire risk
http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2005-04-03-faa-jets-insulation_x.htm
USA Today, 2007 June 07
Defendants acquitted in Swissair trial
http://www.usatoday.com/money/economy/2007-06-07-489295710_x.htm
Table of Contents
The Times London
Swissair Flight 111 Archive
London Times, 2002 November 20
Swiss cuts fleet and jobs after six months
…Swissair went bankrupt in October 2001, after more than 70 years in the skies…
http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/article833283.ece
London Times, 2004 June 23
Wiring fault fires are linked to air crashes
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/article448825.ece
London Times, 2005 March 23
Alpine firms prove better at going downhill
…this week two famous firms gave up. Instead they sat down in the snow, clutched their sore ankles and waited for the air ambulance to arrive. In the case of Swiss, the inheritor of the insolvent Swissair, the stretcher bearers were Lufthansa cabin crew. Acomplicated holding company structure is being created to preserve landing rights and Helvetic pride but the Swiss Government has blessed the Lufthansa takeover and in the end Swiss will become German…
http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/columnists/article434598.ece
London Times, 2005 March 23
Lufthansa to take over Swiss
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/travel/business/article430382.ece
London Times, 2005 December 04
Brian Carey: Swisscom should learn from Swissair crash
…The experience of Swissair, whose Icarus-like demise was caused by overexpansion, still chastens those who govern the cantons. And the parallels are not only valid, they are downright eery. Swissair was once known as the “flying bank”, such was its financial stability. The airline then decided to put itself at the centre of an alliance of smaller European airlines, taking stakes in Sabena and TAP and purchasing two regional French airlines. As a result of its “hunter strategy”, the small airline racked up huge borrowings, and in the wake of 9/11 collapsed under the strain. The airline was grounded on October2, and when the planes started flying again, pilots had to carry cash in satchels at the front of the plane to pay for fuel…
http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/article745316.ece
London Times, 2006 April 03
Swissair executives to face fraud charges
http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/industry_sectors/transport/article701329.ece
London Times, 2006 June 03
Council can’t tell its art from its eyesore
…Ruined Art: 1998 Pablo Picasso’s Le Peintre (The Painter), worth an estimated £1million, is destroyed when a Swissair plane crashed near Halifax, Nova Scotia
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/article671104.ece
London Times, 2007 October 19
Swiss watch in bewilderment as black and white issues take centre stage in election
…For decades Switzerland has been synonymous with genteel cosmopolitanism – host to international organisations and peace negotiations – discretion and quality craftsmanship. Over the past decade that image has been badly bruised. Swissair, one of Europe’s top airlines, went bust…
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/europe/article2690155.ece
London Times, 2008 April 04
Tempus: Flagging hopes
…Swissair has become Swiss International Airlines, which is German-owned…
http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/
business/industry_sectors/transport/article3682821.ece
Table of Contents
Interactive Flight Technologies Inc.
Interactive Flight Technologies was incorporated in Delaware in August1994 and is the successor by merger to In-Flight Entertainment Services Corp., a NewYork corporation incorporated in February1994. IFTcompleted an initial public offering of its securities in March 1995.
Sixty stories
Business Wire, 1995 April 27
Gaming system manufacturer reacts to DOT interpretation on in-flight gambling; Interactive Flight Technologies sees growth opportunities
http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0EIN/is_1995_April_27/ai_16870162
Business Wire, 1995 June 28
Interactive Flight Technologies reports 2nd quarter results
http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0EIN/is_1995_June_28/ai_17159818
Business Wire, 1995 August 02
Interactive Flight Technologies – Up, Up & Away!! In-Flight Entertainment System nets FAA STC certification based on Alitalia test flight
http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0EIN/is_1995_August_2/ai_17120179
Business Wire, 1995 October 16
Interactive Flight Technologies enters into agreement with seven major film distributors for digitalization of films for in-flight viewing
http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0EIN/is_1995_Oct_16/ai_17632783
Business Wire, 1995 December 06
Alitalia MD-11 jet departs Rome for Chicago with first totally digitized in-flight entertainment system featuring video-on-demand Interactive Flight Technologies, Inc. has announced that the first passenger flight equipped with its in-flight entertainment system featuring video-on-demand has been officially introduced on Alitalia’s regularly scheduled Rome-Chicago, Chicago-Rome service…
http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0EIN/is_1995_Dec_6/ai_17829140
New York Times, 1996 February 07
Business Travel; A historic reminder of how far commercial aviation has come
http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9D0DE2D91439F934A35751C0A960958260
Business Wire, 1996 April 30
http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0EIN/is_1996_April_30/ai_18234220
Business Wire, 1996 May 01
Interactive Flight Technologies announces pact with Spanish charter carrier, Oasis Airlines
http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0EIN/is_1996_May_1/ai_18240819
Business Wire, 1996 May 02
Interactive Flight Technologies signs agreement with Swissair; IFT to install In-Flight Entertainment System, complete with Casino-Style Gambling, On All 21 of its long-haul jets
http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0EIN/is_1996_May_2/ai_18242882
Business Wire, 1996 May 06
Interactive Flight Technolgies distributes supplement to its exercise offer prospectus
http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0EIN/is_1996_May_6/ai_18265862
New York Times, 1996 May 08
Business Travel; A casino operator’s dream: potential gamblers who may be bored and are unable to walk away
http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9F07E1DE1539F93BA35756C0A960958260
Business Wire, 1996 June 18
Interactive Flight Technologies reports first quarterly revenues of $1.6 million in the fiscal second quarter
http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0EIN/is_1996_June_18/ai_18400596
Phoenix Business Journal, 1996 June 21
Interactive Flight Technologies leaving Las Vegas
http://phoenix.bizjournals.com/phoenix/stories/1996/06/24/story1.html
Phoenix Business Journal, 1996 July 12
Phoenix beats Colorado for Vegas company move…Interactive Flight Technologies expects to be up and running in its new Phoenix location by next week…
http://phoenix.bizjournals.com/phoenix/stories/1996/07/15/story8.html
Business Wire, 1996 July 23
Interactive Flight Technologies completes deal with Swissair valued at between $70 to $80 million; IFT to install in-flight entertainment system, complete with casino-style gambling, on all 21 of its long-haul jets
http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0EIN/is_1996_July_23/ai_18500428
New York Times, 1996 July 24
Swissair Enters Gambling
http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9E07E5D71639F937A15754C0A960958260
Business Wire, 1996 July 25
Interactive Flight Technologies selects Hollingsead International as supplier for systems integration
Interactive Flight Technologies Inc. has selected Hollingsead International of Santa Fe Springs, California, as the systems integrator for its In-Flight Entertainment Network… Besides casino gaming, the system will offer passengers totally-digital video-on-demand and various children’s video games. Passengers will access the system by a credit card swipe and enter the amount of money they wish to have in credits. This proprietary system allows passengers to touch the screen to begin casino-style gaming. Winnings will be credited back to their credit cards. Hollingsead International will be responsible for installation, as well as FAA certification…
http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0EIN/is_1996_July_25/ai_18526374
SEC Info, 1996 July 30
Agreement between Interactive Flight Technologies Inc. and Hollingsead International
…This agreement (“Agreement”) is made and entered into July 30, 1996 by and between Interactive Flight Technologies Inc. (“IFT”) and Hollingsead International Inc. (“HI”) based on the following facts and circumstances:
A. IFT has designed a unique interactive entertainment system for use on commercial aircraft (“Aircraft”) which includes video on demand, interactive entertainment games and casino style gaming (the “System”).
B. To date the system has been installed on first and business class seats for a limited number of Aircraft.
C. The parties are entering into this Agreement for the purpose of HI providing to IFT the engineering services (“Services”), manufacture of the installation kit (“Kits”), the installation labor (“Installation Labor”) and airworthiness certification (“Certification”) to be performed in accordance with the time schedule attached hereto (the “Project Schedule”) to enable use of the System by the airlines who are IFT’s customers (the “Customers”) subject to the terms of this Agreement.
D. IFT shall have the sole responsibility for technical validation and total system architecture.
E. This Agreement will specify the terms and conditions pursuant to which (i) HI will be the exclusive System Integrator and Program Manager to provide the Services, Kits, Installation Labor and Certification for installation of IFT’s System for Swissair and (ii) IFT and HI will work together toward forming a strategic alliance for the growth, development and marketing of the System. The Terms and Conditions of the Strategic Alliance will be mutually developed and agreed upon within 45days following the execution of this Agreement or such later date as may further mutually determined…
3.5 INSPECTION AND TESTING, REJECTION AND RETURN. During the course of the performance of the Services and the manufacture of the Kits or part(s) thereof, IFT (together with any representative of the Customer) shall be entitled to
(i) witness the work associated with the Services, manufacture of the Kits or part(s) thereof or Installation Labor,
(ii) inspect or test the Kits or part(s) thereof to determine if the Kits or part(s) thereof comply with the Engineering Drawings, Specifications and Statement of Work. The inspection which (“Non-Conforming Kits or part(s) thereof”), IFT may reject any Non-Conforming Kits or part(s) thereof and return any such part to HI in accordance with HI’s return material authorization procedure at HI’s expense to HI’s facility. HI will promptly repair or replace any Non-Conforming Kits or part(s) thereof with Kits or part(s) thereof which comply with the Engineering Drawings, Specifications and SOW…
3.1.9 CABLING AND HARNESS DESIGN REQUIREMENTS. HI shall design and supply specified cabling to connect the individual System components together and to connect the System to Aircraft power and existing System. The number of disconnects within the Aircraft shall be kept to a minimum to enhance reliability but support the maintainability of the System. It shall be the responsibility of HI to define the number and location of disconnects and grouping of cables between equipment within the Aircraft. Cable and harness design and assembly shall follow the guidelines of Boeing and McDonnell Douglas as applicable. All HI provided System cables and harness shall be designed with sufficient length to facilitate ease of installation, a lack of static tension on the cables and good installation maintenance practices (i.e. driploops, etc.). Mounting hardware used to install all HI provided cables and harnesses shall be provided as part of the cable or harness assembly…
http://www.secinfo.com/dRqWm.8CXg.c.htm
Oklahoma City Journal Record, 1996 August 05
Airlines dabble in video gambling …Swissair’s gaming offerings will be limited at first to relatively benign games like lotto and bingo, spokeswoman Linda Parseghian said – holding back on blackjack, poker, electronic roulette and other games that its supplier, Interactive Flight Technologies Inc. of Las Vegas, is also developing. Swissair also said it plans to program its units to limit betting to $100 per passenger per trip… Interactive, which has retired Gen. Alexander M. Haig Jr. (secretary of State under President Reagan) on its board, also has contracts to place units aboard Debonair’s six commuter-size aircraft and Oasis’ two Airbus A-310 planes…
http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qn4182/is_19960805/ai_n10095765
Business Wire, 1996 October 03
John Alderfer named Chief Financial Officer of Interactive Flight Technologies
http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0EIN/is_1996_Oct_3/ai_18734547
http://www.iasa.com.au/folders/sr111/fix_it.html
New York Times, 1996 November 15
Hyatt investing in Interactive Flight Technologies
http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9D0CEEDD173AF936A25752C1A960958260
Business Wire, 1996 December 03
Tom Metzler named president and chief operating officer of Interactive Flight Technologies
http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0EIN/is_1996_Dec_3/ai_18900433
Business Wire, 1996 December 20
Brian Barents named director of Interactive Flight Technologies
http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0EIN/is_1996_Dec_20/ai_18968223
Business Wire, 1997 January 27
http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0EIN/is_1997_Jan_27/ai_19055442/pg_1
New York Times, 1997 January 29
There’s a new scheme afoot… Really High Stakes
A Swissair MD-11 took off from Zurich last Friday on a round-trip flight to Singapore, and has since flown round trip from Zurich to Montreal. What is special about those flights is that the plane is the first to provide in-flight gambling, according to Interactive Flight Technologies, the developer of the system. Touch screens at displays offer passengers music and computer games, as well as lotto, keno and video slot machines, all payable by credit card…
http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9C07E5DB1F3AF93AA15752C0A961958260
Business Wire, 1997 February 20
Interactive Flight Technologies announces the ability to buy on margin its Class A common stock
http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0EIN/is_1997_Feb_20/ai_19141977
Business Wire, 1997 March 18
Interactive Flight Technologies reports fiscal first quarter results and changes to sales and marketing of its system
http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0EIN/is_1997_March_18/ai_19217693
Business Wire, 1997 April 14
IFT signs memorandum of understanding for Swissair’s purchase of in-flight entertainment system
http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0EIN/is_1997_April_14/ai_19309326
Phoenix Business Journal, 1997 May 16
High-tech firm to trade on Nasdaq…Interactive Flight Technologies Inc., Phoenix, received approval from The Nasdaq Stock Market to begin trading on its national market…
http://phoenix.bizjournals.com/phoenix/stories/1997/05/12/daily9.html
Business Wire, 1997 June 05
Interactive Flight Technologies Inc. elects Tom Metzler to board of directors
http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0EIN/is_1997_June_5/ai_19482293
Business Wire, 1997 June 13
Interactive Flight Technologies reports fiscal second quarter results
http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0EIN/is_1997_June_13/ai_19494131
New York Times, 1997 July 06
Making Friendly Wagers In the Skies
http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9F01E6D61F31F935A35754C0A961958260
Business Wire, 1997 September 15
Interactive Flight Technologies Reports Fiscal Third Quarter Results
http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0EIN/is_1997_Sept_15/ai_19766886
Phoenix Business Journal, 1997 September 26
Underwriter takes heat at Interactive Flight
http://phoenix.bizjournals.com/phoenix/stories/1997/09/29/story4.html
Business Wire, 1997 November 12
Interactive Flight Technologies Inc. Termination Of Strategic Alliance
and Resignation of Directors
…John Pritzker and and Adam Aaron have resigned from the board of directors of Interactive Flight Technologies Inc… the company also announced the resignations of General Alexander Haig and from the board of directors…
http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0EIN/is_1997_Nov_12/ai_19973034
New York Times, 1997 November 23
On I.P.O.’s, This Book May Be a Few Pages Short
http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=940CE0DE133BF930A15752C1A961958260
Computergram International, 1998 January 28
Interactive Flight Blames Losses Weak In-Flight Market
http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0CGN/is_n3336/ai_20186949
Business Wire, 1998 April 01
Interactive Flight Technologies Inc. Announces Additional Orders from Swissair
… The Swissair orders include the purchase from Interactive Flight Technologies Inc. of an additional two years of warranty on the In-flight Entertainment Networks previously installed on nineteen Swissair aircraft. In addition, Swissair is placing an order for the purchase and installation of Interactive Flight Technologies Inc.’s In-flight Entertainment Network for the first and business class sections of three additional MD-11 aircraft…
http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0EIN/is_1998_April_1/ai_n27519461
New York Times, 1998 August 19
Entertainment In the Skies; Glitches Still Hurting Video With Wings
http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9F01E7D7143DF93AA2575BC0A96E958260
Business Wire, 1998 August 27
Ocean Castle Partners, LLC Proposes New Board of Directors for Interactive Flight Technologies, Inc
http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0EIN/is_1998_August_27/ai_50269875
Business Wire, 1998 September 16
Interactive Flight Technologies, Inc. Settles Proxy Contest; Ocean Castle Nominees All Elected to Board, Replacing Former Board Members
http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0EIN/is_1998_Sept_16/ai_53012354
New York Times, 1998 October 30
Heat Damage Is Found in Wires of Swissair Video System
http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=950DE1DA163FF933A05753C1A96E958260
Wired, 1998 October 30
Did Game System Doom Flight 111?
http://www.wired.com/science/discoveries/news/1998/10/15940
Business Wire, 1998 October 30
Interactive Flight Technologies, Inc. Issues Statement Following Decision by Swissair to Deactivate the Company’s In-Flight Entertainment System On All Swissair MD-11s and 747s
…The Company and its system integrator/installation contractor, Hollingsead International Inc., intend to work closely with Swissair to address the installation concerns that have been raised and to take the necessary steps that will allow Swissair to reactivate the system as quickly as possible…
http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0EIN/is_1998_Oct_30/ai_53149186
Business Wire, 1998 October 30
Interactive Flight Technologies, Inc. Makes Announcement
…Shareholders voted to approve the Company’s slate of five new directors, thus replacing the entire former board…
http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0EIN/is_1998_Oct_30/ai_53151514
New York Times, 1998 November 01
The New, Unsinkable Stock Options
http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9501E6DF143FF932A35752C1A96E958260
1999 January 28
In-Flight Entertainment System [IFEN] on Swissair Aircraft [MD-11 and B-747]
http://www.geocities.com/Eureka/Concourse/7349/IFEN.html?200829
Business Wire, 1999 February 04
Interactive Flight Technologies, Inc. To Merge Its Interactive Entertainment Division With The Network Connection, Inc
http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0EIN/is_1999_Feb_4/ai_53706331
Business Wire, 1999 February 04
The Network Connection, Inc. Announces Merger With Interactive Flight Technologies Entertainment Division
http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0EIN/is_1999_Feb_4/ai_53706334
Business Wire, 1999 February 04
Interactive Flight Technologies, Inc. To Be Exclusive Operator Of A Daily Lottery In England…
http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0EIN/is_1999_Feb_4/ai_53706337
Business Wire, 1999 March 17
Interactive Flight Technologies, Inc. Announces First Quarter Financial Results
…Commenting on the results, Irwin L. Gross, Chairman and CEO, stated, “The Company’s revenues are currently at a standstill pending the reactivation of its in-flight systems on Swissair…”
http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0EIN/is_1999_March_17/ai_54136632
Business Wire, 1999 March 19
Interactive Flight Technologies, Inc. Special Meeting of Stockholders Unable to Secure a Quorum
http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0EIN/is_1999_March_19/ai_54155704
Business Wire, 1999 May 03
The Network Connection, Inc. Signs Definitive Agreement With Interactive Flight Technologies, Inc.
http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0EIN/is_1999_May_3/ai_54531254
Business Wire, 1999 May 19
Interactive Flight Technologies Exits Dry Cleaning Business…
http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0EIN/is_1999_May_19/ai_54667383
Air Safety Week, 1999 June 14
News Briefs Not off the hook: In its $100 million lawsuit against Swissair, the manufacturer of the interactive inflight entertainment system installed in the accident airplane, Interactive Flight Technologies, declared that the wiring connecting its system to the accident aircraft had been exonerated by Canadian investigators of the Flight111 crash. The assertion may be a bit premature…
http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0UBT/is_24_13/ai_54890277/pg_3
Business Wire, 1999 June 15
Interactive Flight Technologies Announces Second Quarter and Six Months Financial Results
http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0EIN/is_1999_June_15/ai_54880916
Business Wire, 1999 June 15
The Network Connection, Inc. -TNCi- Appoints Two New Board Members
http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0EIN/is_1999_June_15/ai_54888282
World Airline News, 1999 September 10
Swissair Flight 111 Families Go On The Offensive
http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0ZCK/is_37_9/ai_55727875/pg_1
Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News, 1999 September 11
Swissair Files Legal Complaint against Phoenix Firm as Precaution …SAirGroup, the airline’s parent, on Thursday filed a complaint in Switzerland against Interactive Flight Technologies Inc. as well as the companies that installed and certificated the movie and games system…
http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_hb5553/is_199909/ai_n22425616
Air Safety Week, 1999 September 13
In-Flight Entertainment System Installation Found Deficient
http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0UBT/is_37_13/ai_55745831
Business Wire, 1999 September 15
Interactive Flight Technologies, Inc. Enters Into Lottery System Purchase and Facilities Management Services Agreements With International Lottery & Totalizator Systems, Inc
http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0EIN/is_1999_Sept_15/ai_55750626
Air Safety Week, 1999 October 04
No Longer Valid
http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0UBT/is_40_13/ai_56001790/pg_1
Global Technologies Ltd., 2001 May 08
We are a defendant in a Multi-District Class Action Lawsuit…
Swissair/MDL-1269, in regards to an air crash near Peggy’s Cove, Nova Scotia. This Multi-district litigation, which is being overseen by the United States District Court for the Eastern Division of Pennsylvania, relates to the crash of Swissair Flight No.111 on September2, 1998. The aircraft involved in the crash was a McDonnell Douglas MD-11 equipped with an in-flight interactive entertainment system developed by the Interactive Entertainment Division that The Network Connection acquired from us. Since then, a number of claims have been filed by the families of the victims of the crash. We have been named as one of the many defendants, including Swissair, Boeing, DuPont and The Network Connection, in this consolidated multi-district litigation. Our aviation insurer is defending us in the action. We have $10million in insurance coverage related to the action. With respect to additional insurance coverage, a court has ruled that an umbrella policy for an additional $10million in insurance does not cover the Swissair action. Currently, we do not plan to appeal such ruling in connection with the Swissair crash. If liability is assessed against us, to the extent this liability exceeds the available insurance, our business will be adversely affected. If found liable for an amount substantially in excess of the limits of our coverage, we could lose all of our assets…
Source:— Securities and Exchange Commission
Global Technologies Ltd. Form S-3 Registration Statement
under the Securities Act of 1933
As filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on May 8, 2001
http://msnmoney.brand.edgar-online.com/EFX_dll/EDGARpro.dll?
FetchFilingORIG1?ID=1142354&SessionID=5RgcWZDBP11rCl9
(Note: You can access this online record by using your browser’s
Copy and Paste feature to splice the two parts together and
then to paste the whole URL into your browser’s URL window.)
Global Technologies Ltd., 2000 October 31
Global Technologies, Ltd. (formerly Interactive Flight Technologies, Inc.) is a publicly held
company listed on the Nasdaq National Market… As of June30, 1999, we determined that the consulting agreements had no future value due to our shift away from in-flight entertainment into alternative markets such as leisure cruise and passenger rail transport…
Source:— Securities and Exchange Commission,
Global Technologies Ltd. Annual Report pursuant to
Section 13 or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934
For the fiscal year ended June 30, 2000, filed October 31, 2000
http://msnmoney.brand.edgar-online.com/EFX_dll/EDGARpro.dll?
FetchFilingORIG1?ID=615348&SessionID=eo0iW38FF7fhhO9
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Swissair 111 Discussion Forum, 2002 December 29
Brief genesis of IFT: Interactive Flight Technologies was formed in 1994 with a $276,000 personal investment by Yuri Itkis, a Russian-degreed scientist and engineer, and his sons, Boris and Michail…
http://forums.swissair111.org/eve/forums/a/tpc/f/322103945/m/260104945
USA Today, 2003 February 17
Doomed plane’s gaming system exposes holes in FAA oversight
…Although the final accident report has not yet been released, the Canadian government has considered the system’s electronics as a possible source of an electrical fire that may have caused the crash… Mlynarczyk says Interactive Flight Technologies’ system was very rudimentary and unsuitable for aircraft use, but the company pressured him to accelerate the certification process. He says much work was needed before the equipment could pass FAA tests, including environmental and electromagnetic interference tests. “They had no clue what it would take to get an STC,” says Mlynarczyk. “They would send some information about the system, and when we’d say, ‘That’s not good enough,’ they’d say, ‘You’re trying to gouge us for more money.’ They were running out of funds and trying to shortcut so many things”… In August 1997, the MD-11 jet that would later crash as Swissair Flight111 entered a hangar for a maintenance overhaul by Swissair mechanics and an entertainment system installation by Hollingsead… IFT directors began leaving the company in the fall, a year before the crash…
(emphasisadded)
http://www.usatoday.com/travel/news/2003/2003-02-17-swissair.htm
Oakland Tribune, 2003 March 28
Faulty wiring a factor in fatal 1998 Swissair flight
http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qn4176/is_20030328/ai_n14544916
Swissair 111 Discussion Forum, 2004 June 06
Michail Itkis, CEO Interactive Flight Technologies, changed his name
http://forums.swissair111.org/eve/forums/a/tpc/f/322103945/m/219100798
Swissair 111 Discussion Forum, 2005 November 08
People linked to
http://forums.swissair111.org/eve/forums/a/tpc/f/322103945/m/6811030792
FortuNet Inc. 2008 April 04
…From 1994 through 1998, Mr. Yuri Itkis served as a director of Interactive Flight Technologies, Inc., a maker of in-flight gaming and entertainment systems…
…From 1994 through 1998, Mr. Boris Itkis served as a director of Interactive Flight Technologies, Inc., a maker of in-flight gaming and entertainment systems…
Source:— Information required in Proxy Statement, Schedule 14A Information
FortuNet Inc. Proxy Statement Pursuant to Section 14(a) of the
Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (Amendment No. 2)
Notice of Annual Meeting of Stockholders to be held on May 13, 2008
Yuri Itkis, Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer
http://msnmoney.brand.edgar-online.com/EFX_dll/EDGARpro.dll?
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Table of Contents
Transportation Safety Board
TSB Official Report on Swissair Flight 111
Appendix C Swissair ‘Smoke of Unknown Origin’ Checklist
Santa Barbara Aerospace Inc.
Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News, 1997 April 04
Aircraft Repair Firm to Expand in San Bernardino, California
The aircraft maintenance business is booming. So much so that a Santa Barbara firm is doubling the size of its planned repair facility at San Bernardino International Airport before the business has had a chance to get off the ground. Santa Barbara Aerospace Inc. is expected in the next few weeks to sign a 30-year lease worth an estimated $54.5million for more than 500,000 square feet of hanger space at the former Norton Air Force Base…
http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_hb5553/is_199704/ai_n22331374
Business Wire, 1997 October 30
Employment Training Panel Provides Over $1 Million in Job Training Funds for Training at Former Site of Norton Air Force Base and in Santa Barbara
…California’s Employment Training Panel announced today they awarded $1,077,246 to Santa Barbara Aerospace, Inc. to retrain 599of its employees…
http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0EIN/is_1997_Oct_30/ai_19937572
Transportation Safety Board of Canada, 1998
SR111 Supporting Information: Companies and Agencies Involved in the In-Flight Entertainment Network (IFEN) Project
Swissair…contracted with Interactive Flight Technologies Inc. (IFT) to install a passenger entertainment system in its fleet of MD-11 and B-747 aircraft… On 10October 1996, Swissair accepted an offer, dated 2September 1996, known as the September 1996 Offer, from its technical services department to coordinate and oversee the installation. The on-aircraft installation was carried out by Hollingsead International(HI). IFT was also a signatory to this document… Located in Santa Barbara, California, Santa Barbara Aerospace Inc.(SBA) was an approved repair station… HIcontracted with SBA to provide the certification services necessary to obtain a Supplemental Type Certificate (STC). SBAdid not perform any design or installation functions in support of theSTC. SBAperformed all certification activities, including approving data to demonstrate compliance with applicable regulations, test witnessing, drawing review, and parts and installation conformity activities…
http://www.tsb.gc.ca/en/reports/air/1998/a98h0003/02sti/18additionalinformation/companies.asp
M2 Presswire, 1998 June 09
FAA proposes civil penalty against Santa Barbara Aerospace
…The Federal Aviation Administration is proposing a $300,000 civil penalty against Santa Barbara Aerospace of Goleta, California…
http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_hb5243/is_199806/ai_n19780995
Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News, 1998 October 12
Aerospace Firm to Move Headquarters to San Bernardino Facility
Bumped from its headquarters in Santa Barbara, an aircraft refurbishment company said it plans to consolidate its operations at its San Bernardino International Airport facility by Dec.14. By then, the only connection Santa Barbara Aerospace will have with its former home will be its name…
http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_hb5553/is_199810/ai_n22368568
Air Safety Week, 1998 November 16
Swissair Flight 111 Accident Puts Spotlight on Wiring Practices Decision to Connect Entertainment System to Essential Electrics Questioned
http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0UBT/is_46_12/ai_53230618
Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News, 1998 November 30
Airline Gives Maintenance Contract to Victorville Firm
…Sun Country, a charter carrier based in Minnesota, was unsatisfied with the performance of Santa Barbara Aerospace…
http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_hb5553/is_199811/ai_n22379956
Troubled Company Reporter, 1999 August 13
Santa Barbara Aerospace: Files Chapter 11
The Press Enterprise Co. reports on August 8, 1999 that about 230 Santa Barbara Aerospace employees were laid off after their company abruptly filed for Chapter11 bankruptcy. The jet maintenance company filed an emergency petition in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Riverside on Friday. Employees at the facility on the former Norton Air Force Base were told at the end of their shift Friday that the company would be closed in order to reorganize. Santa Barbara Aerospace operated in four hangers and 500,000 square feet of space at the former Norton Air Force Base. The company neglected to pay rent for nearly a year, said Jim Monger, airport manager. He said the rent was about $ 43,000 amonth. He said the Santa Barbara International Airport Authority had been patient with Santa Barbara Aerospace but had recently decided to file an unlawful detainer against the company to force Santa Barbara Aerospace to either pay up or leave.
http://bankrupt.com/TCR_Public/990813.MBX
Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News, 1999 August 14
San Bernardino Airport Strained by Aerospace Firm’s Bankruptcy
The former Norton Air Force Base, struggling to find a new purpose, has had few success stories to boast about. For two years, Santa Barbara Aerospace Inc. was one of them. The aircraft maintenance firm moved a large chunk of its business to the re-named San Bernardino International Airport in 1997… But last week, crippled by high debts and inadequate revenue, Santa Barbara Aerospace laid off all of its 230 employees and sought bankruptcy…
http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_hb5553/is_199908/ai_n22420287
Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News, 1999 August 16
Bankruptcy Grounds San Bernardino Aircraft Firm
TAn aircraft refurbishment company based at San Bernardino International Airport has laid off about 230employees and filed for bankruptcy protection following a tempestuous eleven months. Santa Barbara Aerospace Inc. filed an emergency petition for Chapter11 bankruptcy in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Riverside, California, Aug.6, citing more than $16 million in claims against it. …
http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_hb5553/is_199908/ai_n22420203
Inland Empire Business Journal, 1999 September
Editorial: Medical Coverage Must Be a Sacred Trust
When the Santa Barbara Aerospace company closed up in San Bernardino on Aug. 6th, they left 230people holding the bag. It wasn’t just the pink slips, either. It turned out that the company had not been paying the medical insurance for its employees, even though that money was deducted from their paychecks. Blue Shield coverage actually ended on May 1st of this year. Blue Shield did not notify the employees because they expected the company to do so. Santa Barbara Aerospace did not notify its people because no law required it to. This has resulted in what one person said amounts to a death sentence. Incurred medical expenses are showing up in former employee’s mailboxes. Three things must be done immediately….
http://www.busjournal.com/content/archives/sep99/editorial.html
World Airline News, 1999 September 10
Swissair Flight 111 Families Go On The Offensive
…This would leave Swissair, Boeing, Delta, Dupont as well as other defendants, including Interactive Flight Technologies (the manufacturer of the in-flight entertainment system), installers Hollingsead International and the certification company Santa Barbara Aerospace, open to attack in Pennsylvania – a court chosen by an independent panel of U.S. judiciary members for its ability to hear the case…
http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0ZCK/is_37_9/ai_55727875/pg_3
Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News, 1999 October 06
New Suitor Has Eyes on San Bernardino-Based Aerospace Firm
A potential new buyer has emerged for Santa Barbara Aerospace Inc., a troubled aircraft maintenance firm based at San Bernardino International Airport…
http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_hb5553/is_199910/ai_n22430154
Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News, 1999 October 26
Buyer Cancels Offer for San Bernardino-Based Aerospace Firm
A Florida-based venture capital firm has withdrawn a $4.25 million offer to buy the assets of Santa Barbara Aerospace Inc., a troubled aircraft maintenance company based at San Bernardino International Airport… An auction for Santa Barbara Aerospace, which filed for Chapter11 bankruptcy protection two months ago, had been scheduled for Nov.9…
http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_hb5553/is_199910/ai_n22434503
Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News, 1999 December 15
San Bernardino Aerospace Firm Fails to Make Airport Payment
Santa Barbara Aerospace Inc., a struggling aircraft maintenance firm based at San Bernardino International Airport, has defaulted on a court-ordered $154,000 payment to the airport and has 60days to vacate its hangar space…
http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_hb5553/is_199912/ai_n22444743
Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News, 1999 December 29
California Aerospace Firm Given Hangar Lease at San Bernardino Airport
Just when it appeared Santa Barbara Aerospace Inc. was about to crash and burn, the struggling aircraft maintenance firm has a new lease on life – a hangar lease, to be specific….
http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_hb5553/is_199912/ai_n22446664
Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News, 2000 January 05
San Bernardino Aerospace Firm Misses another Rent Deadline
…In a bankruptcy court hearing last week, Santa Barbara Aerospace indicated that the $154,000 rent payment would be made on Monday or Tuesday, but an airport lawyer said late Tuesday that it had not been received. “It’s just another broken promise by Santa Barbara Aerospace”…
http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_hb5553/is_200001/ai_n22447066
Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News, 2000 January 11
South Carolina Firm May Buy San Bernardino-Based Aerospace Firm
The dogfight swirling around Santa Barbara Aerospace Inc. is about to get more intense. Although several companies in recent months have maneuvered to take over the troubled San Bernardino-based aerospace firm, the first heavyweight has entered the fray. …
http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_hb5553/is_200001/ai_n22447678
Rob Plenert’s Court Transcript, 2000 January 28
Transcript of the intervention of Boeing in the court proceedings surrounding the sale of Santa Barbara Aerospace’s assets
Private reference material for the use of those interested in the discussion on the crash of SwissairFlight111…
http://www.digistar.cl/SR111/courtxt2.html
Riverside Press-Enterprise, 2000 January 29
Boeing Intervenes
Santa Barbara Aerospace Inc. hit more turbulence Friday in its bid to be acquired by a South Carolina-based company. Concerned that Santa Barbara Aerospace had a role in the September 1998 crash of a SwissAir passenger jet, aviation giant BoeingCo. convinced a bankruptcy court judge to delay the sale closing date by four days. In that time, Boeing investigators will be allowed to review Santa Barbara Aerospace’s business records on the chance that they may find a “smoking gun” related to the air disaster off Nova Scotia. All 229passengers and crew members were killed in the crash. Boeing built the MD-11 airplane, but Santa Barbara Aerospace – an aircraft maintenance firm based at San Bernardino International Airport – issued a safety certificate for the plane’s in-flight entertainment system. Faulty wiring in the entertainment system is a suspected cause of the crash. However, no official cause has been determined… As for the SwissAir investigation, the airline has already filed a complaint against Santa Barbara Aerospace and other companies involved in the manufacture and installation of the in-flight entertainment system. The system was built by Interactive Flight Technologies Inc. and installed by Hollingsead International. Santa Barbara Aerospace never actually had the plane at its hangar, but the firm reviewed documents pertaining to the entertainment system and issued a safety certificate stating that the work met standards set by the Federal Aviation dministration. The FAA routinely contracts out this type of work…
http://www.geocities.com/Heartland/Oaks/8553/bankruptcy.html
Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News, 2000 February 05
Sale of Santa Barbara-Based Aerospace Firm Cleared
…As a condition of the deal, the San Bernardino-based aircraft maintenance firm was ordered to preserve all of its business records, especially documents pertaining to work performed on a SwissAir passenger jet that crashed off the coast of Nova Scotia in September 1998…
http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_hb5553/is_200002/ai_n22452563
Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News, 2000 February 07
Boeing Searches San Bernardino Firm for Records in 1998 Crash
The sale of bankrupt Santa Barbara Aerospace Inc. was interrupted for four days while aircraft giant Boeing Co. searched the San Bernardino company’s records for evidence in the 1998 Swissair disaster…
http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_hb5553/is_200002/ai_n22452221
American Aircarriers Support Inc., 2000 May 15
American Aircarriers Support Incorporated, founded in 1985, provides integrated aviation maintenance, repair and overhaul services including spare parts for commercial airlines, cargo operators and maintenance and repair facilities worldwide. AASoffers engine and aircraft management services, maintenance, repair and overhaul of flight controls, landing gear systems and jet engines at its FAA licensed facilities, and, as of February2000, heavy maintenance for
complete aircraft… Effective February15, 2000, AAScompleted the acquisition of certain assets of Santa Barbara AerospaceInc., for a purchase price of $2.3million in cash and notes. The name of subsequently changed to AAS Aircraft ServicesInc. The acquisition involved the purchase of assets used in the operation of a facility that was FAAcertified to provide heavy maintenance and modification services. AASentered into a lease of the facilities previously used for these services from the San Bernardino International Airport Authority… The assets of Santa Barbara AerospaceInc. were purchased out of bankruptcy…
Source:— Securities and Exchange Commission,
Form 10-Q for quarter ended 2000 March 31, filed 2000 May 15
http://msnmoney.brand.edgar-online.com/EFX_dll/EDGARpro.dll?
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Riverside Press-Enterprise, 2000 November 01
Fort Mill, South Carolina, Aerospace Company Files for Bankruptcy
For the second time in as many years, a major aerospace company at San Bernardino International Airport is seeking federal bankruptcy protection. American Aircarriers Support Inc., which has a large aircraft maintenance hub at the airport, filed for Chapter11 protection Tuesday, citing ongoing losses and a lack of available credit from its lenders. The bankruptcy filing comes just 14months after Santa Barbara Aerospace Inc., American’s predecessor at the airport, sought protection from creditors. Santa Barbara Aerospace, also an aircraft maintenance firm, sold most of its assets to American in February and went out of business…
http://www.accessmylibrary.com/coms2/summary_0286-6466300_ITM
Riverside Press-Enterprise, 2001 April 13
SB Airport still searching for its niche
A few months ago, I speculated that some kind of malevolent spirit hung over San Bernardino International Airport (nee Norton Air Force Base). What else could bedevil the airport to the point where not one, but two aircraft maintenance firms would take over the main airport hangars and go bankrupt only a few months later?…
http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G1-73147266.html
Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News, 2002 March 09
Aviation Service to Close Santa Barbara Facility, Cutting 125 Jobs
Garrett Aviation Services will soon cease operations at the Santa Barbara Municipal Airport, where the company’s 125 employees upgrade the interiors of corporate jets and Boeing 737s inside giant hangars… The firm replaced Santa Barbara Aerospace, which was evicted…
http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G1-83643562.html
USA Today, 2003 February 25
FAA failings in Swissair crash follow a too-familiar pattern
…USA Today reported last week that the airline had fitted some of its planes with a sophisticated entertainment system that let passengers watch movies, shop and gamble. The FAA failed to oversee the installation, and problems later surfaced with both the system and Santa Barbara Aerospace, the company that signed off on the safety of the planes. Before the crash, the FAA repeatedly cited the firm for poor performance and even briefly suspended it while the entertainment system was being installed on Swissair planes…
http://www.usatoday.com/news/opinion/editorials/2003-02-25-our-view_x.htm
USA Today, 2003 March 27
Crash report points to wiring
An electrical wiring problem was the most likely cause of a fire that caused Swissair Flight111 to crash into the Atlantic Ocean near Halifax, Nova Scotia, in1998, Canadian investigators said in a report Thursday… The entertainment system was made by a U.S. company, Interactive Flight Technologies. After the crash, Swissair disconnected the system from its planes and the Federal Aviation Administration, citing problems with its design, banned it from airliners… USAToday reported Feb.17 that the faulty systems were improperly installed and certified by contractors without adequate FAA oversight. The TSB said mistakes were made by contractors Hollingsead International and Santa Barbara Aerospace. Hollingsead employees did an electrical analysis for the entertainment system, even though they had no experience with MD-11 jets, the TSB said. Neither Santa Barbara, which certified the system met FAA safety standards, nor Hollingsead had staff members familiar enough with the MD-11’s electrical design to judge whether the system was compatible, the TSB said…
http://www.usatoday.com/money/biztravel/2003-03-27-swissair-crah_x.htm
Air Safety Week, 2003 April 07
Canadian Investigators Decry Lack of Preparedness for In-Flight Fire
…The certification of the system by Santa Barbara Aerospace (the Designated Alteration Station, or DAS, acting with FAA approval) was justifiably criticized by the TSB. The DAS did not employ personnel with “sufficient aircraft-specific knowledge to appropriately assess the integration of the IFEN power supply with aircraft power before granting certification,” according to the dry wording of the TSB judgment. More bluntly, this was a case of negligence in action, considering the authority the DAS was granted to oversee the IFEN installation…
http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0UBT/is_14_17/ai_99726586/pg_6
Air Safety Week, 2003 June 02
Beyond Conflict Of Interest
• “Regulations require the approval of the STC by an appointed designee, which was, in this case, Santa Barbara Aerospace(SBA).” (SBAsupplied the and obtained the STC for its installation.)
• “The TSB report indicates that the design associated with the STC, as approved by SBA and its associated DER’s call for powering the from the cabin bus, was modified by Hollingshead International(HI) when it was discovered that the cabin bus lacked adequate capacity.” (HIinstalled the system.)
• “It is unknown if this change was communicated to SBA. Therefore, there must be no documentation to support that it was communicated.”
• “The installed system varied materially from the approved design. There is no documentation to support that the modification wasapproved.”
• “And so, therefore, the system as installed was effectively notcertified.”
http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0UBT/is_22_17/ai_102677821
Mother Jones, 2006 July-August
(page one)
With overseas mechanics and overstretched inspectors, FAA oversight of the airlines is an accident waiting to happen
…What Fetherolf doesn’t know is why the FAA, despite its own apparent misgivings before the accident, allowed Santa Barbara Aerospace to retain its designee status – a setup that amounts to industry self-regulation…. Some call it evolution. Others call it abdication. “It’s giving away the farm,” says a veteran FAA inspector, who refused to be identified because he feared losing his job. “I don’t know that we’ve really learned the lesson we should have from Swissair 111″…
http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1329/is_4_31/ai_n16701796
Mother Jones, 2006 July-August
(page six)
With overseas mechanics and overstretched inspectors, FAA oversight of the airlines is an accident waiting to happen
…The crash of Swissair Flight 111, which killed 229 people… should serve as a cautionary tale. The source of the fire that caused the crash is believed to have been an in-flight entertainment system that allowed first- and business-class passengers on Swissair’s long-haul flights to gamble. The installation of that system was overseen by an FAA designee, Santa Barbara Aerospace. The installation process did not go smoothly. Postcrash investigations by Canadian and U.S. authorities revealed that it was hurried and ill conceived….
http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1329/is_4_31/ai_n16701796/pg_6
Boeing Company (no date)
In-Flight Entertainment Systems Integration
http://www.boeing.com/commercial/modifications/inflight_entertainment.html
Table of Contents
BBC British Broadcasting Corporation
Swissair Flight 111 Archive
Forty stories
BBC News, 1998 September 03
No survivors in Canada air crash
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/163662.stm
BBC News, 1998 September 03
Worst Swissair disaster in 20 years
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/163851.stm
BBC News, 1998 September 03
The rescue operation: ‘an eerie sight’
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/163855.stm
BBC News, 1998 September 03
Relatives gather at Geneva and JFK
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/163912.stm
BBC News, 1998 September 03
Six Britons die in air crash
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/164124.stm
BBC News, 1998 September 03
Investigations begin into Canada air crash
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/164287.stm
BBC News, 1998 September 03
‘You must be strong’
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/164412.stm
BBC News, 1998 September 04
Swissair offer compensation
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/164424.stm
BBC News, 1998 September 04
Submarine search for black box
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/164585.stm
BBC News, 1998 September 04
Britons killed in Swissair crash named
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/164556.stm
BBC News, 1998 September 05
Switzerland mourns air crash dead
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/164511.stm
BBC News, 1998 September 05
Scenes of sorrow at Peggy’s Cove
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/165186.stm
BBC News, 1998 September 05
Candles lit for air crash victims
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/165413.stm
BBC News, 1998 September 06
Flight 111 black box found
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/165441.stm
BBC News, 1998 September 06
The final conversation
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/165454.stm
BBC News, 1998 September 07
Flight 111 black box found
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/165925.stm
BBC News, 1998 September 08
Flight 111’s black hole
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/166657.stm
BBC News, 1998 September 09
Swissair wreckage shows ‘heat damage’
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/167392.stm
BBC News, 1998 September 10
Boxing champ sues over plane crash son
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/168178.stm
BBC News, 1998 September 11
Swissair voice recorder found
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/169663.stm
BBC News, 1998 September 12
Swissair voice recorder found
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/169670.stm
BBC News, 1998 September 14
Swissair plane: Picasso painting and other valuables aboard
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/171000.stm
BBC News, 1998 September 14
Hidden treasures of Swissair plane
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/171243.stm
BBC News, 1998 September 15
Swissair plane: Picasso painting, banknotes and diamonds aboard
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/171534.stm
BBC News, 1998 September 18
Underwater clue to Swissair disaster
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/174101.stm
BBC News, 1999 January 03
New details in Swissair crash
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/246931.stm
BBC News, 1999 January 12
Swissair crash warning to airlines
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/253248.stm
BBC News, 1999 February 24
How safe are the skies?
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/164070.stm
BBC News, 1999 May 09
Briton sues over Swissair disaster
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/338998.stm
BBC News, 1999 July 12
Die by Wire: everything you didn’t want to know about airliner wiring
…At exactly 18 minutes after 8pm on September 2nd last year
Swissair Flight 111 took off from JFK Airport New York on a routine
scheduled flight to Geneva. There were 229 passengers and crew on
board. At first the flight passed without incident but 56 minutes
later, while over the US-Canadian border, something began to go terribly
wrong… By re-setting that circuit breaker he’s re-energising that wire
bundle, that system, and essentially creating an arc track event that
can then melt down through succeeding bundles, knock out all his flight
control systems, his navigation systems etc, and bring down the aircraft…
http://www.iasa.com.au/folders/Safety_Issues/Aircraft_Wire/panorama.html
BBC News, 1999 August 06
Cash offer to plane crash relatives
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/413266.stm
BBC News, 1999 August 11
Swissair crash: insulation fed fire
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/418088.stm
BBC News, 1999 August 12
Insulation clue to Swissair crash
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/418097.stm
BBC News, 1999 September 02
Remembering the Swissair dead
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/436461.stm
BBC-1, 1999 December 07
Die by Wire
This transcript has a problem with spelling:
“A very slight nick in the wire would, if you bent it or vibrated it in
a certain way, the nick would propagate to the conductor and
the bear conductor was exposed… And this was the problem.
When the bear wire was exposed and touched metal, there
was the spark, arcing then fire…” (emphasis added)
• Of course, “bear wire” should read “bare wire“, etc.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/
static/events/panorama/
transcripts/transcript_12_07_99.txt
BBC News, 2001 January 23
Swissair chief steps down
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/1132904.stm
BBC News, 2001 April 03
Swissair shares nosedive 29%
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/1255473.stm
BBC News, 2001 April 12
Swissair faces criminal probe
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/1274133.stm
BBC News, 2001 August 30
Swissair cuts 1,250 jobs
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/1516275.stm
BBC News, 2001 October 02
Swissair grounds all flights
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/1574658.stm
BBC News, 2001 October 02
Swissair passengers stranded
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/1575513.stm
BBC News, 2001 October 02
Swissair: Proud past, grim future
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/1575798.stm
BBC News, 2001 October 02
Airline collapse dents Swiss pride
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/1575645.stm
BBC News, 2001 October 03
Swiss press mourns national symbol
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/1577018.stm
BBC News, 2001 October 11
Question marks over Swissair rescue
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/1593499.stm
BBC News, 2001 October 15
Swissair future on knife-edge
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/1599737.stm
BBC News, 2001 October 18
Airline collapse shatters Swiss image
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/1606688.stm
BBC News, 2001 October 25
Swiss shaken by row of disasters
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/1619655.stm
BBC News, 2001 October 29
New threat to Swissair
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/1624688.stm
BBC News, 2001 November 01
Swissair rescue hopes brighten
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/1632121.stm
BBC News, 2001 November 15
US air crash victims favoured
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/1656408.stm
BBC News, 2001 November 28
A nation in shock: Swissair crisis
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/programmes/
crossing_continents/1677085.stm
BBC News, 2003 March 27
Fire downed Swissair 111
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/2893019.stm
BBC News, 2006 March 02
Airline that crashed and burned
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/4763598.stm
BBC News, 2007 January 16
Trial examines Swissair collapse
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/6265289.stm
BBC News, 2007 March 08
Swiss shame over airline disgrace lingers
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/programmes/
from_our_own_correspondent/6428019.stm
BBC News, 2007 March 09
Swissair trial draws to a close
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/6433359.stm
BBC News, 2007 June 07
All Swissair defendants cleared
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/6729261.stm
BBC News, 2008 June 10
Air disasters timeline
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/2008892.stm
Table of Contents
Aviation Safety & Security Digest
Swissair Flight 111 Archive
Aviation Safety & Security Digest, 2008 January 09
Practical Advice on Wiring Maintenance Provided by Job Aid 1.0
…The recent mandate to inspect electrical wiring is of great
significance. For the first time in its history as a regulatory
authority, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has decreed
that wiring needs attention and continuous maintenance throughout
the life of the airplane… The regulation is an outgrowth of the
efforts of the Aging Transport Systems Rulemaking Advisory
Committee (ATSRAC), which determined that the state of wiring
on old aircraft (those with 20 or more years of service) was
deficient. Based on those findings, ATSRAC recommended wiring
inspections for the entire fleet of transport category aircraft…
Note by ICS:
This article includes nine excellent photographs illustrating
various ways in which aricraft wiring can be damaged by careless
or incompetent installation. These photographs are of a much
better quality than any I’ve seen online provided by any other
organization – including those in the TSB Final Report
on the Swissair Flight 111 crash.
http://www.aviation-safety-security.com/july-2008/articles/
practical-advice-on-wiring-maintenance-provided-by-job-ai.html
Aviation Safety & Security Digest, 2008 May 27
Agency Accuses Airline of Sloppy Maintenance
While Sidestepping Its Own Safety Oversight Shortcoming
…In the case of the Swissair MD-11, the Transportation Safety
Board (TSB) of Canada found that electrical arcing caused a
fire in the space above the ceiling in the forward passenger
cabin, which quickly became a runaway fire because of the
flammable materials in the area and the lack of fire detection
and suppression. The airplane crashed in Canadian waters…
http://www.aviation-safety-security.com/current-newsletter/articles/
agency-accuses-airline-of-sloppy-maintenance-while-
sidestepping-its-own-safety-oversight-shortc-7.html
Aviation Safety & Security Digest, 2008 July 21
Congress Seeks Separation of Agency From Airlines
http://www.aviation-safety-security.com/current-newsletter/articles/
congress-seeks-separation-of-agency-from-air-2.html
Aviation Safety & Security Digest, 2008 August 11
Cargo Jet Fire Seems a Replay of Deadly Inferno
…The crew reported smoke and fire just to the rear of the cockpit.
It was sufficiently intense to force them to evacuate via a cockpit
window… Electrical arcing occurred in the process of powering up
the aircraft pursuant to engine start… The Airborne Express pilots
are luckier than the Swissair flight 111 pilots and passengers on
the night of 2 September 1998. All 229 aboard the MD-11 were killed
when a fire in the attic space above the forward galley, ignited by
arcing, sustained by flammable metalized mylar insulation blankets,
and reinforced by a burned-off end cap to an emergency oxygen line,
burned its way into the cockpit. Captain Urs Zimmerman was driven
out of his seat by molten globs of ceiling plastic falling on him,
and First Officer Stefan Loew was unable to maintain control of the
airplane in the night sky as the flight instrument screens blanked
out as a result of the progressive electrical failures triggered
by the fire…
http://www.aviation-safety-security.com/current-newsletter/articles/
cargo-jet-fire-seems-a-replay-of-deadly-in-2.html
Aviation Safety & Security Digest, 2008 August 26
Canadian Investigators Decry Failure
to Enact Safety Recommendations
…As a result of its findings in the Swissair tragedy, the TSB
issued 23 recommendations, which may be grouped in five areas…
Only 5 of the 23 recommendations have been fully implemented,
for a success rate of just 21%. Two recommendations have been
classed “Unsatisfactory” because no action has been proposed.
The remainder are classed either “Satisfactory Intent” or
“Satisfactory in Part,” indicating that when implemented, the
recommendation will either eliminate or reduce the safety deficiency…
http://www.aviation-safety-security.com/current-newsletter/articles/
canadian-investigators-decry-failure-
to-enact-safety-recommenda.html
Aviation Safety & Security Digest, 2008 August 26
The Tragic Legacy of Swissair Flight 111
…Someone had to speak out for all the senseless deaths and
the many families destroyed by the FAA’s lack of attention to:
• The hazards associated with specific aircraft wiring insulation types,
snaked throughout the airliner and long known for their propensity to
arc when chafed or cracked.
• The dangers of the metallized Mylar thermal acoustic insulation
blankets, present throughout the airframe and highly flammable
when ignited by an arcing wire.
The FAA was alerted to this deadly hazard by the Civil Aviation
Administration of China in 1996, two years prior to the
crash of Flight SR-111…
http://www.aviation-safety-security.com/current-newsletter/briefs/
the-tragic-legacy-of-swissair-fligh-4.html
Aviation Safety & Security Digest, 2008 August 27
A Decade of Minimal Action
…Canadian safety officials say some limited progress
has been made on recommendations coming out of the
Swissair flight 111 disaster. Cut through the
positive-sounding rhetoric, though, and it is apparent that
only 21% of the recommendations have been fully implemented…
The TSB recommendations make a significant dent in the hazard
posed by in-flight fire. That so few recommendations have
been implemented shows that the vulnerability still exists…
http://www.aviation-safety-security.com/current-newsletter/articles/
a-decade-of-minimal-action-4.html
Aviation Safety & Security Digest, 2008 August 27
Twelve Years of Half Measures
…While Canada’s Transportation Safety Board (TSB) has achieved
only about a 20% acceptance rate for its Swissair flight 111
recommendations, the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board
(NTSB) may not have fared much better in its TWA flight 800
recommendations, even though a general comparison indicated
a 40% acceptance rate. The TSB’s accounting is generous, and
even the one-in-five acceptance rate that it has attained in
the ten years since the Swissair disaster in Halifax may be
a stretch… A close reading of the voluminous correspondence
concerning the recommendations reveals a similar FAA pattern
of delay, partial measures, and outright obstructionism.
Part of the problem lies with the NTSB recommendations, which
strike one as duplicative, of secondary or tertiary importance,
or avoiding altogether the big issues – such as why fuel
tank inerting has not been required all along, and why flawed
electrical wiring insulation… has not been subject to
stringent risk analysis and maintenance protocols…
http://www.aviation-safety-security.com/current-newsletter/articles/
twelve-years-of-half-mea-2.html
Table of Contents
IASA International Aviation Safety Association
Swissair Flight 111 Archive
A Compendium of Swissair 111 Report Articles
International Aviation Safety Association
It is generally accepted that the Swissair MD-11 was brought down
by a fire caused by the onboard entertainment and gambling system.
A New Mission in Life CBC Broadcast Date: 22 December 2002
When Lyn Romano lost her husband Ray in the Swissair111 crash, she channeled her grief into an ambitious project seeking to prevent similar tragedies. Using money obtained in a settlement from Swissair, Romano formed the International Aviation Safety Association (IASA) to improve aircraft safety and do the job she says the U.S.Federal Aviation Administration failed to do…
http://archives.cbc.ca/science_technology/aeronautics/clips/15509/
A New Mission in Life IASA Introduction
On September 2nd 1998, Raymond M Romano boarded Swissair Flight111 at JFKAirport, New York on a scheduled flight to Geneva, Switzerland, with 214passengers and 14crewmembers. About 53minutes after departure, while cruising at flight level330, the flight crew smelled an abnormal odour in the cockpit. 13minutes later the aircraft’s flight data recorder began to record a rapid succession of aircraft systems-related failures. The flight crew declared an emergency. One minute later, radio communications and secondary radar contact with the aircraft were lost, and the flight recorders stopped functioning. Five and a half minutes later, the aircraft crashed into the ocean about five nautical miles southwest of Peggy’s Cove, Nova Scotia, Canada. Raymond, together with the other two hundred and twenty eight people, was dead. It was against this tragic, horrific background that Raymond’s wife, Lyn S Romano, formed the International Aviation Safety Association(IASA). IASA, a non-profit organization, was officially formed on March4th 1999, albeit the idea was conceived within weeks of the crash. Acrash that in addition to the lives it abruptly and needlessly ended, has directly affected hundreds if not thousands of people. In Raymond’s case, the crash robbed Lyn of a husband, three children of their father, a mother of her son, a sister of her brother, a mother-in-law of her son-in-law, a sister-in-law of her brother-in-law and so on. Then there were his friends, work colleagues and professional associates. The point is, aviation safety should never be considered in a vacuum; passengers are not the same as ‘seat numbers’ and when regulatory agencies speak in terms of ‘perceived benefit’ they should take stock of not only the lives lost in this and other tragedies but those left behind whose nights are plagued with nightmares and whose days are an ongoing battle to try to make some sort of sense of the loss they have suffered. ThisiswhyIASAwasformed…
http://www.iasa.com.au/folders/menu/intro-3.htm
Lyn Romano repulsed at FAA comments concerning tougher standards for wiring
http://www.prnewswire.co.uk/cgi/news/release?id=72437
Lyn Romano Repulsed at FAA Comments Concerning Tougher Standards for Wiring
http://www.iasa.com.au/folders/Media_Room/Press_Releases/AUG2901PressRelease.html
The Fire Spread Simulation on Swissair 111
http://www.iasa.com.au/folders/sr111/cfeg.html
Fire in the Sky …Here the controversy begins. Instead of immediately heading for the nearest airport and landing, the pilot decided to go though his long checklist for smoke in the cabin. Precious minutes were lost. Nearly four and a half minutes after declaring smoke in the cockpit, Swissair111 was asked by Halifax Air Traffic Control to descend from twentyfive thousand feet to threethousand…
http://www.iasa.com.au/folders/Safety_Issues/Aircraft_Wire/CBCTranscript.html
Fire in the Sky The 14 Mar 99 Sunday Program Transcript
…Data-bases that are designed to mislead, camouflage and conceal trends whilst at the same time covering themselves by admitting to “some deficiencies.” Smarmy, smooth-talking, PRoriented, mendacious FAA front-men who have no technological knowledge or interest, but excel at duping the public with double-talk, techno-babble and misrepresentations…
http://www.iasa.com.au/folders/archives/sampson06a.html
An analysis of the Swissair 111 Accident
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/aircrash/dissection.html
In Flight Entertainment System Fire – Lufthansa 747
http://www.iasa.com.au/folders/sr111/747IFE-fire.htm
Gambling Aloft – the Lessons of Swissair 111
http://www.iasa.com.au/folders/sr111/gambling-aloft.html
The Safety Managers Squabble over the Swissair Report Recs
http://www.iasa.com.au/folders/Safety_Issues/
RiskManagement/squabble.html
http://www.iasa.com.au/folders/sr111/SRlookalikes.html
SwissAir 111 near repeat by Delta
http://www.iasa.com.au/folders/sr111/firehazards.html
IASA Input to FAA NPRM on ETOPS Regulation
http://www.iasa-intl.com/pdf/NPRM_Submission_FAA.pdf
http://www.iasa.com.au/folders/Telltale_Docs/index.htm
Tell-Tale Documents: Resetting Tripped Circuit Breakers FSAW 00-08
http://www.iasa.com.au/folders/Telltale_Docs/CBresetter.html
Swiss Airline Chief Steps Down in Anticipation of Prosecution
http://www.iasa.com.au/folders/sr111/moreswisscheese.html
NOVA (PBS): Program on the Deadly Legacy of Swissair 111
…The most stinging allegation uncovered in the NOVA story on Swissaiir111 is that the FAA and airlines knew about the flammability of metalized mylar as far back as1993, after an MD-11 burned on the taxiway at an airport in Denmark. The program reports an MD-87 also burned on the tarmac in China. In fact, NOVA sources allege there were several aircraft fires in China during the 1990s – so many, in fact, that Chinese officials contacted the FAA and suggested “you guys might have a flammability problem.” But NOVA reports there was no action taken by the FAA until after the Swiss Air tragedy…
http://www.iasa.com.au/folders/sr111/novaonsr-111.html
NOVA: The Deadly Legacy Of Swiss Air 111
…We’re presently having new airplanes designed – they’re on the drawing board… Boeing has one. Airbus has what’s called the Airbus380, a 550passenger airplane. The regulations haven’t changed. They don’t have to provide any more fire detection or fire protection than we had on Swissair111…
http://www.iasa.com.au/folders/sr111/whatNOVAsaid.html
Power to the People
…Even as they equip more jetliners with power outlets for laptop computers, the nation’s two largest airlines are confronting safety concerns over the ports. United Airlines disconnected the ports on some jets until they can be rewired, while American is inspecting its entire fleet after an in-flight incident…
http://www.iasa.com.au/folders/Safety_Issues/Aircraft_Wire/powertothepeople.html
Awards go to TSB Swissair 111 Investigators
http://www.iasa.com.au/folders/sr111/TSBawards.html
Swissair 111 Investigation Hamstrung
by Underfunding and Under-Resourcing
http://www.iasa.com.au/folders/sr111/underfunded.html
Swissair 111 Cranks up Fire Safety Research
Retired jet to carry the flame for fire-safety research
http://www.iasa.com.au/folders/sr111/firesafetyresearch.html
TSB Criticized for Tardiness of their Accident Reports
http://www.iasa.com.au/folders/sr111/SageSurvey.html
That Swissair 111 Prior Flight Precursor Smell
http://www.iasa.com.au/folders/sr111/sr111precursorsmell.html
A Commentary on Four Swissair 111 Precursor Events
http://www.iasa.com.au/folders/sr111/SR-111_precursor_events.html
A 1996 Swissair 111 Precursor Event
http://www.iasa.com.au/folders/sr111/A_Swissair_111_precursor.html
SR-111 Precursor Events No accident like the 1998 crash
of Swissair Flight 111 occurs in a vacuum. Related cases,
with less deadly outcomes, often can be found…
http://www.iasa.com.au/folders/sr111/SR-111_precursor_events.html
TSB Closes its Books on the Swissair 111 Inquiry
http://www.iasa.com.au/folders/sr111/TSB_Closes_SR-111_Book.html
A Commentary on the TSB Report on Swissair 111
Fire in the Sky: Swissair 111 Report and commentary
http://www.iasa.com.au/folders/sr111/MurphySRreport.htm
TSB Raises Bar on Flammability Standards
http://www.iasa-intl.com/folders/denoue/awstonsr111-7.html
NTSB Weighs Call for Recorder Backups – SR-111
http://www.iasa-intl.com/folders/denoue/awstonsr111-6.html
TSB Sounds Alarm to Combat Inflight Fires
http://www.iasa-intl.com/folders/denoue/awstonsr111-5.html
Flight SR-111 Prompts Scrutiny of Standby Systems
http://www.iasa-intl.com/folders/denoue/awstonsr111-4.html
Lessons From The Swissair Crash
http://www.iasa-intl.com/folders/denoue/awstonsr111-3.html
Smoke Source Sought in Swissair MD-11 Crash
http://www.iasa-intl.com/folders/denoue/awstonsr111-2.html
FAA Questions Safety of Airframe Insulation Blanket
http://www.iasa-intl.com/folders/denoue/awstonsr111-1.html
SR-111 Crew – Few Resources with which to Fight Fire
http://www.iasa-intl.com/folders/denoue/awstonsr111.html
The Inevitability of Swissair 111
a TSB Report complete Analysis (illustrated pdf file)
http://www.iasa-intl.com/pdf/asw0407.pdf
The Inevitability of Swissair 111
a TSB Report complete Analysis (html)
http://www.iasa.com.au/folders/Publications/
Air_Safety_Week/ASW09Apr03.htm
Latest News Articles on Swissair 111 Report
(search result Newstrove)
http://www.iasa.com.au/folders/sr111/AirbusIFEfire.html
Some Entertainment Systems Wiring Problems
List of 50Reports from 1988 to 2001…
This is a chronological list, with brief summaries, of reports of aircraft entertainment systems related events including significant system failures, smoke and/or fires. This list is by no means intended to represent all such events known but rather is an attempt to focus more clearly on those available… Of course aircraft systems should not emit smoke or cause fires because proper circuit design expressly is supposed to stop this… Critical to proper documentation of any such safety problems is the clear understanding of problems expressed through the most commonly used Databases made available to the public via the Internet…
http://www.iasa.com.au/folders/Safety_Issues/Aircraft_Wire/IFEevents.html
http://www.iasa.com.au/folders/sr111/AirbusIFEfire.html
Swissair 111 – It Was Faulty Wiring
http://www.iasa.com.au/folders/sr111/faultywiring.html
http://www.iasa.com.au/folders/sr111/notheIFEN-0.html
Swissair 111 Pilots “Never Had a Chance” – Safety Board
http://www.iasa.com.au/folders/sr111/gerretyesq.html
Swissair Pilots Differed on how to Avoid Crash Wall Street Journal
http://www.iasa.com.au/folders/sr111/WallStreet.html
A Summary of Post-SR111 Transportation Safety Board Safety Actions
http://www.iasa.com.au/folders/sr111/safetysummary.html
Transport Canada on the TSB Final Swissair 111 Report
http://www.iasa.com.au/folders/sr111/TConTSB.html
2000 November 21
IASA Praises the Wire System Safety Interagency Working Group
http://www.iasa.com.au/folders/Media_Room/Press_Releases/
NEWS%20RELEASE%20Nov%2021%202000.htm
2001 January 11
IASA Urges Airlines To Disclose the Specific Wiring used in Aircraft
http://www.iasa.com.au/folders/Media_Room/Press_Releases/
Safety%20Association%20Requesting%20Wiring%20Disclosure.htm
2001 August 17
IASA Disappointed that No Provision for Performance Tests
for Aircraft Wiring
http://www.iasa.com.au/folders/Media_Room/Press_Releases/
IASAPressRel18Aug01.htm
2003 March 27
IASA Calls for Criminal Investigation of FAA and Others
on Release of Swissair 111
http://www.iasa.com.au/folders/Media_Room/Press_Releases/
PressRelFinalRept.html
2003 March 28
Press Articles on the Swissair Final Report
http://www.iasa.com.au/folders/sr111/Finalreportaccount-1.html
Swissair 111 TSB Final Report Fails to Pinpoint Cause of Crash
http://www.iasa.com.au/folders/sr111/SR111FinalReport-1.htm
http://www.iasa.com.au/folders/sr111/IFEN2binvestigated.html
A Swissair 111 TSB Investigation Progress Report (pdf 430kb)
http://www.iasa-intl.com/pdf/SR111InvestigationOverview%28Full%29.pdf
The Santa Barbara Defence of their IFEN – as an SR-111 Cause
http://www.iasa.com.au/folders/sr111/santabarbara-0.html
Who is This Masked Man with the Insider Knowledge
of the SR-111 TSB Report Processes?
http://www.iasa.com.au/folders/sr111/mysteryman.html
Mylar Blanket Replacement Problems
http://www.iasa.com.au/folders/sr111/mylarreplacementproblems.html
Personal Respiratory Protective Devices
…My interest in smoke hoods was also heightened by the Swissair 111 crash, which may very well have involved a cockpit fire and crew incapacitation according to preliminary indications. While I was prepared to write off ValuJet592 as a freak occurrence caused by carriage of illegal hazmat cargo, the Swissair crash had “there but for the grace of God” written all over it…
http://www.iasa.com.au/folders/Safety_Issues/others/smokhood.html
The Swissair airplane was exclusively Kapton for general-purpose wiring
http://www.iasa.com.au/folders/Safety_Issues/Aircraft_Wire/kaptonunresolved.html
Pair unhappy with attitude in U.S. after Swissair crash
http://www.iasa-intl.com/folders/denoue/
Pair_unhappy_with_attitude%20in_U_S_%20after_Swissair_crash.html
Wiring likely cause of Swissair crash – Boeing
http://www.iasa-intl.com/folders/denoue/
Wiring_likely_cause_of_Swissair_crash_Boeing.html
Families hope for answers in final report of Swissair Flight 111 crash
http://www.iasa-intl.com/folders/denoue/familieshopeforanswers.html
The GAO moves to investigate Aviation Contractors (an
http://www.iasa.com.au/folders/Safety_Issues/FAA_Inaction/Contractorprobe.html
The Reconstruction of Swissair 111
http://www.iasa.com.au/folders/sr111/sr111-imagery.html
Swissair 111’s Inflight Entertainment System – Strictly an Insider’s Story
http://www.iasa.com.au/folders/sr111/gamingsystem.html
Swissair Ignored Warning of Imminent Collapse
http://www.iasa.com.au/folders/sr111/SRignored.html
Swissair Grounding Could Have Been Avoided
http://www.iasa.com.au/folders/sr111/swissairgrounding.html
A Bankrupting Swissair Bent European Laws
http://www.iasa.com.au/folders/sr111/swissairbent.html
An Index to “The Virgin Bus” Proposition
http://www.iasa.com.au/folders/Safety_Issues/Aircraft_Wire/virgindex.html
Solve This One …Unfortunately, with electrics (in an electric jet), once things stop playing the game according to Hoyle you are in a world of hurt (and total confusion because it’s literally beyond your experience and training). The MD11 was simply not designed for electrical cataclysms – yet that is precisely what happened. The failures were outside the parameters for which it was designed. That occurred courtesy of Kapton wiring, metallized mylar insulation, cost-cutting the third crewman, commercial pressure to incorporate the , poorly designed smoke-masks and goggles and a critical smk/elec switch designed by Nero. Of course the smoke checklist design philosophy should get a mention – but at the end of the day the battle was lost because of an initial human failure setting off a chain of seemingly distinct (but actually concerted) events…
http://www.iasa.com.au/folders/sr111/switcher.html
Swissair Crash Souvenir Sale by Halifax Local “Boggles the Mind”
http://www.iasa.com.au/folders/sr111/howlow.html
MD-11’s Slowly Going Out of Passenger Service
http://www.iasa.com.au/folders/sr111/DeltatogroundMD-11.html
Crash experts simulate the spreading of smoke in the MD-11
http://www.iasa.com.au/folders/sr111/IFENsmoketalk.html
SonnenZeitung Article Allegedly Based upon the Canadian TSB Draft SR-111 Report
• German (original) Version
• English Version
http://www.iasa.com.au/folders/sr111/sonnerzeitung.html#inenglish
The SR-111 Safety ScoreCard – Lessons Learnt so Far (4th Anniversary)
http://www.iasa.com.au/folders/sr111/AfterFlightSR111.html
When Will the Families Get to see the Swissair 111 Crash Report?
http://www.iasa.com.au/folders/sr111/swissair111report.html#thefamilies
Confidential Draft Swissair 111 Crash Report Distributed
http://www.iasa.com.au/folders/sr111/swissair111report.html
What’s Next for American Airlines? by Robert Crandall
http://www.iasa.com.au/folders/sr111/whatnext.html
A Review of the Swissair 111 Accident (what’s known or suspected)
http://www.iasa.com.au/folders/sr111/beanspiller.html
Swissair 111 Report Delayed Until 2003
http://www.iasa.com.au/folders/sr111/Swiss-Airreptdelay.html
Their Watchword Efficiency, Swiss Recoil at Air Disasters
http://www.iasa.com.au/folders/sr111/SwissRecoil.html
http://www.iasa.com.au/folders/Safety_Issues/others/shadowed-2.html
The Post-Crash Safety Modifications to SwissAir MD-11s
Interview with Capt. Ruedi Bornhauser
http://www.iasa.com.au/folders/sr111/theSwissairmod.html
Swissair 111 Accident Lessons Learnt: Swissair Flight 111
http://lessons.air.mmac.faa.gov/l2/SA111/
Robin Williams (the Comedian) Sees the Unfunny Side of Fire in the Air
http://www.iasa.com.au/folders/sr111/RobinWilliams-1.html
767-300 Cargo Hold Fire – Air Canada Flight 116 (13 May 2002)
http://www.iasa.com.au/folders/sr111/AirCanada116.html
A Swissair Flight 111 Lookalike Accident
http://www.iasa.com.au/folders/sr111/MD-82ChinaNorthernDalian.htm
Dec 2000 – TSB of Canada Interim Safety Recommendations
http://www.tsb.gc.ca/en/media/saf_actions/Recommendations/FireRecs_2000dec4.asp
UAL 965 (Jan 98) – A Swissair Prelude?
http://www.iasa.com.au/folders/sr111/ual965/ual965.html
Swissair the Airline is no More – Gone with the Wind
http://www.iasa.com.au/folders/sr111/SwissairDead.html
Judge Giles on for SR-111 Families
No Punitive Damages for Crash Victims
http://www.iasa.com.au/folders/sr111/judgegiles.html
MD-11 Flight Crew Reading Light (Map Light) Installations
http://www.iasa.com.au/folders/sr111/TSBRECSAug01/tsbrecsaug01.htm
The Fire on board an American Airlines 767-233 on 12 Aug 1996
http://www.iasa.com.au/folders/sr111/767cockpitsmoke.html
http://www.iasa.com.au/folders/sr111/F28inflightholdfire.html
Needing a Virgin Bus? – see the highlights
http://www.iasa.com.au/folders/sr111/Beech95inflightfire.html
http://www.iasa.com.au/folders/sr111/United767Heathrow.htm
http://www.iasa.com.au/folders/sr111/Virgin747Fire.html
http://www.iasa.com.au/folders/sr111/NTSBsafetyrecsfraud/securityatsafetyexpense.html
NTSB makes recommendations – More crew training, modifications needed
http://www.iasa.com.au/folders/sr111/NTSBsafetyrecsfraud/ntsbmakes.htm
Safety report irks Swissair group “…absolute disgrace…”
http://www.iasa.com.au/folders/sr111/NTSBsafetyrecsfraud/NTSBsafetyrecsfraud.htm
TSB Of Canada SR11 Safety Recomendations
http://www.iasa.com.au/folders/sr111/28Aug01tsbrecs.html
http://www.iasa.com.au/folders/sr111/28Aug01tsbrecs3.html
Wiring Anomalies: Kapton insulated wiring
http://www.iasa.com.au/folders/Safety_Issues/RiskManagement/first.html
Air Transport Association: Wiring Maintenance, Guidelines
http://www.iasa.com.au/folders/Safety_Issues/Aircraft_Wire/ATAonwiring.html
http://www.iasa.com.au/folders/sr111/400cases.html
NTSB warns of possible fire hazard on 767s
http://www.iasa.com.au/folders/sr111/767firehazard.html
The HK AAIB Report on the China Air MD11 accident
http://www.iasa.com.au/folders/sr111/airworthiness_review.html
http://www.iasa.com.au/folders/sr111/ALettertoDuane.html
Supplemental Information to MD-11 Flight Crews on Inflight Smoke/Fire Procedures
http://www.iasa.com.au/folders/sr111/Bulleteinrtf.html
http://www.iasa.com.au/folders/sr111/cabhaz.html
Surveillance Cameras to Help Detect In-Flight Fires on Swissair Jets
…Vowing never again to lose an airplane to a runaway electrical fire in flight, Swissair is modifying its fleet of MD-11 aircraft to reduce the probability of a spreading conflagration and to improve its aircrews’ ability to cope should such an emergency occur… These efforts are a direct outgrowth of the fatal September2, 1998 crash of a SwissairMD-11, Flight111 (SR111), at Halifax, Canada… The accident struck the Swiss carrier like a gunshot. Concerned about a rising rate of incidents and non-routine occurrences, company officials were in the midst of corporate seminars addressing the need for improvements in safety management when the accident occurred. “The participants were jolted away from the endless listing of cost problems, budget restrictions… punctuality reports and others by the explosive report of the hard and dramatic reality of an aircraft accident”… The minutes of the company’s last safety management seminar were dated September1, 1998, the very day before the accident…
http://www.iasa.com.au/folders/sr111/srimages/cockpitconsole.html
The New SR MD-11 Cockpit contains camera system to verify that there really is smoke…
http://www.iasa.com.au/folders/sr111/cameramonitor.html
http://www.iasa.com.au/folders/sr111/CBC%20News%20-%20Indepth%20Swissair%20Tragedy.htm
http://www.iasa.com.au/folders/sr111/classDcompartments.html
http://www.iasa.com.au/folders/sr111/fix_it.html
MD-11: Jet’s Troubled History Raises Issues For the FAA and the Manufacturer
http://www.iasa.com.au/folders/sr111/forbidding.html
Doomed pilots at odds, Cockpit recording shows co-pilot urged quick landing
http://www.iasa.com.au/folders/sr111/HalifaxStoryFollows.html
Swissair Flight 111 Update, 1 May 1999 – Air Safety Committee Advisory
http://www.iasa.com.au/folders/sr111/IFALPACommittee.html
In-Flight Entertainment SystemInstallation Found Deficient
http://www.iasa.com.au/folders/sr111/IFEaDUD.html
http://www.iasa.com.au/folders/sr111/IFEBan.html
In-Flight Entertainment System [IFEN] on Swissair Aircraft [MD-11 and B-747]
http://www.iasa.com.au/folders/sr111/IFEN.html
http://www.iasa.com.au/folders/sr111/IFENFacts.html
Flight and Cabin Crew Response to in-flight Smoke
http://www.iasa.com.au/folders/sr111/inflight_story.html
MD-11 Quality Assurance, Quality Control or Quality Quandary?
http://www.iasa.com.au/folders/sr111/JUSTaTHEORY.html
Origin of fatal Swissair fire continues to baffle investigators two years ater
http://www.iasa.com.au/folders/sr111/martinet.html
http://www.iasa.com.au/folders/sr111/milestone.html
Responses to Original Swissair Accident Article
http://www.iasa.com.au/folders/sr111/responses.html
More on Inflight Entertainment Systems – as a weak link
http://www.iasa.com.au/folders/sr111/seatbacks.html
http://www.iasa.com.au/folders/sr111/someIFEfacts.html
http://www.iasa.com.au/folders/sr111/speakingnotes.html
The sr111 Update #1: A Swissair Production
http://www.iasa.com.au/folders/sr111/sr111_update1.html
An Analysis of the Swissair Letter the Katz Letter, 21 June 1999
http://www.iasa.com.au/folders/sr111/sr111_update2.html
Swissair cannot influence the course of these Accident investigations
(legible copy)
http://www.iasa.com.au/folders/sr111/SR111LEGupdate1.html
Multitude of causes lined up for crash of Flight 111 By Stephen Thorne
…The disastrous crash of Swissair Flight 111 on the night of Sept. 2, 1998, was not the result of a single damaged wire, a moment’s lapse of judgment or a chance encounter with fate. Like so many disasters before it, the tragedy that claimed the lives of all 229people aboard the MD-11 jet was born of a chain of events and failures – all of them, ultimately, human. Aged and volatile electrical wiring. A taxing new inflight entertainment system. A fuselage lined with highly flammable insulation blankets. A veteran pilot with a Germanic devotion to the book. And a flawed book. Remove any one and the chain collapses. Swissair Flight111 passes quietly through the darkness unnoticed off Peggy’s Cove, landing in faraway Geneva…
http://www.iasa.com.au/folders/sr111/stevethorne.html
THE MD-11 Checklist – a SUMMARY
http://www.iasa.com.au/folders/sr111/summary.html
Chronology – Swissair grounds fleet, looks for cash
http://www.iasa.com.au/folders/sr111/SwissairGroundsFleet.html
http://www.iasa.com.au/folders/sr111/SwissairTimeLine.html
sr111 – a summary of what’s known
It is my understanding, that when an airplane switches to
emergency power, not only are you now using battery power,
but you are now using a different set of wires…
http://www.iasa.com.au/folders/sr111/switcher.html
sr111 – a summary of what’s known
…A short circuit in Kapton wiring is no small thing…
http://www.iasa.com.au/folders/sr111/thatsmell.html
Arc Fault breaker dances through first test, no trips! (pdf)
…Arc fault circuit breakers are designed to detect and prevent electrical arcing caused by breaks in wire insulation before that arcing can lead to a fire or other catastrophe. Such faults are prone to occur where microscopic cracks, abrasions or breaks in the wire’s insulation result as the wire ages, or is improperly installed or maintained. Thermal circuit breakers currently used in most military and civilian aircraft only detect classic “bolted” short circuits…
www.iasa.com.au/folders/Publications/pdf_library/gazettemv.pdf
The Pilot’s Wife: Swissair widow shares grief with palliative care workers
http://www.iasa.com.au/folders/sr111/thepilotswife.html
Tips on Minimizing Smoke Events
http://www.iasa.com.au/folders/sr111/tips_smoke_events.html
Could the pilot have landed the plane?
http://www.iasa.com.au/folders/sr111/ucolun.html
Commentary on Swissair 111 causal factors related to CRM
http://www.iasa.com.au/folders/sr111/tofaahf.html
Swissair Flight 111: The CRM Aspects of Smoke checklists
and the Two-Man Crew Complement
http://www.geocities.com/Eureka/Concourse/7349/SwissairFlight111C.html?200829
SR111: Swissair Flt 111 crash off Halifax
http://www.geocities.com/Eureka/Concourse/7349/rosscoulthart.html?200829
Experts trace tragic arc, Wiring flaw may have nullified pilot action
http://www.geocities.com/Eureka/Concourse/7349/Expertstracetragicarc.html?200829
Commentary on Swissair 111 causal factors related to CRM
http://www.geocities.com/Eureka/Concourse/7349/tofaahf.html?200829
http://www.geocities.com/Eureka/Concourse/7349/historyofmd11.html?200829
http://www.geocities.com/Eureka/Concourse/7349/md11_cockpit_views.html?200829
Some examples of poor wire routeing, tie-wrapping
and clamping aboard an MD-11
http://www.geocities.com/Eureka/Concourse/7349/SRjpg1a.html
http://www.geocities.com/Eureka/Concourse/7349/SRjpg4a.html
The MD-11 Gestation
On the McDonnell Douglas MD-11, computers perform everything from checklist tasks to stall recovery in an aircraft where the flight engineer’s duties are accomplished by a bank of automatic controllers that run the aircraft’s systems. The cockpit design distills the experience of 19years and more than 16million hours of DC-10commercial airline operation into computerized system controllers that operate hydraulic, electrical, air (pneumatic) and fuelsystems…
http://www.geocities.com/Eureka/Concourse/7349/gestation.html?200829
http://www.geocities.com/Eureka/Concourse/7349/landings3.html?200829
Tech Discussions with an MD11 Pilot: Situations do deteriorate
http://www.geocities.com/Eureka/Concourse/7349/olearyelectrics.html?200829
Was it Smoke/Elec Sw 3/1 OFF that killed Radio and transponder?
…It now seems certain that the plane was indeed progressively crippled, most likely by the check-list procedure – though it is by no means certain that the procedure succeeded in isolating or resolving the cause of the smoke…
http://www.geocities.com/Eureka/Concourse/7349/cvroff.html
Probe Finds Fire Damage In Swissair Wreckage – Inadequate For Openers
…Yes, we have maybe 20minutes of emergency power for primary flight instruments, floodlighting and one radio. Back-up power is provided by the aircraft’s main battery. This was mandated 25-30 years ago and wasn’t adequate then. Now we are flying heavier aircraft, with higher wing loadings, two-pilot crews and more complex electrical systems, which no one person understands and we are not trained to troubleshoot. Whatever we learn from the Swissair accident, please note this was a good crew, vastly overloaded by their situation…
http://www.geocities.com/Eureka/Concourse/7349/fourmore.html
MD-11 was never popular with airlines
http://www.geocities.com/Eureka/Concourse/7349/md11unpopular.html?200829
The McDonnell Douglas MD-11: What kind of accident history does it have?
http://www.geocities.com/Eureka/Concourse/7349/forbidding.html?200829
Descriptions of High-Temperature Aircraft Electrical Wire Types
http://www.geocities.com/Eureka/Concourse/7349/badwire.html?200829
(1)
The Virgin Bus: a post-SR111 Lesson Learnt
http://www.geocities.com/Eureka/Concourse/7349/virgin.html?200829
(2)
The Virgin Bus: a post-SR111 Lesson Learnt
http://www.geocities.com/dagger_dirk/virgin.html?200829
http://www.geocities.com/Eureka/Concourse/7349/SwissairTimeLine.html?200829
Swissair Pilots Differed On How to Avoid Crash
http://www.geocities.com/Eureka/Concourse/7349/WallStreet.html?200829
http://www.geocities.com/Eureka/Concourse/7349/HalifaxStoryFollows.html?200829
http://www.geocities.com/Eureka/Concourse/7349/rewire.html?200829
Swissair Probe Hinges On Systems Analyses
http://www.geocities.com/Eureka/Concourse/7349/hinges.html?200829
In-Flight Entertainment System [IFEN]
on Swissair Aircraft [MD-11 and B-747] 1999 January 28
http://www.geocities.com/Eureka/Concourse/7349/IFEN.html?200829
http://www.geocities.com/Heartland/Oaks/8553/OXYFED.html?200829
Table of Contents
Washington Post
Swissair Flight 111 Archive
Washington Post, 1998 September 03
Swissair Jet Crashes Off Nova Scotia
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/inatl/longterm/swissair/stories/crash090398.htm
Washington Post, 1998 September 04
Flight 111’s Sad Harvest
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/inatl/longterm/swissair/stories/crash090498.htm
Washington Post, 1998 September 06
Pilot: ‘We Have to Land Immediately’
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/inatl/longterm/swissair/stories/pilot090698.htm
Washington Post, 1998 September 09
Jet’s Cockpit Suffered Heat Damage
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/inatl/longterm/swissair/stories/jet090998.htm
Washington Post (no date)
List of Swissair Crash Victims
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/inatl/longterm/swissair/victims.htm
Washington Post (no date)
Anatomy of the Swissair MD-11
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/inatl/longterm/swissair/plane.htm
Washington Post (no date)
Anatomy of the Swissair crash
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/inatl/longterm/swissair/map.htm
Washington Post (no date)
World’s Worst Air Disasters
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/inatl/longterm/swissair/disasters.htm
Washington Post, 1998 October 01
Swissair Probe Focuses on Insulation
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/inatl/longterm/swissair/stories/insulation100198.htm
Washington Post, 1998 October 18
Replace Insulation, FAA Urges Airlines
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/inatl/longterm/swissair/stories/faa101598.htm
Washington Post, 1999 August 06
Swissair Offers to Settle in Crash
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/inatl/longterm/swissair/swissair.htm
Washington Post, 2004 September 16
Airline Woes Reach Across The Atlantic
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A24615-2004Sep15.html
Washington Post, 2005 April 02
FAA Tells Boeing to Fix Fire Hazard
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A20126-2005Apr1.html
Washington Post, 2006 October 17
In-Flight Fires an Unresolved Safety Threat
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/10/16/AR2006101601412_pf.html
Washington Post, 2007 June 07
Defendants Acquitted in Swissair Trial
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/06/07/AR2007060700295.html
Table of Contents
Entertainment Systems in Aircraft
…For some entertainment system installations, the amount of associated wiring equals that in the rest of the airplane. The FAA approves the installations, and now wants to see the routing of every wire on the plans, from point of origin to destination. Nonetheless, we have a problem here. There is a move within the industry to now consider wiring as a seprate system, co-equal in importance to powerplants, hydraulics, etc. The FAA supports this approach, and the agency should be commended for it. Yes, swapping out the blankets isn’t enough. Some selective wiring replacement may be in order, particularly in the so-called SWAMP areas – severe wear and moisture prone…
…The interactive in-flight entertainment system was installed in the first class and business sections. TSB investigators found heat-damaged ” Hiswords. Notmine. An FAA-approved system, mind…
Source:—
WashingtonPost.com 13 February 2004
IFEN: Interactive Flight Entertainment system
Table of Contents
Huffington Post
Swissair Flight 111 Archive
Huffington Post, 2011 September 15
Swissair Crash Speculation Prompts Mixed Reaction
http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/2011/09/15/swissair-crash-speculatio_n_965351.html
Huffington Post, 2011 September 16
The Mystery Of Swissair Flight 111’s Diamond Cargo
http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/2011/09/16/the-mystery-of-swissair-flight-111-diamond-cargo_n_967111.html
Table of Contents
Transportation Safety Board
TSB Official Report on Swissair Flight 111
Appendix C Swissair ‘Smoke of Unknown Origin’ Checklist
EASA European Aviation Safety Agency
Swissair Flight 111 Archive
European Aviation Safety Agency
A fixed-wing aircraft – more commonly known as an airplane in
North American English or aeroplane in Commonwealth English –
is a heavier-than-air craft where movement of the wings in relation
to the aircraft is not used to generate lift. The term is used
to distinguish this technology from rotary-wing aircraft, where the
movement of the lift surfaces relative to the aircraft generates lift.
ECAC/JAA-SAFA, 2000 Annual Report
ECAC/JAA Programme for Safety Assessment of Foreign Aircraft
SAFA – Report 2000
…In 1996, ECAC (European Civil Aviation Conference) launched its
own SAFA (Safety Assessment of Foreign Aircraft) Programme, as a
complement to the ICAO (International Civil Aviation Organization)
audits. The SAFA Programme is based on a bottom-up approach,
taking as its starting point ramp inspections of aircraft landing
in ECAC States…
http://www.easa.europa.eu/ws_prod/s/doc/SAFA/
reports/2000%20SAFA%20report%20(English).pdf
ECAC/JAA-SAFA, 2002 Annual Report
ECAC/JAA Programme for Safety Assessment of Foreign Aircraft
SAFA – Report 2002
http://www.easa.europa.eu/ws_prod/s/doc/SAFA/
reports/2002%20SAFA%20report%20(English).pdf
FAA/JAA/TCCA research report, 2005 June
International Research Getting Value for Money in a Complex World
FAA/JAA/TCCA R & D Joint Coordinating Committee
The Europe-US International Aviation Safety Conference, 2005 June
…The CSRTG continued its support of
the International Aircraft Materials Fire Test Working Group and
the International Aircraft Systems Fire Protection Working Group…
www.easa.europa.eu/conference2005/presentations/international_research_flyer.pdf
EASA press release, 2005 February 03
Successful FAA Assessment for the European Aviation Safety Agency
http://www.easa.europa.eu/ws_prod/g/doc/pr/pr_02_2005_en.html
EASA press release, 2005 April 19
EASA Supports Co-operation of National Accident Investigation Bodies
http://www.easa.europa.eu/ws_prod/g/doc/pr/pr_05_2005_en.html
EASA press release, 2005 June 07
Europe and United States Discuss Future of Aviation Safety
http://www.easa.europa.eu/ws_prod/g/doc/pr/pr_10_2005_en.html
EASA press release, 2005 October 05
Maintenance Licences: Achieving a Level Playing Field
across Europe New maintenance licences for
large aircraft are to be issued across Europe…
http://www.easa.europa.eu/ws_prod/g/doc/pr/pr_13_2005_en.html
EASA decision 2005/07/R, 2005 December 19
Decision No 2005/07/R of the Executive Director of the Agency of
19-12-2005 amending Decision No 2003/19/RM of 28 Nov 2003
on acceptable means of compliance and guidance material to
Commission Regulation (EC) No 2042/2003 on the continuing
airworthiness of aircraft and aeronautical products, parts
and appliances, and on the approval of organisations and
personnel involved in these tasks (pdf)
http://www.easa.europa.eu/ws_prod/g/doc/Agency_Mesures/
Agency_Decisions/Decision_ED_2005_07_R.pdf
EASA decision 2005/07/R, 2006
ECAC/JAA Programme for safety Assessment of Foreign Aircraft
SAFA Report (pdf)
§ B.1 Emergency exits, lighting and marking, torches:
The findings mainly concerned emergency exit lights which were not
functioning properly, torches (flashlights) which were not available,
in poor condition or not available in sufficient quantity, and
non-installation or inadequately functioning of floor proximity
(emergency) escape path marking systems. These systems indicate
the location of the emergency exits. They are important especially
when there is a fire or smoke in the passenger cabin or when the
normal cabin lights are not functioning…
http://www.easa.europa.eu/ws_prod/s/doc/
SAFA/reports/safareport2006e.pdf
EASA press release, 2006 May 10
EASA Launches Airworthiness Directive Notification Website (pdf)
The European Aviation Safety Agency now provides
direct online access to all EU Airworthiness Directives.
The new website ad.easa.eu.int also enables visitors to search
for specific ADs and to subscribe to customised email alerts
according to aircraft make, model and series codes.
Designed to be use-friendly, the new Airworthiness Directive
notification tool includes the following features…
http://www.easa.europa.eu/ws_prod/g/doc/
PressRoom/PressReleases/pr_2006_05_en.pdf
EASA Annual Safety Review, 2006
EASA Annual Safety Review 2006 (pdf)
…For European registered aircraft the dominant categories regarding
the number of fatalities are “system and component failure or
malfunction-non powerplant” and “fire – non impact”. As only a
few accidents with a large number of fatalities occur with European
registered aircraft, a single accident can influence the order of the
categories. The large number of fatalities related to the category of
non-impact fires is the result of two accidents: Swissair MD-11
(1998) and the Air France Concorde (2000). The two accidents
also account for almost all of the fatalities in the SCF-NP category…
http://www.easa.europa.eu/ws_prod/g/doc/COMMS/
Annual%20Safety%20Review%202006.pdf
EASA Notice of Proposed Amendment 2007-01, 2007 March 13
Amendments…Electrical Wiring Interconnection… (pdf) 148 pages
…Electrical wiring systems perform functions essential to the safety
of the entire aeroplane. They distribute power throughout the
aeroplane, transmit signals for control, and send data. Over time,
as more sophisticated computerized systems have been introduced
into aeroplane controls, their electrical wires, cables, and associated
components have become increasingly important to safe flight.
Historically, manufacturers have been required to provide
maintenance-related information for aeroplane systems. However,
there has never been a requirement for maintenance
information specifically for wiring systems…
Safety concerns about wiring systems in aeroplanes were brought
to the forefront of public and governmental attention by a mid-air
explosion in 1996 involving a 747aeroplane. Ignition of flammable
vapours in the fuel tank was the probable cause of that fatal accident
and the most likely source was determined to be a wiring failure
causing a spark to enter the fuel tank. All 230people aboard were
killed. Two years later, an MD-11 aeroplane crashed into the Atlantic
Ocean, killing all 229people aboard. Although an exact cause
could not be determined, a region of resolidified copper on a wire
of the inflight-entertainment system cable indicated that wire arcing
had occurred in the area where the fire most likely originated.
Investigations of those accidents and subsequent examinations of
other aeroplanes showed that deteriorated wiring, corrosion,
improper wire installation and repairs, and contamination of wire
bundles with metal shavings, dust, and fluids, which would provide
fuel for fire, were common conditions in representative examples
of the “ageing fleet of transport aeroplanes.” It was concluded that
current maintenance practices do not adequately address
wiring components, wiring inspection criteria are too general,
and unacceptable conditions, such as improper repairs and
installations, are not described in enough detail in maintenance
instructions. Wiring failures result in aeroplane delays, unscheduled
landings, in-flight entertainment system problems, nonfatal accidents,
and fatal accidents. Up until this time, aeroplane wiring has
never been singled out for special attention during maintenance
inspections. Although close attention is paid to safe design within
systems, it was assumed that for the wiring providing power to
those systems, standard industry practice was appropriate, and
modifications have often been performed without scrutiny for
the effect their wiring additions may have on other systems in
the aeroplane. Damaged wire and insulation can cause electrical
arcing, providing the spark that can cause fire. Dust, dirt, lint,
contamination, and vapours provide fuel for fire. Recent rules have
established requirements for wiring connected to fuel tank systems.
This proposal goes further; to address all the wiring contained in
an aeroplane, as systems on their own, and provides scrutiny of
the conditions that affect their safe functioning. It aligns with
the requirements for fuel tank wiring. This Notice of Proposed
Amendment (NPA) introduces requirements and associated
guidance material as they relate to Electrical Wiring Interconnection
System (EWIS). It is harmonised with the FAA. Amendments to
CS-25 are envisaged to enhance the design requirements related to
wiring as well as improved provisions to assure the continuing
airworthiness of EWIS. However to address the safety issue at
hand it is not sufficient to address future designs only, which
is the result of an amendment to CS-25. To achieve the full safety
benefit the Regulatory Impact Assessment…concludes that
the Enhanced Zonal Analysis Procedure should also be
performed on existing designs to improve the instructions
for continuing airworthiness. Therefore at the end of this NPA
a draft measure…requiring type certificate holders to produce
instructions for continuing airworthiness…
(emphasisadded)
http://easa.europa.eu/rulemaking/docs/npa/2007/NPA%202007-01.pdf
EASA Attachment to ED Decision 2007/011/R, 2007 December
EASA 2008 Rulemaking Programme
Electrical Wiring Interconnection System
Developing necessary standards and guidance intended to mitigate the risks
of ageing electrical cables by appropriate design and maintenance measures…
http://www.easa.europa.eu/ws_prod/g/doc/Agency_Mesures/
Agency_Decisions/2007/Annex%20to%20Decision%20
2007-011-R%20-%202008%20Rulemaking%20Programme.pdf
EASA press release, 2008 April 07
EASA, FAA and TCCA meet to harmonise rulemaking activities
http://www.easa.europa.eu/ws_prod/g/doc/pr/PRen07042008.html
EASA press release, 2008 April 22
EU-US safety agreement signed
http://www.easa.europa.eu/ws_prod/g/doc/pr/PRen22042008.html
EASA-SAFA (no date)
Approvals and Standardisation – Safety Assessment Of Foreign Aircraft
(EC SAFA Programme)
http://www.easa.europa.eu/ws_prod/s/s_safa.php
EASA press release, 2008 July 01
EU-US safety agreement signed
http://www.easa.europa.eu/ws_prod/g/doc/pr/PRen01072008.html
Table of Contents
European Joint Aviation Authorities
Swissair Flight 111 Archive
JAA is the European equivalent of the FAA
JAA Introduction
Introduction to JAA The Joint Aviation Authorities (JAA) is an
associated body of the European Civil Aviation Conference
representing the civil aviation regulatory authorities of
a number of European States who have agreed to co-operate
in developing and implementing common safety regulatory
standards and procedures… The JAA’s work began in 1970
(when it was known as the Joint Airworthiness Authorities).
Originally its objectives were only to produce common
certification codes for large aeroplanes and for engines…
http://www.jaa.nl/introduction/introduction.html
EASTO, 2006 March 10
EASTO: European Aviation Safety Training Organisation
established in Hoofddorp, Netherlands
http://www.jaa.nl/press/EASTO-PressRelease-March-06.pdf
EASTO, 2006 December 13
Official opening of Europe’s Aviation Safety Training Organisation
http://www.jaa.nl/press/PressRelease-EASTOOpening-Dec2006.pdf
JAA, 2006 December 13
JAA welcomes two new Member States
http://www.jaa.nl/press/PressRelease-Azerbaijan%26Georgia-Dec2006.pdf
Table of Contents
CFO.com
Swissair Flight 111 Archive
(CFO is a common acronym used to identify
the Chief Financial Officer of a corporation.)
CFO.com, 2006 April 03
Growth Mode: Finding new ways to grow a company
in today’s tough climate isn’t easy
…Was it distraction that caused Swissair’s punctuality and
baggage handling to worsen, hurting business, and its
investments in the world’s more marginal airlines to prove
an additional drag on its finances? Hard to say, but
in 2000 the company reported a mammoth loss of SFr3 billion
($1.86 billion at the time), and declared bankruptcy shortly
after the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks,
SFr17 billion ($10.16 billion) in debt…
http://www.cfo.com/article.cfm/3471232/6/c_2984273
CFO.com, 2006 April 03
Former Swissair CFO Faces Charges
http://www.cfo.com/article.cfm/6765909
CFO.com, 2007 June 07
Swissair Execs Acquitted of Mismanagement
http://www.cfo.com/article.cfm/9314307
CFO.com, 2007 June 07
The Swiss Acquittal
http://www.cfo.com/blogs/index.cfm/detail/9314593
CFO.com, 2007 July 30
Midair Maneuvers …Swissair, the former national airline
of Switzerland, was the most high-profile casualty…
http://www.cfo.com/article.cfm/9460889
CFO.com, 2007 July 30
Go with the Flow: A new scorecard highlights
Europe’s top companies when it comes to generating cash
…One company that owes its current cash flow success to
a previous external shock is Unique Flughafen Zurich,
the SFr737m (€448m) holding company that operates
Zurich airport. “2001 was a really bad year for
us,” Beat Spalinger, the CFO, says with great
understatement. That year, in the midst of a
SFr2 billion expansion programme, traffic levels at
the airport collapsed after the terrorist attacks on
September 11th, which drove flag carrier Swissair into
bankruptcy shortly after. Investments were quickly
cut to the “absolute minimum,” staff were
laid off and salaries were slashed…
http://www.cfo.com/article.cfm/9935438/2/c_10004457
Table of Contents
United States Department of Transportation
Swissair Flight 111 Archives
U.S. DoT, 2008 May 02
Federal Aviation Administration Report to
U.S. Secretary of Transportation Mary E. Peters
on American Airlines MD-80 Groundings Executive Summary
…After the Swissair 111 accident in September 1998 involving
an MD-11, both the FAA and industry learned a great deal about
wiring and the related safety issues. In January 1999, the
National Transportation Safety Board issued a recommendation
addressing the inspection and examination of wiring on MD-11
airplanes. The examinations were for loose wire connections,
inconsistent wire routings, broken bonding wires, small wire
bend radii, and chafed and cracked wire insulation.
The inspections revealed chafed and cut wires; damaged,
cracked, or chafed wires; and inconsistencies in the routing
of wires and wire bundles….
http://www.dot.gov/affairs/aviation080516/executivesummary.htm
U.S. DoT, 2008 May 02
Picture Attachment 1 to FAA Report (pdf)
http://www.dot.gov/affairs/aviation080516/
picture_attachments_to_faa_report.pdf
U.S. DoT, 2008 May 02
Picture Attachment 2 to FAA Report (pdf)
http://www.dot.gov/affairs/aviation080516/
picutre_attachment_2_to_faa_reportpdf.pdf
Task Force on Assistance to Families of Aviation Disasters
U.S. DoT
Assistance to Families of Aviation Disasters
http://www.dot.gov/affairs/taskforce/
U.S. DoT, 11 March 1999
Final Report: Development of Plans for Responding to
Aviation Disasters Involving Civilians on Government Aircraft
http://www.dot.gov/affairs/taskforce/rpttoc.htm
U.S. DoT
Office of Transportation Disaster Assistance
http://www.ntsb.gov/Family/family.htm
U.S. DoT, 28 September 1998
Anniversary Report
http://www.dot.gov/affairs/taskforce/anniversary.htm
U.S. DoT, 15 May 1998
Letter to Foreign Carriers on the
Availability of a “Frequently Asked Questions” Document
http://www.dot.gov/affairs/taskforce/letter515.html
http://www.dot.gov/affairs/taskforce/faq.html
U.S. DoT, 18 February 1998
Final Rule: Requirement for International Passenger Manifests
http://frwebgate1.access.gpo.gov/cgi-bin/
getdoc.cgi?dbname=1998_register&docid=fr18fe98-36
U.S. DoT, 12 February 1998
Press Release: DOT Issues Rules
Requiring Enhanced Passenger Manifests
http://www.dot.gov/affairs/1998/dot2598.htm
U.S. DoT, 29 January 1998
Press Release: Foreign Carriers
to Submit Family Assistance Plans
http://www.dot.gov/affairs/taskforce/dot1798.htm
U.S. DoT, 29 January 1998
Letter to Foreign Carriers on Requirement to File Plans
http://www.dot.gov/affairs/taskforce/facltr.html
U.S. DoT, 29 January 1998
Order Exempting Foreign Small-Aircraft Operators
from Requirement to File Plans
http://www.dot.gov/affairs/taskforce/order98131.htm
U.S. DoT, 16 December 1997
Full Text: Foreign Air Carrier Family Support Act
http://www.dot.gov/affairs/taskforce/hr2476.html
U.S. DoT
Implementation of Task Force Recommendations
http://www.dot.gov/affairs/taskforce/annivreport.htm
Table of Contents
United States
NTSB National Transportation Safety Board
Swissair Flight 111 Archive
NTSB, 1998 September 03
Statement on Crash of Swissair Flight 111
http://www.ntsb.gov/pressrel/1998/980903.htm
NTSB, 1998 September 25
Introduction of Family Assistance Paper by Jim Hall, Chairman NTSB
before the International Civil Aviation Organization Assembly
32nd Session, Montreal, Canada
http://www.ntsb.gov/speeches/former/hall/jh980925.htm
NTSB, 1998 October 15
Statement by NTSB Chairman Jim Hall on FAA Program dealing
with Insulation Blankets on Transport Category Aircraft
http://www.ntsb.gov/pressrel/1998/981015.htm
NTSB, 1998 October 19
Remarks by NTSB Chairman Jim Hall before the International Society
of Air Safety Investigators, Barcelona, Spain
http://www.ntsb.gov/speeches/former/hall/jh981019.htm
NTSB, 1998 October 29
Statement by NTSB Chairman Jim Hall related to the
Investigation of the crash of Swissair Flight 111
http://www.ntsb.gov/pressrel/1998/981029.htm
http://www.ntsb.gov/recs/letters/1999/a99_3.pdf
NTSB, 1999 March 09
NTSB Safety Recommendation
• Require retrofit after 1 January 2005, of all cockpit voice
recorders (CVRs) on all airplanes required to carry both a CVR
and a flight data recorder (FDR) with a CVR that
(a) meets Technical Standard Order (TSO) C123a,
(b) is capable of recording the last two hours of audio, and
(c) is fitted with an independent power source that is located with the
digital CVR and that automatically engages and provides ten minutes
of operation whenever aircraft power to the recorder ceases, either by
normal shutdown or by a loss of power to the bus.
• Require all aircraft manufactured after 1 January 2003, that must
carry both a cockpit voice recorder (CVR) and a digital flight data
recorder (DFDR) to be equipped with two combination (CVR/DFDR)
recording systems. One system should be located as close to the
cockpit as practicable and the other as far aft as practicable…
http://www.ntsb.gov/recs/letters/1999/a99_16_18.pdf
NTSB, 1999 March 10
Oral Testimony of Honorable Jim Hall, Chairman, NTSB
Regarding Aviation Safety
http://www.ntsb.gov/speeches/former/hall/jhc990310oral.htm
NTSB, 1999 April 29
NTSB hosts International Symposium on Transportation Recorders, May 3-5
http://www.ntsb.gov/pressrel/1999/990429a.htm
NTSB, 1999 September 15
Testimony of Bernard Loeb, Director, Office of Aviation Safety, NTSB
Regarding Aging Aircraft Wiring
http://www.ntsb.gov/speeches/bl990915.htm
NTSB, 1999 November 03
Remarks by Jim Hall, Chairman NTSB
Global Summit on International Aviation Infrastructure
George Washington University, Washington, DC
http://www.ntsb.gov/speeches/former/hall/jhc991103.htm
NTSB, 2000 February 09
Significant Accomplishments as a Result of Foreign Investigations
…The SWISSAIR case is not yet completed but we immediately
saw the benefits of our Family Affairs legislation, and we have already
seen engineering improvements in electrical systems and insulation…
http://www.ntsb.gov/speeches/iaspi_72/tsld011.htm
NTSB, 2000 March 14
The Direction of Flight Recorder Technology in the United States
http://www.ntsb.gov/speeches/s000314.htm
NTSB, 2000 August 01
Federal Family Assistance Plan for Aviation Disasters
http://www.ntsb.gov/Publictn/2000/spc0001_body.htm
NTSB, 2000 September 02
Benefits Derived from Foreign Aircraft Accident Investigations
http://www.ntsb.gov/speeches/iaspi_72/tsld035.htm
NTSB, 2000 October 16
Remarks of Honorable Jim Hall, Acting Chairman, NTSB
ECAC Family Assistance Symposium, Tillin, Estonia
http://www.ntsb.gov/speeches/former/hall/jhc001016.htm
NTSB, 2000 October 30
Remarks of Honorable Jim Hall, Acting Chairman, NTSB
The Impact of Aircraft Electronics on Safety
Aviation 2000 Conference and Exhibition, Washington, DC
http://www.ntsb.gov/speeches/former/hall/jhc001030.htm
NTSB, 2000 November 29
Remarks by Jim Hall, Acting Chairman NTSB
Global Airline Industry Program, MIT
http://www.ntsb.gov/speeches/former/hall/jhc001129.htm
NTSB, 2000 December 15
Remarks by Jim Hall, Acting Chairman NTSB
National Business Aircraft Association, Washington, DC
http://www.ntsb.gov/speeches/former/hall/jhc001215.htm
http://www.ntsb.gov/speeches/carmody/cc010508.htm
NTSB, 2001 August 16
Remarks of Carol J. Carmody, Acting Chairman, NTSB
at the Air Line Pilots Association’s Air Safety Forum
Washington, DC
http://www.ntsb.gov/speeches/carmody/cc010816.htm
NTSB, 2004 (month and day not known)
Benefits of Cockpit Image Recorders from a User’s Standpoint
http://www.ntsb.gov/Events/2004/av_img_rec/hilldrup_statement.pdf
NTSB, 2005 February 24
Statement by NTSB Chairman
on proposed FAA Flight Recorder Rules
http://www.ntsb.gov/pressrel/2005/050224.htm
Planenews Aviation News Portal, 2005 November 08
NTSB Adds Foreign Aviation
The National Transportation Safety Board has added a
new page to
its website providing the public with information on foreign aviation
accident investigations in which the NTSB has participated.
It also has made all of its safety recommendations available
to the public on the Internet… The new page has two major features.
The first is a table listing foreign investigations having significant
NTSB involvement during the proceeding 24 months…
Information listed includes date, location and brief description of
the accident; the make, model and registration number of the aircraft;
the severity of the event; and the type of operation.
The second feature is a searchable database of more than
2,600 foreign accident investigations going back to the 1960s…
http://planenews.com/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=4173
(Note: You can access this online record by using your browser’s
Copy and Paste feature to paste this URL into your browser’s URL window.)
NTSB (no date)
NTSB Identification: DCA98RA085
Accident occurred Wednesday, September 02, 1998 in Nova Scotia
http://www.ntsb.gov/ntsb/brief.asp?ev_id=20001211X11037
NTSB, 2006 May 03
Statement of Dennis Grossi, NTSB
The technical and regulatory evolution of mandatory
flight data recorders and cockpit voice recorders…
http://www.ntsb.gov/events/symp_rec/proceedings/May_3/
SessionI/Grossi_transcript.htm
NTSB, 2006 May 03
Statement of Mike Poole, Transportation Safety Board of Canada
The role of recorded data, including air traffic control recordings
of radar and communications…and how this data played a role in
TSB’s investigation into the September fatal accident of
SwissAir Flight 111 at Peggy’s Cove, Halifax, Nova Scotia
http://www.ntsb.gov/events/symp_rec/proceedings/may_3/
sessioni/poole_transcript.htm
NTSB, 2006 May 04
Statement of Caj Frostell, International Civil Aviation Organization
Nondisclosure of cockpit recordings…
http://www.ntsb.gov/events/symp_rec/proceedings/May_4/
SessionIII/Frostell_transcript.htm
NTSB, 2006 May 04
Remarks by Benoit Bouchard, Chairman
Transportation Safety Board of Canada
Maximizing the benefits of recorded data
http://www.ntsb.gov/events/symp_rec/proceedings/may_4/
transcript_bouchard.htm
NTSB, 2006 May 05
Statement of Dan Martinec Aeronautical Radio Inc.
ARINC
Some background on ARINC and the Airlines Electronic Engineering
Committee… current ARINC recording system standards, the status
of our work program and our goals for the future…
http://www.ntsb.gov/events/symp_rec/proceedings/May_5/
SessionIV/Martinec_transcript.htm
NTSB, 2007 April 17
Remarks by Mark V. Rosenker, Chairman NTSB, at the
2007 Aging Aircraft Conference, Palm Springs, California
http://www.ntsb.gov/speeches/rosenker/mvr070417.htm
NTSB, 2007 November 13
NTSB: Most Wanted Transportation Safety Improvements
Recorder Improvements
http://www.ntsb.gov/recs/mostwanted/aviation_recorders.htm
Table of Contents
Nova Scotia Government Press Releases
Swissair Flight 111 Archive
Nova Scotia Government, 1998 September 03 10:20am
Statement by Premier MacLellan – Swissair Crash
http://gov.ns.ca/news/details.asp?id=19980903001
Nova Scotia Government, 1998 September 03 11:55am
N.S. Efforts in Swissair Crash Aftermath
http://gov.ns.ca/news/details.asp?id=19980903002
Nova Scotia Government, 1998 September 03 2:10pm
N.S. Sympathies to U.S., Swiss Presidents
http://gov.ns.ca/news/details.asp?id=19980903003
Nova Scotia Government, 1998 September 03 4:30pm
Support Extended to Swissair Families
http://gov.ns.ca/news/details.asp?id=19980903004
Nova Scotia Government, 1998 September 03 7:34pm
Nova Scotians Offer Accommodation, Support
http://gov.ns.ca/news/details.asp?id=19980903005
Nova Scotia Government, 1998 September 04 4:55pm
Accommodation for Swissair Families Secured
http://gov.ns.ca/news/details.asp?id=19980904012
Nova Scotia Government, 1998 September 05 3:00pm
One Body From Swissair Crash Identified
http://gov.ns.ca/news/details.asp?id=19980905001
Nova Scotia Government, 1998 September 07 12:30pm
Nova Scotia International Air Show Cancelled
http://gov.ns.ca/news/details.asp?id=19980907001
Nova Scotia Government, 1998 September 07 10:00pm
Shuttle Buses to Swissair Memorial Service
http://gov.ns.ca/news/details.asp?id=19980907002
Nova Scotia Government, 1998 September 09 9:30am
Additional Shuttle Buses to Swissair Service
http://gov.ns.ca/news/details.asp?id=19980909003
Nova Scotia Government, 1998 September 09 10:30am
Swissair Memorial Service – Program
http://gov.ns.ca/news/details.asp?id=19980909004
Nova Scotia Government, 1998 September 10
Toll-Free Line Available for Personal Assistance
http://gov.ns.ca/news/details.asp?id=19980910002
Nova Scotia Government, 1998 September 18
Province Playing Aggressive Role
http://gov.ns.ca/news/details.asp?id=19980918004
Nova Scotia Government, 1998 October 15
MIACC 98: Getting It Together
http://gov.ns.ca/news/details.asp?id=19981015002
Nova Scotia Government, 1998 October 21
Committee Struck to Disburse Swissair Relief Donations
http://gov.ns.ca/news/details.asp?id=19981021004
Nova Scotia Government, 1998 November 10
Swissair Memorial Planning Committee
http://gov.ns.ca/news/details.asp?id=19981110004
Nova Scotia Government, 1998 December 15
Swissair Identification – Status Report
http://gov.ns.ca/news/details.asp?id=19981215003
Nova Scotia Government, 1999 January 28
Open Houses to Gather Ideas for Memorial
http://gov.ns.ca/news/details.asp?id=19990128002
Nova Scotia Government, 1999 March 02
Trust Fund Established for Memorial
http://gov.ns.ca/news/details.asp?id=19990302001
Nova Scotia Government, 1999 April 09
Swissair Memorial Recommendation Approved
http://gov.ns.ca/news/details.asp?id=19990409001
Nova Scotia Government, 1999 May 12
Interment Site Chosen
http://gov.ns.ca/news/details.asp?id=19990512002
Nova Scotia Government, 1999 June 09
Legislation Designating Special Places Introduced
http://gov.ns.ca/news/details.asp?id=19990609006
Nova Scotia Government, 1999 June 17
An Act to Establish Special Places as a Memorial to the Passengers and Crew of Flight 111
http://nslegislature.ca/legc/bills/57th_1st/3rd_read/b115.htm
Nova Scotia Government, 1999 June 24
Employees Honoured for Response
http://gov.ns.ca/news/details.asp?id=19990624006
Nova Scotia Government, 1999 July 22
Committee Chooses Words for Memorials
http://gov.ns.ca/news/details.asp?id=19990722004
Nova Scotia Government, 1999 August 09
Services to Mark Flight 111 Anniversary
http://www.gov.ns.ca/news/details.asp?id=19990809003
Nova Scotia Government, 1999 August 26
Additional Details Released on Services
http://gov.ns.ca/news/details.asp?id=19990826005
Nova Scotia Government, 2000 January 26
Premier Hamm Reacts to MacLellan’s Resignation
http://gov.ns.ca/news/details.asp?id=20000127001
Nova Scotia Government, 2000 May 02
Emergency Preparedness Week
http://gov.ns.ca/news/details.asp?id=20000502002
Nova Scotia Government, 2000 July 18
Cross-border Emergency Management Compact Signed
http://gov.ns.ca/news/details.asp?id=20000718004
Nova Scotia Government, 2002 September 12
Ten Nova Scotians to Be Awarded First Order of Nova Scotia
http://novascotia.ca/news/release/?id=20020912004
Nova Scotia Government, 2003 April 28
Western Ground Search and Rescue, Working Together to Save Lives
http://novascotia.ca/news/release/?id=20030428007
Nova Scotia Government, 2003 April 28
Central Ground Search and Rescue, Working Together to Save Lives
http://novascotia.ca/news/release/?id=20030428005
Nova Scotia Government, 2003 April 28
Eastern Ground Search and Rescue, Working Together to Save Lives
http://novascotia.ca/news/release/?id=20030428006
Nova Scotia Government, 2008 September 01
Premier Honours Memory of Swissair Victims
http://gov.ns.ca/news/details.asp?id=20080901001
Nova Scotia Government, 2013 May 16
René Botzenhardt Appointed Honorary Consul of Switzerland
http://novascotia.ca/news/release/?id=20130516005
Table of Contents
Top Ten items in this collection
Swissair Flight 111 Archive
one
Esquire, 2009 June 1
The Long Fall of One-Eleven Heavy
Something terrible was moving this way. There was a low ceiling
of clouds, an intense, creeping darkness, that electrical taste.
By the lighthouse, if you had been standing beneath the revolving
green light on that early-September night, in that plague of clouds,
you would have heard the horrible grinding sound of some wounded
winged creature, listened to it trail out to sea as it came screeching
down from the heavens, down through molecule and current,
until everything went silent… Every two minutes an airliner
moves up the Atlantic coast, tracing ribboned contrails, moving
through kingdoms in the air, demarcated by boundaries, what are
called corridors and highways by the people who control the sky.
In these corridors travel all the planes of the world, jetliners
pushing the speed of sound at the highest altitudes, prop planes
puttering at the lowest, and a phylum in between of Cessnas and
commuters and corporate jets – all of them passing over the
crooked-armed peninsulas and jagged coastlines and, somewhere,
too, this northern village as it appears and disappears behind skeins
of fog. The pilot – a thin-faced, handsome Swiss man with
penetrating brown eyes and a thick mustache – was known
among his colleagues as a consummate pilot. He’d recently
completed a promotional video for his airline…
http://www.esquire.com/features/long-fall-one-eleven-heavy-0700
two
USA Today, 2003 February 17
Doomed plane’s gaming system exposes holes in FAA oversight
Less than two months after the crash, Flight 111’s destruction
prompted Swissair to disconnect systems on its planes.
A year after the crash, the Federal Aviation Administration
banned their use on MD-11s. For the past year, USA TODAY
has investigated how a piece of equipment that was so quickly discredited came to be installed on a major international airline…
http://www.usatoday.com/travel/news/2003/2003-02-17-swissair.htm
three
WashingtonPost.com, 2004 February 18
PBS NOVA: Crash of Flight 111 – Aviation Crash Investigation
[Transcript: Live discussion online]
…high-profile cases like SR 111 involve detailed accident investigations
that can take years to complete. With more avionics in today’s new jets,
tracing down the flow of evanescent electrons can make post-accident
investigations even tougher. The SR111 case was a real test of the
TSB’s mettle, and they rose to the challenge. They had a lot of issues
to address, as evidenced by nearly two dozen recommendations. Some led directly to design standards, which can take a long time
to change. Basically, the TSB has said that if flammable materials are
not used in airliners, the danger of in-flight fire is reduced dramatically…
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/discussion/
2004/02/13/DI2005040306711.html
four
BBC News, 1999 July 12
Die by Wire: everything you didn’t want to know about airliner wiring
…This catastrophic crash may become the turning point on an issue of
air safety that remains largely hidden. The Canadians now have it in their
grasp to prove something that has been suspected for twenty years.
A new and frightening truth is emerging from beneath the calm waters
of Peggy’s Cove… Every large modern passenger jet contains some
150 miles [240 km] of wiring. These hidden blood vessels carry
power for the thousands of functions today’s modern jets must perform.
For years the manufacturers have treated wire as wire. Fit and forget.
But that’s all changing. Wiring is not as innocent as it first looked.
90% of the planes flying today come under the wing of the Boeing
Aircraft Company. Until eight years ago, most of its aircraft contained
a particular aircraft wire insulated with a plastic material known colloquially
as “Kapton”. This is a piece of Kapton insulated wire. It’s still made today
and flies in over a third of the world’s commercial planes. Kapton is best
when young. It’s feather weight, the thickness of only about three human
hairs, flame resistant, tough. That’s the good news. And this is the bad.
The Kapton insulation can explode like a firework if it’s chafed or rubs
against metal… Worse still, salt water or solvent can penetrate the
insulation and cause the same problem… Most wires, when they
short-circuit, simply spark and blow a fuse. But with Kapton insulation,
the spark explodes and arcs setting fire to the plastic insulation…
http://www.iasa.com.au/folders/Safety_Issues/Aircraft_Wire/panorama.html
five
Halifax Daily News, 1999 February 01
Widow fights for aviation safety
…”If the Federal Aviation Authority was doing what I thought
my tax dollars were paying them to do, that plane would not have
crashed”… She doesn’t blame pilot Urs Zimmermann but the
industry, which has known for years about problems with some wiring insulations, the dangers inherent to some cockpit checklist
procedures, and the inadequacy of its own safety standards…
“It’s politics and it’s money… How many people have to go before
these people open their goddamn eyes?”…
http://web.archive.orghttp://
www.hfxnews.southam.ca/Crash/swissair242.html
six
Canadian Press, 1999 August 28
Multitude of causes lined up for crash of Flight 111
…”The crash of Swissair Flight 111 is likely to be one of those
seminal events that changes design practices and operational procedures throughout the airline industry,” said David Evans,
editor of the industry newsletter Air Safety Week. “I think the
tragedy did not so much raise new issues of air safety as to bring old problems into sharp focus. They have been lurking,
literally, out of sight and out of mind. A lot of good things
will come out of this tragedy”…
http://www.iasa.com.au/folders/sr111/stevethorne.html
seven
Air Safety Week, 1998 November 23
Cruel Lessons of Aircraft Fires Mandate More, Not Marginal Capability
…As an example of the information gap, Tom Phillips, chairman of the
accident survival committee of the Air Line Pilots Association (ALPA),
offered this illustration: High over the Atlantic, a warning light illuminates on
the cockpit center console, indicating a possible fire in the aft belly hold.
In a chill of anxiety, the pilot activates the fire suppression system, which
squirts a bottle-full of Halon into the hold. The light remains on. He has
no idea if it is a false warning (the false alarm rate is about 160:1), or if
a fire is raging down below that could soon burn through the belly
compartment and spread through the aircraft. He can divert to one of two
airfields. One is 300 miles [500 km] distant – a former military base with
no significant airport rescue and fire fighting (ARFF) capability. The other
airport is 600 miles [1000 km] distant with full ARFF capability. “Which
one do you divert to?” Phillips asked. “All we have is that little light”…
No longer available on the WWW. Formerly located at
http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0UBT/is_47_12/ai_53262106
eight
Penticton Herald, 2008 September 01
TSB investigator recalls being overwhelmed by Swissair crash off N.S.
…The shattered pieces were taken to an aircraft hangar outside Halifax
where TSB officials painstakingly pieced them together. What they found
was a chain of events that were as unusual in their circumstance as they were
tragic in their outcome. “A fire during a flight is very rare,” Vance explained
in a recent interview from his office in Ottawa. So are crashes into the ocean.
In the case of Swissair Flight 111, the plane was intact until it hit the ocean
and that allowed investigators to get a rare look at a fire’s progress until the
instant it was extinguished. “We basically had a stoppage of time,” said
Vance. “I don’t think that has ever happened (before) and may never happen again. It gave us the opportunity to place the aircraft pieces back where
they belong, trace the history of the fire, and see what it was actually doing”…
No longer available on the WWW. Formerly located at
http://www.pentictonherald.ca/stories_national.php?id=131622
nine
Canadian Press, (no date)
Multitude of causes lined up for crash of Flight 111 By Stephen Thorne
…The disastrous crash of Swissair Flight 111 on the night of
Sept. 2, 1998, was not the result of a single damaged wire, a moment’s
lapse of judgment or a chance encounter with fate. Like so many
disasters before it, the tragedy that claimed the lives of all 229people
aboard the MD-11 jet was born of a chain of events and failures – all
of them, ultimately, human. Aged and volatile electrical wiring.
A taxing new inflight entertainment system. A fuselage lined with
highly flammable insulation blankets. A veteran pilot with a
Germanic devotion to the book. And a flawed book.
Remove any one and the chain collapses. Swissair Flight111
passes quietly through the darkness unnoticed off Peggy’s Cove,
landing in faraway Geneva…
http://www.iasa.com.au/folders/sr111/stevethorne.html
ten
EASA Notice of Proposed Amendment 2007-01, 2007 March 13
Amendments…Electrical Wiring Interconnection… (pdf) 148 pages
…Electrical wiring systems perform functions essential to the safety of the
entire aeroplane. They distribute power throughout the aeroplane, transmit
signals for control, and send data. Over time, as more sophisticated
computerized systems have been introduced into aeroplane controls,
their electrical wires, cables, and associated components have become
increasingly important to safe flight. Historically, manufacturers have
been required to provide maintenance-related information for aeroplane
systems. However, there has never been a requirement for
maintenance information specifically for wiring systems…
Safety concerns about wiring systems in aeroplanes were brought to the
forefront of public and governmental attention by a mid-air explosion
in 1996… Two years later, an MD-11 aeroplane crashed into the Atlantic
Ocean, killing all 229people aboard. Although an exact cause could not
be determined, a region of resolidified copper on a wire of the inflight
entertainment system cable indicated that wire arcing had occurred in
the area where the fire most likely originated. Investigations of those
accidents and subsequent examinations of other aeroplanes showed that
deteriorated wiring, corrosion, improper wire installation and repairs,
and contamination of wire bundles with metal shavings, dust, and fluids,
which would provide fuel for fire, were common conditions in
representative examples of the “ageing fleet of transport aeroplanes…”
It was concluded that current maintenance practices do not
adequately address wiring components, wiring inspection criteria
are too general, and unacceptable conditions, such as improper
repairs and installations, are not described in enough detail in
maintenance instructions. Wiring failures result in aeroplane delays,
unscheduled landings, in-flight entertainment system problems,
nonfatal accidents, and fatal accidents…
Up until this time, aeroplane wiring has never been singled out
for special attention during maintenance inspections…
Although close attention is paid to safe design within systems, it was
assumed that for the wiring providing power to those systems,
standard industry practice was appropriate, and modifications have
often been performed without scrutiny for the effect their wiring
additions may have on other systems in the aeroplane.…
http://easa.europa.eu/rulemaking/docs/npa/2007/NPA%202007-01.pdf
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These items also are of interest:
eleven
Journal of Air Transportation, 2004 January
Swissair 111 Human Factors: Checklists and Cockpit Communication
…problems with the MD-11 checklist were uncovered during the TSB’s
investigation of the Swissair111 accident. Past research indicates that
Flight Officers may have difficulty communicating with captains and
that this difficulty increases during times of high stress…
One of the criticisms of the pilots and Swissair culture was an overreliance
on checklists. Captain John Nance, pilot, author, attorney, and ABC TV
Network safety analyst, believed that Swissair’s culture emphasized the
checklist causing the pilots to spend precious time going through a
logic tree rather than preparing to land…
More troublesome for the TSB was the location of landing preparations
on the checklists. Neither the Swissair nor the McDonnell-Douglas
Smoke of Unknown Origin Checklist stated that preparations for an
emergency landing should be considered immediately. In fact, landing
was the last item on the checklist. With Swissair111, the TSB found
that even if landing had been first on the list, the aircraft would not have
had enough time to land safely at Halifax. Also, as noted above, the pilots
did begin preparations for landing before initiating any checklists. While
inconsequential for Swissair111, however, placement on the checklist
could endanger future flights. The Smoke of Unknown Origin Checklist
could take more than 30 minutes to complete…the TBS warned that for
ongoing in-flight fires 30minutes may be too long…
The MD-11 checklists and the smoke switch used in the procedure were
developed to replace the multiple steps a flight engineer carried out for many
years on the DC-10. While it is true that the procedures and the development
of a single switch in some respects simplified smoke troubleshooting, it also
placed the workload previously handled by three crew members onto the
shoulders of only two crew members…
Excessive obedience may cause as many as 25% of all airplane accidents…
One of the most controversial moments in the flight came when the aircraft
changed course away from Halifax and out to sea to dump fuel. The TSB
emphasized in the TSB Final that the pilots did not know, and could not have
known, how far the problem had already developed… Multiple failures are
extremely improbable considering the highly automated and redundant
systems found in modern passenger aircraft. They do happen, however,
as illustrated by Swissair 111. While the checklists did not play a role in the
outcome of Swissair 111, conflicts did arise between two of the checklists…
http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qa5467/is_200401/ai_n21358044
twelve
Aviation Safety & Security Digest, 2008 August 26
The Tragic Legacy of Swissair Flight 111
…Someone had to speak out for all the senseless deaths and
the many families destroyed by the FAA’s lack of attention to:
• The hazards associated with specific aircraft wiring
insulation types, snaked throughout the airliner and long known
for their propensity to arc when chafed or cracked.
• The dangers of the metallized Mylar thermal
acoustic insulation blankets, present throughout the airframe
and highly flammable when ignited by an arcing wire.
The FAA was alerted to this deadly hazard by the Civil Aviation
Administration of China in 1996, two years prior to the
crash of Flight SR-111…
http://www.iasa.com.au/folders/menu/index.htm
thirteen
FAA failings in Swissair crash follow a too-familiar pattern
…In all three tragedies, the FAA botched its paramount mission:
to make sure that those inspecting, maintaining and modifying
commercial airliners do their jobs properly… The Swissair crash
underscores the risks of further delay. USA Today reported
last week that the airline had fitted some of its planes with a
sophisticated entertainment system that let passengers watch
movies, shop and gamble. The FAA failed to oversee the
installation, and problems later surfaced with both the system
and Santa Barbara Aerospace, the company that signed off on
the safety of the planes. Before the crash, the FAA repeatedly
cited the firm for poor performance and even briefly suspended
it while the entertainment system was being installed on Swissair
planes. Those concerns should have prompted the FAA to take
a closer look at the project. But it didn’t. Swissair Flight 111
carried a system suspected of sparking a deadly electrical fire,
though an official cause has not yet been released. Only after
the crash did the FAA acknowledge risks with the system
and Santa Barbara Aerospace’s procedures…
http://www.usatoday.com/news/opinion/editorials/2003-02-25-our-view_x.htm
fourteen
Wall Street Journal, 2000
Swissair Crash Tests Relations With Insurers
…The relationship between Swissair, which hadn’t had a crash in
19 years, and the victims’ families got off to as good a start as
could be expected after the Sept. 2, 1998, tragedy. Within hours,
the airline – in conjunction with Delta Airlines, its
code-sharing partner on the flight – had employees at
New York’s Kennedy Airport provide limited information and
grief counseling. Following the 1996 crash of TWA Flight 800,
airlines have been required by law to take this step in crashes
involving every flight that takes off from or lands in the U.S.
Walter Vollenweider, the Swissair executive then in charge of
the Americas, arrived at Kennedy Airport within an hour to
personally comfort family members. In addition, Swissair and
Delta flew multiple family members to Halifax, near where
the crash occurred, at their expense…
http://www.calbaptist.edu/dskubik/air_insu.htm
fifteen
Transportation Safety Board, 2003 March 25
Swissair 111 Investigation Report: Executive Summary
…during the course of the investigation, it became evident that the circuit
breaker resetting philosophy and procedures varied considerably among
manufacturers, operators, flight crews, and maintenance personnel
throughout the industry…
http://www.tsb.gc.ca/eng/medias-media/fiches-facts/A98H0003/sum_a98h0003.asp
sixteen
Halifax Daily News, 1999 August 28
Grotesque document of disaster,
Catalogue itemizes Swissair crash victims’ recovered possessions
…Page after page, section after section, the items are displayed in
three blue binders, a grotesque document of disaster… It has been sent
to relatives in the hope they can identify and reclaim some of personal
effects that still sit in warehouses a year after the horrific Sept. 2
crash that left all 229 people dead. Since the crash, Romano has
received constant, tormenting reminders of the tragedy, including
70 copies of her husband’s death certificate, the shredded over-night
bag she had packed before he left, and repeated offers to cash in
his frequent-flyer points…
http://web.archive.orghttp://
www.hfxnews.southam.ca/Crash/swissair304.html
seventeen
USA Today, 2003 March 27
Crash report points to wiring
An electrical wiring problem was the most likely cause of a fire that
caused Swissair Flight111 to crash into the Atlantic Ocean near Halifax,
Nova Scotia, in1998, Canadian investigators said in a report Thursday…
The entertainment system was made by a U.S. company, Interactive
Flight Technologies. After the crash, Swissair disconnected the system
from its planes and the Federal Aviation Administration, citing problems
with its design, banned it from airliners…
http://www.usatoday.com/money/biztravel/2003-03-27-swissair-crah_x.htm
Table of Contents
Transportation Safety Board
TSB Official Report on Swissair Flight 111
Appendix C Swissair ‘Smoke of Unknown Origin’ Checklist
Time
Swissair Flight 111 Archive
Time, 1998 September 14
No Safe Harbor …out of the wreck of Swissair Flight 111
came not even one survivor from the 229 people onboard…
http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,989071,00.html
Time, 1998 September 28
Aircraft Safety: Blowing Smoke?
The pilot’s voice was calm, but his distress call described one
of an aviator’s worst fears: “We have smoke in the cockpit.”
Eleven minutes later, his radio fell silent, and six minutes
after that, Swissair Flight 111 slammed into the Atlantic Ocean
off Nova Scotia, killing all 229 people onboard…
http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,989204,00.html
Time, 1998 September 28
Dispatches from the Grave
…cash floated up from the depths. He saw a $1,000 U.S. bill riding
a current, absurdly intact, the slow-motion tumble of a dream that
makes no sense. Two hundred twenty-nine people had plunged
from the sky in unthinkable terror, instant death their only mercy…
http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,989178,00.html
Time, 1998 November 09
Playing Deadly Games?
In the intensely competitive market for business- and first-class
flyers, Swissair for the past year had pampered such customers
with premium video and gambling screens at their seats, touting
“an unprecedented degree of freedom and choice.” But that
in-seat entertainment center may have been a deadly luxury for
the passengers of Flight 111, the Geneva-bound MD-11 that crashed
off the Nova Scotia coast Sept. 2, killing all 229 people aboard…
http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,989551,00.html
Time, 1999 February 01
Notebook …When Swissair flight 111 crashed off Nova Scotia last fall,
many experts were surprised that the pilots turned out to sea to dump fuel
– a standard emergency tack but one that may have given the plane’s
suspected wiring problem enough time to force the craft down…
http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,990126,00.html
Time, 2001 November 26
Safety Lessons from Tragedy
…Departing from New York City, a Boeing MD-11 en route to Geneva
crashes off Nova Scotia, killing 229. Canadian investigators haven’t
determined a specific cause of the crash, but they suspect that
wiring problems may have started a fire…
http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1001306,00.html
Time, 2007 September 26
Connectivity in the Air: Bringing Wi-Fi to the Skies
…It looks as though our days of being sealed into airborne vaults –
disconnected, inaccessible and unaccountable – really are numbered.
As carriers pour many more millions into in-flight entertainment
systems, as was clear recently at Toronto’s World Airline Entertainment
Association conference, U.S. airlines are embracing new air-to-ground
and satellite systems to offer wi-fi service on commercial flights
as early as next spring…
http://www.time.com/time/specials/2007/article/0,28804,1665220_1665225_1665673,00.html
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