Nova: Crash of Flight 111

[747FOCAL]

Nova: Crash of Flight 111
PBS.org 02/17/04

On the evening of September 2, 1998, a Swissair MD-11 jet bound from New York to Geneva diverted to Halifax, Nova Scotia, after the crew smelled smoke in the cockpit. Just minutes from the airport, Flight 111 plunged into the ocean, killing all 229 people aboard. "Crash of Flight 111" tells the behind-the-scenes story of the quest for the cause of this tragic accident.

NOVA was given unprecedented access to one of the most intricate aviation investigations ever mounted, which cost $39 million, took more than four years, and involved a seemingly hopeless search for evidence among two million pieces of debris scattered across the seafloor. Through painstaking detective work, investigators eventually pinned the cause of the accident to a chain of events set off by conditions that still exist on many planes today.

After what appeared to be a minor smoke problem developed aboard Flight 111, the pilots headed for the nearest airport, Halifax International, for a nonemergency landing. On approach, they decided it would be safer if they first dumped fuel over the ocean in order to lighten the aircraft



http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/aircrash/

[Apollo99]

I have read a book published here in Canada a few years back. The book is pre completion of the investigation but a good look into the early investigation and the tragic results just after the accident.

[Rollingthunder]

Through painstaking detective work, investigators eventually pinned the cause of the accident to a chain of events set off by conditions that still exist on many planes today

Even if recommendations are adopted, implementation usually moves at the pace of a glacier. Removal of flammable insulation in sensitive areas was given five years, I think, and then extended to 2005. There's still the wiring issue.

[Loose rivets]

I saw that report a couple of nights ago...(I'm in the southern states at the moment.) It was a very good production.

My mental images of the last moments on that flight-deck were still with me the next morning.

The crew acted on the perceived emergency in a manner that seemed appropriate at first, but unfortunately, in the last minutes, things took a severe turn for the worst.

Better standby instrumentation may just have helped the co-pilot towards the end, the only pilot in his seat, but that is conjecture.

I did not like the theory that he may have (let the nose drop?) While trying to execute a largely visual turn towards the runway...sic "perhaps because he had his face pressed onto the side window." I think it is very possible that the flaming plastic rain had reached his side...how could anyone know what options were left to him?

I was astonished at how inflammable the insulation material was, but that will be put right...eventually. What I would like to see is a better detection system for electrical faults.

Residual Current Devices, protect complete cable runs and the end device, from leakages out of that particular circuit. They trip at a few milliamps, turning off high currents in a fraction of a second. RCDs are one of the most simple yet clever inventions known to man, yet to a large extent aircraft have in the past, relied on circuit breakers.

I would be interested to know if the latest types use any advanced detection systems.