Aviation

Citation

(1999), "Aviation", Disaster Prevention and Management, Vol. 8 No. 5. https://doi.org/10.1108/dpm.1999.07308eac.008

Aviation

Aviation

21 August 1998 - Kathmandu, Nepal

Helicopters failed to find a missing aircraft in western Nepal today, officials said. They said bad weather hampered the search for the Lumbini Airways' Twin Otter, which was missing since this morning with 18 people on board. It is cloudy and bad weather is hampering the search, said Kumar Koirala, senior superintendent of police. He said the search centred on the area between Lete and Ghodechour, where the missing aircraft was last spotted by another aircraft. The aircraft with 15 passengers and a three-member crew disappeared shortly after taking off from Jomsom, a resort town in western Nepal. It was destined for Pokhara, 200km (125 miles) west of Kathmandu. Lumbini Airlines' manager in Pokhara, Sushil Kafle, said the passengers included 12 Nepalis and three Indian nationals. The three crew members were Nepalis. Officials said the aircraft lost contact with air traffic control five minutes after take-off from Jomsom, in the shadow of the world's tenth highest mountain, Mount Annapurna. It was due to land in Pokhara after 20 minutes. Ground search teams were still looking for the aircraft, after the helicopters returned. A fresh air search was scheduled for tomorrow, airport officials in Kathmandu said.

28 August 1998 - Rescuers today recovered 17 charred bodies from the site of an aircraft crash in the mountains of western Nepal, an official said. "The rescue team is looking for one more body," a spokesman for the rescue co-ordination centre in Kathmandu said. The Twin Otter aircraft, on a flight from the resort township of Jomsom to Pokhara, 200km west of Kathmandu, crashed on 21 July on the steep slopes of a mountain at Narchyang in Myagdi district. There were 15 passengers - 12 Nepali and three Indian nationals - and a crew of three on board the aircraft. The control tower lost contact with the aircraft five minutes after its take-off from Jomsom, which lies between Mount Annapurna and Mount Dhaulagiri. The spokesman said rescue workers equipped with rock climbing gear reached the site of the crash today to find the victims' bodies scattered over the rocks. "Only three bodies could be identified and the rest are burnt beyond recognition," he said. He said that if the weather improved the bodies would be flown out in helicopters to be handed over to relatives. Rescuers battled rough weather and the difficult mountain terrain for eight days, first to locate the crash site and then to reach it.

24 August 1998 - Yangon, Thailand

A Myanmar Airways Corp. Fokker F-27 aircraft, with about 39 passengers on board, was missing today after it failed to land at a provincial airport on the Myanmar- Thailand border, a Transport Ministry official said. The official said the aircraft was on a regular two-hour domestic flight from Yangon to the eastern border town of Tachilek, where it was due to have landed at 02.00, UTC. The official said: "We're still trying to find out what has happened to it". He said most passengers of the missing aircraft were Myanmar citizens but he had no other details. Thai civil aviation authorities said today they had been contacted by their Myanmar counterparts to be on alert for any sign of the aircraft.

25 August 1998 - Troops are searching for a Burmese aircraft with more than 30 people on board which went missing near Tachilek, opposite Mae Sai, early yesterday. The Burmese military asked its Thai counterpart to help search for the Fokker F-27, which was lost on a flight from Rangoon. Col. Nipat Thonglek, an aide to the army chief, said the crew of Air Myanmar aircraft had twice contacted air traffic control to report poor visibility. Diplomats in Burma said poor weather in Tachilek meant the aircraft had been diverted to Heho or Chiang Mai. Officials at both airports had been notified but no more had been heard from the aircraft. The flight was understood to be a regular domestic service leaving Rangoon about 08.30 and due to take about two hours to reach Tachilek.

Authorities in Thailand and Myanmar today widened their search for a missing Myanmar Airways Corp. Fokker F-27 with 39 people on board, aviation officials said. Myanmar authorities who believe the missing aircraft went down in Thailand have asked officials there to hunt for it, an airline official said. The aircraft was on a regular two-hour domestic flight from Yangon to the eastern border town of Tachilek, where it was due to have landed at 02.00, UTC, yesterday. "The Myanmar government believes it is somewhere in Thailand, but nobody knows exactly where," an official of Myanmar Airways International in Bangkok said. Most of the passengers were Myanmay military personnel, a Myanmar Airways official in Yangon said. Yangon's Ministry of Information has said the aircraft, flight UB635, tried to land at Tachilek but had been unable to do so due to poor weather. It had therefore flown on to Heho in south-east Myanmar but had lost contact with ground control. A control tower official at Bangkok International Airport said radar operators at northern airports in Thailand had not detected the aircraft and had received no emergency calls for help.

25 August 1998 - A Myanmar Airways Corp. Fokker F-27 reported missing yesterday with 39 passengers on board landed safely in Laos, an official of Myanmar Airways said today. "The passengers and plane are OK. They landed at a Laos airport," the official said. "The aircraft made a fine landing at an old airfield in Laos," he said. "I think the aircraft can fly back to Yangon tomorrow."

27 August 1998 - Mystery surrounded the fate of a Myanmar Airways Corp. Fokker F-27 today, four days after it was reported missing with 39 passengers on board. Myanmar's Foreign Ministry said a search was continuing for the aircraft, while the Foreign Ministry of neighbouring Laos denied a report by an official of Myanmar Airways on Tuesday (25 August) that it had landed safely in the north of that country. "The Ministry of Foreign Affairs has checked with all agencies concerned and found that no Myanmar aircraft landed in Laos," said Thepthavorn Saengmance, deputy spokesman of the Lao Foreign Ministry. He said there were two provincial airports, Bokeo and Luang Nam Tha, in northern Laos near the Myanmar border but both were too small for a Fokker F-27 to land. The missing aircraft, on flight UB635, had been on a regular two-hour, domestic route from Yangon to the eastern border town of Tachilek, where it was due to have landed at 02.00, UTC, on Monday. According to a statement from Yangon's Ministry of Information on Monday, the aircraft had been unable to land at Tachilek due to poor weather so had flown on to Heho in south-east Myanmar but then lost contact with ground control. Tin Ulaing Hmee, the managing director of Myanmar Airways, said an official of the airline who said on Tuesday that the aircraft had landed in Laos had not been authorised to speak about the issue. He declined to say what might have happened to the aircraft. Ohn Gyaw, a spokesman for the Myanmai Foreign Ministry, said a search was continuing.

27 August 1998 - A Myanmar Airways Corp. Fokker F-27 reported missing four days ago crashed in Laos, a spokesman for the Myanmar government said today. The aircraft came down in northern Laos. He said the fate of the passengers and crew was not known. The official said the aircraft came down on Payakha mountain, but gave no other details.

28 August 1998 - A Myanma Airways Corp. Fokker F-27 reported missing five days ago with 39 passengers on board crashed in Myanmar, not in Laos as earlier stated, officials of the Myanmar and Laotian governments said today. Earlier this week, an official of the airline said the aircraft had landed safely in Laos. Yesterday, a Myanmar government spokesman said Laos had told them the aircraft had crashed there. "We now know the crash was on our side in the Tachilek area," an official of the Myanmar Transport Ministry said. "This region is very mountainous and densely forested. The fate of those on board is not known yet." He said an air and ground search was still being carried out by air force and army personnel. Japan's Kyodo news agency yesterday quoted officials of the Myanmar and Laotian embassies in Bangkok as saying the remains of 36 of the 39 people on board the aircraft had been found. Diplomats at the embassies said today they were unable to confirm the report. Officials in Yangon have said all those on board were Myanmar citizens. The aircraft had been on a regular two-hour domestic flight from Yangon to Tachilek. Yangon's Ministry of Information has said the aircraft had been unable to land at Tachilek due to poor weather and had flown on to Heho in south-east Myanmar but then lost contact with ground control. "This morning the Myanmar authorities told us the aircraft is in Myanmar," said an official of the Laotian Foreign Ministry in Vientiane. "it is not in Laos. We have checked all the places mentioned but found nothing." A Myanmar diplomat in Vientiane said he thought the confusion was due to wrong information from villagers living in the area.

28 August 1998 - All 39 people on board a Myanmar Airways Corp. Fokker F-27 aircraft that crashed five days ago in eastern Myanmar are presumed to have died, a government official said today. "We have sighted the crash site from the air. Thirty-nine people are believed to have been on board and all are presumed to have died," said the official. Earlier, a Transport Ministry official said the aircraft, on domestic flight UB635, crashed in eastern Myanmar near the town Tachilek, not in neighbouring Laos as was stated yesterday. The government official said the 39 people on board included passengers and crew. The airline has not provided a manifest but an official of Myanmar Airways International in Bangkok said earlier this week that most of those on board were Myanmar military personnel.

28 August 1998 - Searchers found the bodies of all 36 people that were on board a Myanmar Airways Fokker F-27 aircraft that crashed five days ago in eastern Myanmar, a government spokesman said today. "A search party arrived at the crash site at 02.00, local time, this morning and found the debris of the aircraft," he said. "They found all 36 bodies of those on board." The dead included four crew members and three babies, he said. A government official said earlier there were 39 people on board the aircraft including passengers and crew. The spokesman said the aircraft crashed about 6km north-east of the Shan State town of Tachilek. A Transport Ministry official said the aircraft came down in a mountainous and forested area. The aircraft had been on a regular two-hour domestic flight from Yangon to Tachilek. The Ministry of Information has said the aircraft had been unable to land at Tachilek due to poor weather. It had flown on to Heho in the south-east but then lost contact with ground control.

20 September 1998 - Several people survived the crash of the Myanmar Airways Fokker F-27 in eastern Myanmar last month, only to suffer rape, torture and eventual death at the hands of local villagers, the Bangkok Post reported today. In a report which quoted unnamed officials and witnesses from the region of the crash site, the paper said an air hostess and a female university student from the aircraft were gang-raped by villagers and an infant starved to death. The report said at least five people had survived the crash. It said male survivors were tortured and villagers chopped off ears and fingers to get at passengers' gold jewellery. The report also said that living and dead Myanmar military personnel who were among the passengers were kicked and punched by the ethnic Shan villagers. It said Myanmar authorities had questioned at least 14 Shan villagers in connection with the incident. The aircraft crashed while on a scheduled domestic flight from Myanmar's capital Yangon to Tachilek. The newspaper report quoted witnesses as saying that up to 12 were soldiers while other passengers were their wives and children. It said the passengers included the Tachilek police chief and senior officials of the town. The Ministry of Information has said the aircraft had been unable to land at Tachilek due to poor weather. It was diverted to Heho in the south-east but then lost contact with ground control.

29 August 1998 - Quito, Ecuador

A Cuban commercial airliner crashed on takeoff from the Mariscal Sucre airport in Quito, Ecuador, killing at least 76 people. Authorities say the Russian-made Tupolev-154 aircraft, owned by Cubana de Aviacion, clipped the roof of an auto mechanic's shop beyond the end of the runway and burst into flames when it crashed in an adjacent soccer field. Ecuador's Civil Aviation Office said contrary to earlier reports there were 76 passengers and 14 crew on board. At least 19 foreigners were killed, including citizens from Cuba, Jamaica and Italy. There were no reports of Americans among those killed. Most of the 90 people on board the Cubana flight to Guayaquil on the Ecuadorian coast, and then on to Havana, died in the crash. Several people on the ground were also killed, including a number of children who had been playing soccer. Hospital officials said 26 people injured in the crash were being treated, but it was not clear if they had been on board the aircraft or on the ground. The BBC quoted one survivor as saying the plane struggled to gain altitude, rising only a few feet before it crashed into a wall near the end of the runway. Hernan Boada said, "It felt like the plane was rising and suddenly it crashed into a wall and burst into flames. I saw other people wrapped in flames jump from the plane. I was in a window seat near the wing. The doors would not open, so I jumped through a hole in the plane." The cause of the crash was under investigation.

29 August 1998 - At least 77 people were killed and 39 injured today, when a Cuban airliner crashed into a field and exploded while trying to take off from Quito's international airport, officials said. Gen. Oswaldo Dominguez, head of the Civil Aviation department, said that 68 of 90 people on board a Cubana de Aviacion flight to Guayaquil died in the crash, 15 had survived and seven were unaccounted for. Nine Ecuadorians near the site of the crash were also killed, Dominguez said. There are 30 people who have already been identified, two Italians, one Jamaican, a Chilean and three Cubans. The rest are Ecuadorians, he said. Dominguez said there were 38 remaining bodies to be identified plus 14 bags with human remains. A total of 39 people, mostly Ecuadorian, were injured in the crash. Quito's Metropolitan hospital said 15 passengers had survived the crash, although four were in critical condition due to their heavy burns and fractures. Among those killed when the plane crashed through the airport's fence into a nearby field were five children playing soccer. The only thing recorded at the control tower is the aircraft's permission to take off and then the crew's acceptance to take off, Dominguez said. Officials in Havana said they were sending an aircraft with technicians to establish the cause of the accident, he said. Cuba's Civil Aeronautical Institute (IACC) said the cause of the crash was not immediately known. The flight had arrived earlier today from Cuba and was heading to the coastal town of Guayaquil, it was then scheduled to return to Havana. Eyewitnesses and survivors said the jet seemed to have engine problems before the accident. They said the aircraft tried and failed twice to take off, and, on the third attempt, the pilot was forced to slam on the brakes when it could not get enough altitude as it neared the runway's end. It then crashed into a nearby field. The aircraft also damaged a nearby auto shop, although the extent of the damage was not known. After a six hour shutdown following the crash, the airport renewed partial service and extended its hours past midnight local time (05.00 GMT), when it usually closes. Technicians were also fixing damages to the airport's electrical and radio systems, officials said. Fire brigades doused the aircraft's turbines with chemicals to avoid any further explosions.

30 August 1998 - The death toll from the crash of a Cuban Tupolev Tu-154 aircraft at Ecuador's Quito airport rose to 80 today, after aviation experts searched the wreckage in hopes of pinning down the cause of the accident. The Cubana de Aviacion aircraft ploughed through airport fences and into a nearby field after it aborted its attempt to take off yesterday, witnesses said. The aircraft caught fire and exploded. The civil aviation department said that by late today, a total of 80 people were known to have died. The initial toll of 77 increased when one victim died in the hospital of severe burns and two more bodies were found at the site. Fifty-six passengers and all 14 members of the Cuban crew died in the crash, officials said. Another ten people were killed on the ground - four mechanics, a security guard at a workshop, and five people who were believed to have been getting ready to play soccer in the field where the plane blew up. The civil aviation department said five of the 20 survivors from the aircraft were unscathed. The plane had been carrying 90 people to the coastal town of Guayaquil after arriving from Havana yesterday morning. Officials said they found one of the aircraft's "black box" flight recorders after 15 Cubans from the Cuban Institute for Aeronautics arrived to help in the investigation. The largest intact portion of the aircraft, the tail, was removed from the crash site for further investigation. The rest of the wreckage was being collected for further study. The head of the Ecuadorian commission investigating the accident, Col. Jorge Moreno, said the aircraft's departure had been delayed more than 30 minutes because of technical problems. Moreno did not specify what the problems were. He said investigators had found the port engine was set for reverse thrust at the time of the crash and the starboard engine was partially set for reverse. Cuba's state news agency Prensa Latina said survivors included two Chileans, an Italian and three Cubans. The rest were Ecuadorians. It said the dead on the aircraft included 24 Cubans, including the crew, an Italian, a Spaniard, a Jamaican and an Argentine. The remaining dead passengers were Ecuadorian. Civil aviation officials said the airport was handling traffic at its normal rate.

1 September 1998 - Ecuador said today that a preliminary inquiry into the crash of the Cuban airliner, in which 80 people died on 30 August, showed no obvious technical faults on the Russian-made Tupolev or problems with air traffic control. The findings, based on examination of the aircraft wreckage and air traffic control exchanges, appeared to contradict survivors who said the aircraft seemed to have engine problems before takeoff. President Jamil Mahuad's spokesman said Mahuad received the report on the crash of the Cubana de Aviacion plane from civil aviation chief Gen. Oswaldo Dominguez tonight. Nothing in that report suggests there was going to be any problem with the aircraft nor much less with the people in charge of operating the control tower, the spokesman said. Communications between the aircraft and tower were completely fluid. At no moment did the crew show fear or any problem, he said. But he did not rule out technical faults as a cause of the accident, which occurred in daylight and good weather, and said investigators will only know for sure once they have examined information from "black box" flight recorders recovered from the wreckage yesterday. A representative of Cuban insurance firm Compania Seguros Internacionales said in Quito it will pay relatives a maximum of $20,000 compensation for each person killed. Civil aviation authorities are still deciding whether to send the black boxes and engines back to Havana for analysis, the government said. It had earlier said the Cubans were best placed to examine the data from the flight recorders. The spokesman said the report did acknowledge that Russian-made aircraft frequently experience start-up problems due to Quito's 9,446 feet altitude.

2 September 1998 - The death toll from crash of a Cuban Tupolev airliner in Quito rose to 81 after an Ecuadorian passenger died, hospital officials said today. Ecuadorian Maria Freyle, who died late yesterday, suffered third-degree burns over 90 per cent of her body in the Cubana de Aviacion crash that has so far claimed the lives of 71 of the 90 people on board the aircraft and ten people on the ground. Ten other crash victims, two of whom are said to be in very serious condition, are being treated at Quito's Metropolitan Hospital, officials said. The toll climbed as the Cuban government responded to appeals to Ecuador from some of the victims' families not to send flight recorders from the doomed plane to Havana. Those Ecuadorians fear Cuba might tamper with information from the "black boxes" to favour state-run Cubana in any investigation. Ecuadorian experts and 15 Cubans are investigating the crash in which the aircraft careered off the runway and exploded while trying to take off from the capital's international airport. Cuba has offered to take the "black boxes" to Havana and quickly issue a detailed report. Ecuador is studying similar offers from Russia, Germany, Romania and the Ukraine.

2 September 1998 - Atlantic Ocean, off Canadian coast

A Swissair McDonnell Douglas MD-11 crashed in the Atlantic Ocean off the Canadian coast Wednesday night, US officials said. US aviation officials in Washington said they had confirmed that Swissair Flight 111 crashed in the Atlantic Ocean 40 miles south of Halifax, NS. A spokesman for the US Federal Aviation Administration said the Swissair MD-11 had left New York's John F. Kennedy Airport headed for Geneva at about 20.30, EDT (00.30, UTC, 3 September). It crashed less than an hour after leaving New York, an FAA spokeswoman said. The Canadian Press Agency said the aircraft had 227 passengers and crew on board and was en route from New York to Zurich. A spokesman in Washington for the US National Transportation Safety Board identified the flight as Swissair Flight 111 and said the agency was sending investigators to the crash site. The Canadian Press Agency quoted navy and rescue officials as saying the MD-11 was attempting to make an emergency landing in Halifax when it crashed. There was no immediate word on casualties. The agency said rescue crews were scouring an area seven nautical miles off Peggy's Cove on Nova Scotia's South Shore. Witnesses said Canadian navy vessels and helicopters were taking part in a search of the area. It was not immediately clear if the US Coast Guard would join the rescue effort. Residents of the area reported seeing a very low flying aircraft followed by a loud noise. Some 300 emergency personnel rushed to Blandford, to join the search for the downed Swissair aircraft. Several witnesses in the area said they heard a loud thud before the aircraft went into the ocean.

3 September 1998 - There are no survivors in the crash of a Swissair McDonnell Douglas MD-11 that went into the water while trying to make an emergency landing. There were 228 people on board. Swissair Flight 111, a seven-year-old aircraft that was headed for Switzerland from New York, had 213 passengers and a crew of 15 when it went down about 21.20, EDT, yesterday. Media reports state the pilot complained of smoke in the cockpit in requesting the emergency landing. Canadian authorities have launched a massive search-and-rescue mission this morning, and Mike Myett, of the Emergency Measure Organisation, said that the aircraft has been located and recovery efforts are under way. The aircraft been found a few miles off the coast in the Peggy's Cove area. Myett adds that both land and sea rescue vehicles have converged on the site. One report from the scene described a huge wreckage field in which human remains and aircraft sections were floating. Lt Cmdr Mike Constidine, of the Royal Canadian Coast Guard, said the aircraft was attempting an emergency landing at Halifax when it crashed. Residents in the area report that an aircraft was flying very low just before a large explosion was heard.

3 September 1998 - Rescue workers plucked bodies from the Atlantic off Canada's coast today from a Swissair McDonnell Douglas MD-11 that crashed with 229 passengers and crew on board. "We have confirmation of four bodies being found", said Search and Rescue spokesman Dan Bedell. Rescue officials said that no survivors had been recovered at the crash site. The aircraft had 213 passengers and 15 crew members on board, Swissair said in a statement, but a Swissair spokeswoman in New York later said that this figure was incorrect and there were 215 passengers including two infants and 14 crew on board. A Delta Air Lines spokesman said 53 Delta passengers and one Delta flight attendant were on the aircraft because it was a code-sharing flight that could share passengers with Delta. A flotilla of boats - a dozen military aircraft, two warships and dozens of regular and auxiliary Canadian Coast Guard vessels and fishing vessels - combed through an oily debris field in rough waters five nautical miles south of Peggy's Cove.

At least 18 bodies but no survivors were found today. The chief executive of Swissair parent company SAirGroup said he did not believe any of passengers and crew survived. A total of 16 bodies were picked up by fishing vessels from the sea before dawn today while another two bodies washed up on shore, Search and Rescue Centre spokesman Scott Verret said. No survivors had been found in the cold Atlantic waters and Canadian officials despaired of finding any alive. The pilot radioed Halifax traffic controllers at 21.22, EDT, to report smoke in the cabin and that fuel was being dumped in preparation for an emergency landing in Halifax, Canadian Navy spokesman Andre Ereault said. In Geneva, Swiss Air chief financial officer Georges Schorderet said there was "no indication of a terrorist attack" on the aircraft. He said the aircraft had gone into service in August 1991, and had undergone its last major service in August 1997. It was in "perfect working order and all services and checks had been made in accordance with our standards", he said.

5 September 1998 - The crash of Swissair McDonnell Douglas MD-11 (HB-IWF), Flight 111, into the Atlantic Ocean off Canada occurred as the jet manoeuvred to reduce altitude and dump fuel in a desperate attempt to reach Halifax airport, Canadian investigators said today. According to excerpts from the recorded conversation between the doomed jet's flight crew and air traffic controllers in Moncton, New Brunswick, at the height of the emergency, the MD-11 airliner with 229 people on board was heading north-east at an altitude of 33,000ft about 70 nautical miles from Halifax when the crew radioed it had smoke in the cockpit. The jet later plunged into the Atlantic just off Canada's east coast and near the fishing hamlet of Peggy's Cove on Wednesday night (2 September) during a flight from New York to Geneva, killing everyone on board. "Swissair 111 heavy is declaring Pan Pan Pan. We have smoke in the cockpit, request deviate immediate right turn to a convenient place, I guess Boston," the flight crew radioed at about 2114 hrs. "Would you prefer to go into Halifax?" the air traffic controller asked. The crew replied in the affirmative and turned left, northward towards Halifax airport. In „providing the excerpts, Vic Gerden, chief investigator for the Canadian Transportation Safety Board, told a news conference today that ground radar showed the jet was about 300 nautical miles beyond Boston. However, laden with fuel after having taken off from New York's John F. Kennedy Airport, the jet was too high and too heavy to make a beeline for Halifax. The three-engine airliner weighed about 230 tonnes, whereas its maximum permissible landing weight was 200 tonnes. "So it had approximately 30 tonnes of fuel in excess of the maximum landing weight," Gerden said. "it would have taken probably in the vicinity of 12 minutes of flying to dump that amount of fuel." The jet began a controlled descent of about 3,000 ft per minute. As it crossed Nova Scotia landfall only 30 nautical miles from Halifax airport, the crew radioed that it was too close to attempt a landing. "We need more than 30 miles," Flight 111 radioed. The controller gave the pilot permission to make another left turn inland, away from Halifax airport, to dump fuel. As the plane made a U-turn to head southwards back out towards the Atlantic, the pilot declared an emergency, which denotes a higher state of urgency than a "Pan." "We are declaring an emergency <$>\ldots<$> we are starting vent now. We have to land immediately," pilot Urs Zimmermann radioed. Those were the last words recorded from Flight 111. It did not communicate with the controller again. About 21.30, EDT, and shortly after turning right into a tight loop over the community of Blandford, the jet plunged into the water about five miles off Peggy's Cove. Officials indicated today that searchers might be homing in on the airliner's black boxes, the sophisticated flight data and cockpit voice recorders that could provide key details about the crash. Canadian Navy Capt. Phil Webster said the Canadian submarine HMCS Okanagan detected yesterday with its passive sonar a transponder signal from one of the black boxes. The signal was localised at a depth of 190ft in water with 15ft of visibility. Divers equipped with portable sonar could not locate the transponder today, but Webster said: "It is now a process of going back down when the weather gets better and just carrying on down the beating of the frequency until we find that transponder." Royal Canadian Mounted Police Chief Superintendent Steve Duncan said DNA sampling was under way on victims' remains already collected, with the first samples expected to be shipped to laboratories in Ottawa and Regina, Saskatchewan, on Thursday. Nova Scotia chief medical examiner Dr John Butt said his team had been able to identify one body, that of a French woman, recovered from Flight 111.

6 September 1998 - Divers have found one of the two black boxes of the Swissair McDonnell Douglas MD-11 (HB-IWF) which crashed off Nova Scotia coast four days ago. Canada's Transportation Safety Board investigator Vic Gerden told reporters today, "One of the two flight recorders has been recovered this afternoon." He says, "The location of this recorder will no doubt aid divers in focusing on the area in the search for the second flight recorder." The black box was found a day after the Canadian submarine Okanagan detected signals coming from a depth of about 190 feet on the ocean floor, but choppy waters prevented divers from going down until today. Gerden says the divers have also spotted three large objects near the site where the black box was found. They are believed to be parts of the wreck. He says the largest of these was about 60 feet long, the other 20 to 30 feet long, and the third was of undetermined length. The divers intend to go down again to examine them. About 1,500 military and civilian personnel are involved in the search for bodies and pieces of the plane, some of which have washed up on small islands and the shoreline near Peggy's Cove. The surface search, being carried out by some 40 vessels and small craft, resumed today off Peggy's Cove, despite high winds and rough seas. Gale force winds predicted for tomorrow could further hamper efforts to recover the second flight recorder, and the wreckage. The flight recorder recovered today will be sent to Ottawa for analysis. The cockpit voice recorder has not yet been found.

7 September 1998 - Canadian investigators said today the flight data recorder retrieved from the wreckage of Swissair Flight 111 may not reveal any information on what happened in the final minutes before the plane crashed. Canadian Transportation Safety Board chief investigator Vic Gerden said the flight data recorder, which was found yesterday, was intact but that early analysis showed it had not recorded any information below 10,000 feet. "There is a good likelihood that we will have good data from the flight recorder, but it is limited to approximately 10,000 feet and above," Gerden told a news conference in Halifax, NS. "There is no information on the flight data recorder for the portion of the flight below 10,000 feet," he added. That could make it difficult for investigators to determine exactly what happened in the last six minutes of the flight when the plane lost radio contact with air traffic controllers in Moncton, New Brunswick. It was flying at about 10,000 feet when it lost contact with controllers. Investigators hope the cockpit recorder, which divers are still searching for, will fill in the gaps left by the failure of the flight data recorder to operate below 10,000 feet. The safety board said there could be several explanations for the recorder's failure moments before the crash, but the most likely one was probably a lack of electrical power. Diving teams carrying hand-held sonar units had failed by late this afternoon to retrieve the second so-called black box, the cockpit voice recorder. Signals from the cockpit recorder were picked up early today by a Canadian navy submarine operating off Peggy's Cove. About 345 armed forces, police and emergency personnel continued to comb the shoreline over a wide area to recover debris and human remains from the crash. Searchers were awaiting the arrival on Wednesday of the US Navy salvage vessel Grapple, which will assist in the operation.

7 September 1998 - Transportation Safety Board investigator Vic Gerden said today divers searched for the cockpit voice recorder today after the Canadian submarine Okanagan picked up a pinging signal from the instrument, however the search was called off this afternoon because of bad weather but may resume tomorrow if the weather „improves.

The Canadian Navy has picked up signals from the cockpit voice recorder of Swissair McDonnell Douglas MD-11 (HB-IWF) Flight 111, which crashed off the Nova Scotia coast last week. Navy officials say search teams have picked up a pinging sound that appear to be coming from the voice recorder. If it is still working, the black box could give investigators clues to what happened in the cockpit in the minutes before the aircraft went down in the Atlantic Ocean on Wednesday night (2 September), killing all 229 people on board. A local resident, who was driving along a highway near Peggy's Cove, said she saw the aircraft about a minute and a half before it went down. Brenda Murphy said she was just turning off a highway when she noticed the aircraft flying very low. She said the cabin lights were off and there was a blue flame coming from the front portion of one engine. Yesterday, Navy divers recovered the flight data recorder from the crash site, about 190ft below the surface. It has been taken to Ottawa for analysis.

8 September 1998 - The flight data recorder pulled up from the wreckage of Swissair Flight 111 (McDonnell Douglas MD-11 HB-IWF) had stopped working some six minutes before the aircraft crashed into the sea. Transportation Safety Board investigator Vic Gerden said yesterday that the device ceased operations as the aircraft passed through the 10,000-foot level of altitude, shortly after the crew declared an emergency. However, data contained in the recorder could point to the cause of the crash. Royal Canadian Mounted Police Chief Superintendent Stephen Duncan said: "Our investigation is either going to accelerate sharply or decline sharply on the basis of the box." The crew of the aircraft reported smoke in the cockpit while asking to make an emergency landing. The aircraft 90 minutes into a flight from New York to Geneva, was trying to dump fuel and move into a landing pattern when it crashed about 40 miles from Halifax Airport. All 229 people on board were killed. Investigators said they had discovered signals from the cockpit voice recorder. The search for that "black box" has been delayed by winds which have whipped up high waves, and the weather is expected to keep searchers from the area until at least tomorrow. Divers found the flight data recorder about 190 feet below the surface and reported seeing three large pieces of the aircraft's fuselage, which is believed to contain the bodies of passengers inside. Authorities said power to the black boxes could have been cut off by a malfunction or by crew members following procedures for fighting on-board fires. Two more bodies have been found on the surface near the crash site, but officials have stopped saying how many have been found. US Navy salvage vessel Grapple is being sent to Nova Scotia to help in the current investigation and is expected to arrive today.

8 September 1998 - A Canadian investigator says the pilot of Swissair McDonnell Douglas MD-11 (HB-IWF) Flight 111 was flying manually in the last moments before the plane crashed off the Nova Scotia coast last week. Vic Gerden of Canada's Transportation Safety Board told reporters today it was too early to say whether Capt. Urs Zimmerman had to resort to manual control because of a power failure, which would have disabled the autopilot. Gerden says the MD-11 had three power sources, and the fact that the flight data recorder stopped functioning about six minutes before the crash indicates that the plane had lost at least one power source. Bad weather hampered the search for the plane's cockpit voice recorder for the second day today, though surface operations continued. Navy Capt. Phil Webster says divers came close to recovering the black box yesterday before the search was called off because of bad weather. He says weather conditions are expected to improve tomorrow, and divers are almost certain to recover the cockpit recorder from the wreck. Webster said the navy knows exactly where it is and has also confirmed the positions of other parts of the wreckage.

9 September 1998 - Initial inspections of recovered sections of the cockpit of Swissair Flight 111 are indicating heat damage to areas near the flight crew. Investigators are also saying that information from the data recorder is implying "numerous irregularities" in the jet's systems in the minutes before it crashed. Recovery efforts have been stalled by adverse weather this week, but that is predicted to break today. Divers will be trying to reach the voice data recorder, which is thought to be near where the flight data recorder was found in 190 feet of water. The USS Grapple, fitted with special deep water recovery equipment, is expected to be on the site today. Vic Gerden of Canada's Transportation Safety Board says there are signs of heat stress on recovered sections of the cockpit, while other parts of the plane do not show heat damage. Gerden also said a preliminary study of information from the flight data recorder show that even as the pilots were trying to land the plane, systems were failing. One of those system may have been the auto-pilot, since the crew was in control of the aircraft the final minutes before the crash. He adds that the data indicate the crew was working in a "professional manner". Gerden says the MD-11 had three power sources, and the fact that the flight data recorder stopped functioning about six minutes before the crash indicates that the plane had lost at least one power source.

9 September 1998 - The first lawsuit over last week's Swissair McDonnell Douglas (HB-IWF) crash that killed 229 people was filed by boxer Jake La Motta today in federal court in Brooklyn, lawyers said. Defendants in the suit include Swissair and Delta Airlines, McDonnell Douglas, which manufactured the aircraft, and Boeing Co., which now owns McDonnell Douglas. The New York law firm of Baumeister and Samuels filed the suit on behalf of LaMotta, whose son Joseph was killed in the crash. Aviation lawyers told Reuters last week they expected litigation in New York. The suit alleges that the crash was caused by "electrical, mechanical and/or structural failure." Officials have not yet determined the cause of the crash.

10 September 1998 - Divers have entered the waters off the Nova Scotia coast in another attempt to retrieve the cockpit voice recorder of Swissair Flight 111 (McDonnell Douglas MD-11 HB-IWF), which crashed in the area last week. Canadian navy spokesmen say strong currents on the ocean floor and high waves on the surface prevented the divers from going down earlier today, after the naval diving platform Granby positioned itself over the site of the wreckage. Transportation Safety Board investigator Vic Gerden said so far only about 2 per cent of the wreckage has been recovered on the surface of the sea. None of the wreckage under the surface, apart from the flight data recorder, has so far been retrieved. Three large pieces of the wreckage on the ocean floor, believed to be sections of the fuselage, are thought to contain bodies of the victims. Canadian navy Capt. Phil Webster says the USS Grapple has spent another day in Halifax harbour preparing to assist in the salvage operation, and should move into position above the wreckage tomorrow. Pieces of the wreckage are being assembled at Shearwater, a Canadian forces base near Halifax, where the TSB hopes to reconstruct the plane to help the investigation into the crash. Chief Superintendent Steve Duncan of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police said his investigators are still treating the crash as the result of a criminal act, but if the TSB establishes it was an accident, the RCMP will reassess its own probe.

11 September 1998 - Divers today recovered the second black box from Swissair Flight 111 (McDonnell Douglas MD-11 UB-IWF), boosting investigators' hopes of explaining the aircraft's crash into the Atlantic Ocean last week, which killed 229 people. The device, which records the conversation of the cockpit crew and other aircraft sounds, was located at about 18.00, local time (21.00, UTC), in about 180 feet of water off Peggy's Cove, Nova Scotia, Canadian Forces spokesman Tim Dunne said. Officials termed the recovery of the flight recorder a key turning point in the investigation of the 2 September crash. "I think it made people hopeful that we may get to the bottom of this accident," Jim Harris, a spokesman for the Transportation Safety Board, said from Halifax, headquarters of the recovery effort. The device was found in the same general area as the flight data recorder, recovered on Monday (7 September). It was quickly placed in a container of fresh water to protect it from deterioration and shipped to Ottawa for analysis. "As soon as the cockpit voice recorder arrives in Ottawa, work will begin to determine the condition of the recorder and prepare it for playback," the board said in a statement. Speculation on the cause of the crash has centred on a fire, possibly in the wiring of the cockpit, which the Swissair crew told air traffic controllers was filling with smoke when they sought permission to make an emergency landing. Investigators have stressed that information on the voice recorder could supplement that on the flight data recorder, which stopped before Flight 111's last minutes, probably because of an electrical failure.

12 September 1998 - The cockpit voice recorder recovered from the wreckage of Swissair Flight 111 has been found to be in good condition, and investigators hope it will provide clues to the plane crash last week. Navy divers retrieved the black box from the wreckage late yesterday, after several attempts over the week, and it was taken to Ottawa overnight for analysis in a Transportation Safety Board laboratory. TSB officials said investigators were hoping to listen today to the tape, which contains the conversation between the pilot and copilot before the plane crashed. The USS Grapple, which has moved into position to recover the wreckage, is still making preparations to begin the operation. The vessel will give priority to recovering the bodies of the victims still trapped in the fuselage of the MD-11, lying some 190 feet below the surface.

14 September 1998 - A US Navy vessel is set to begin recovering the wreckage of Swissair Flight 111 (McDonnell Douglas MD-11 UB-IWF) amid reports that besides its normal cargo, the 'plane had a load of gold, currency and diamonds on board. During the weekend, the USS Grapple has been preparing to haul the pieces of wreckage from the ocean floor off Peggy's Cove, Nova Scotia, where the 'plane crashed 12 days ago, killing all 229 people on board. Navy officials say the Grapple will give priority to recovering the bodies still trapped in the fuselage, lying some 190 feet below the surface. Swissair says the 'plane was carrying a load of gold, 110lb of currency, and 4.4lb of diamonds. It also had in its hold a Picasso original worth $1.5 million. There has been no immediate word on the value of the gold or currency. The money was headed for Swiss banks, as part of a routine transfer of cash and other valuables, normally handled by Swissair on its flights to Geneva or Zurich. US Navy personnel on board the Grapple spent the weekend securing the vessel to concrete moorings, to enable the salvage vessel to begin hauling up pieces of the wreckage today. The Grapple is fitted with a crane capable of lifting up to 300 tons. The MD-11 weighed about 200 tons when it went down on 2 September, and disintegrated into five large pieces, each of which will be brought up separately. Navy officials say the biggest problem the salvage vessel faces is the jagged edges on the wreckage, which are a threat to divers and could pierce their diving suits. Canada's Transportation Safety Board has been examining the tape of the cockpit voice recorder which divers retrieved on Friday night. TSB investigators say the tape is in good condition, but they have not yet said whether it contains the conversation between the pilot and copilot in the last six minutes before the crash. The other black box, the flight data recorder, contained no data of the final six minutes, apparently because at least one of the 'plane's three generators stopped functioning in that period.

15 September 1998 - A team investigating the crash of Swissair Flight 111 (HB-IWF) off the Nova Scotia coast says the cockpit voice recorder stopped functioning about six minutes before the aircraft hit the water. Jim Harris, a spokesman for Canada's Transportation Safety Board, says the instrument stopped functioning about the same time as the flight-data recorder, the other "black box" on board the aircraft. The two black boxes worked on power supplied by separate „generators. Harris says it is too early to say whether the two generators stopped functioning at the same time, and investigators will know only after painstakingly piecing together all the facts they can get. He says investigators will get a clearer picture of what happened on board Flight 111 when they are able to look at the aircraft's wiring in the wreckage still lying 190 feet below the ocean surface. The USS Grapple, which has positioned itself above the crash side, has not yet begun hauling pieces of the wreckage to the surface. The vessel is giving priority to recovering the bodies of the victims still trapped in the fuselage, but navy officials say it may be a few days before that can happen. Jagged edges of the wreckage are presenting a threat to the divers being sent down. Navy officials say the divers have recovered body parts lying on the ocean floor outside the fuselage. The Picasso painting "The Painter" is believed to have been destroyed in the cargo hold, as it had not been protectively wrapped to keep out water. An earlier report of gold in the hold has been discounted. Swissair said its aircraft do fly gold cargoes from time to time, but there was none on this flight.

17 September 1998 - The Canadian navy has released a video-tape showing that Swissair Flight 111 (HB-IWF) was smashed into hundreds of small pieces when it hit the water off the Nova Scotia coast. Lt. Cmdr. Phil Webster said today the earlier impression of five large pieces of the plane lying on the ocean floor were not correct, and were obtained from sonar scans that appeared to have lumped together several pieces. He said the largest piece of wreckage seen on the tape is about the size of an automobile, and there are no large sections of the fuselage on the ocean floor. Webster said the video footage released today was taken by means of a remotely controlled vehicle, or ROV, which took close-up shots of the debris field on the ocean floor. He says Canadian navy ships and the USS Grapple have used ROVs to get a precise knowledge of the debris field. Only about two minutes of the video footage was released to the media. The videos will be used to prepare divers being sent down to bring up the human remains and pieces of the wreckage. Transportation Safety Board investigator Vic Gerden said, "Recovery of this aircraft will definitely be a challenge." He said: "The visibility down there is not that great - about 10 feet horizontal, 15 feet vertical. The temperature is cold, and (the divers) are dealing with wreckage debris that's covering a wide area." He said, "It's sustained substantial damage. There are sharp edges, etc. that makes recovery slow, difficult and potentially hazardous, if not downright." He says the bottom surface is cobble, "some of the wreckage move," and the main area of wreckage covers an area of about 230 by 100 feet.

21 September 1998 - A US Navy vessel has recovered two sections of Swissair Flight 111's (HB-IWF) landing gear. The sections are the largest, most intact pieces of the mangled McDonnell Douglas MD-11 yet retrieved from the ocean floor. The recovery ship USS Grapple lifted the front and one of the rear pieces of landing gear from their resting place about 160 feet under water, Lt. John Oliveira said yesterday. Several tyres were blown out but some still contained air, he said. Workers at the scene estimated that both pieces weighed about four tons. The Grapple has also recovered a piece of the plane's shattered fuselage, he said. "You could see a row of about five windows," he said. "But it was pretty much a flat piece of metal." Divers also recovered human remains mixed in with a tangled mess of jagged wreckage. The divers' job has been made more difficult by the location of the wreckage, the threat that sharp debris may cut air hoses and rough weather.

30 September 1998 - A storm over the North Atlantic is expected to hamper the salvage operations of Swissair Flight 111 (HB-IWF), and navy vessels, including USS Grapple, have been called back to port. Transportation Safety Board spokesman Larry Vance said today strong winds and high seas expected tomorrow off the Nova Scotia coast would rule out any kind of work by divers, in an operation that is dangerous even in good weather. USS Grapple and two Canadian diving vessels have so far salvaged only a small part of the MD-11. Vance told United Press International the navy is looking at several options to speed up the salvage operation, in a bid to complete it before the approaching winter makes any kind of salvage operation impossible. He says one of the options being considered is to get assistance from m crane ship Saipem 7000, currently being used to lay an underwater natural gas pipeline off Nova Scotia. Navy and TSB officials say the work has been slowed by the nature of the terrain, the cold temperature of the water, and the jagged edges of the debris. A TSB investigator said there was evidence that a fire may have broken out in the cockpit minutes before the plane crash. Vance says there is still no evidence that the pilot and copilot were not in the cockpit at the time of the crash.

1 October 1998 - Pieces of an insulation material that has been implicated in the spread of fires on other aircraft have been found in the wreckage of Swissair Flight 111 (HB-IWF), which crashed 2 September after the crew complained of smoke in the cockpit. The Washington Post is reporting today that blankets of metalised Mylar, used to insulate from heat and to noise, is among the wreckage pulled from the North Atlantic. While the material had received Federal Aviation Administration approval, the aircraft's manufacturer had called for the removal of the insulation after fires on four aircraft. The presence of the insulation is not yet being blamed for the crash; investigators are fair from determining a cause of the mishap. However, Boeing Co., which merged with the aircraft's manufacturer McDonnell Douglas last year, has called a meeting of the airlines that use McDonnell Douglas jets to discuss speeding up execution of manufacturer's recommendations. The meetings are to begin today in Long Beach, CA. The blankets of insulation are placed in area where heat may be a problem, such as the electronic bay at the front of an aircraft. The material was used in about 1,000 McDonnell Douglas aircraft. The Post says four aircraft fires from 1993-1995 led McDonnell Douglas to discontinue use of the insulation and issue a recommendation last year that the blankets be replaced "at the earliest maintenance period." Investigators of the crash of the Swissair aircraft report that they have found signs of heat-stressed wreckage among cockpit debris. The pilots reported smoke in the cockpit and requested to make an emergency landing. About ten minutes later the aircraft crashed.

17 October 1998 - Searchers combing the ocean floor have recovered one of three engines from the Swissair McDonnell Douglas MD-11 (HB-IWF) that crashed in the Atlantic Ocean off Canada last month, an official said today. Lt Paul Forget, a spokesman for the Halifax Rescue Coordination Centre, said an engine from the aircraft was recovered yesterday. Details of the recovery were sketchy because communication „between the rescue centre and the recovery team at sea was limited, he said. "All we know for now is that one of the three engines has been recovered," Forget said. Forget said recovery efforts were currently on hold due to high seas but were scheduled to resume later today.

22 October 1998 - Salvage crews have recovered the last of Swissair Flight 111's (McDonnell Douglas MD-11 HB-IWF) three engines from the Atlantic Ocean off Nova Scotia. The heavy-lift vessel Sea Sorceress recovered the engine yesterday afternoon. High winds and seas had stalled the recovery effort on Monday and Tuesday. "They got it on the first lift," said Jim Harris of the Transportation Safety Board of Canada. It was not clear if one gauge that could give investigators crucial information, such as how fast the MD-11 was going when it crashed, was still attached to the recovered under-wing engine, he said. The digital control on one of two engines previously recovered is still being analysed by its Connecticut manufacturer, Harris said. The FADEC gauge, full authority digital engine control, from the plane's „middle engine has "information on it and we're getting data from it, so that's a good sign," he said. About 25 per cent of the plane has been recovered since it crashed off Nova Scotia on 2 September. Harris said officials still do not have enough of the aircraft to determine the cause of the crash. The probe of the plane's cockpit and flight data recorders is continuing. Also yesterday, the number of victims identified from the crash increased to 105 from 100.

27 October 1998 - Canadian rescue workers have identified more than half of the remains of the 229 victims of Swissair Flight III (McDonnell Douglas MD-11 HB-IWF), which crashed in the North Atlantic last month, officials said today. Remains of 134 passengers on board the doomed flight have been identified while a total of 228 DNA patterns have been established, Chief Medical Examiner, Dr John Butt, told a news conference today. Rescue workers have completed operations using a heavy lift crane and will now drag the ocean floor to gather up what is left of the aircraft, which crashed 64km off the coast of Nova Scotia on 2 September. A total of 170,000 pounds, representing 60 per cent, of the aircraft has been recovered, including all three engines, the auxiliary power unit, portions of the forward fuselage, cockpit, avionics bay and landing gear, and 30 of 38 control surface actuators. The material that is left on the ocean floor is too small to retrieve efficiently using the heavy-lift method. After the dragging phase is completed, remotely-operated vehicles will be used to survey the remaining debris field and determine what additional recovery methods may be necessary. A great deal of crash debris has begun to wash ashore and ground search and rescue crews will start combing the beaches.

29 October 1998 - Swissair will stop using individual entertainment systems on its Boeing 747 and McDonnell Douglas MD-11 aircraft after a Canadian investigation of the 2 September crash of one of its MD-11's (HB-IWF) in Nova Scotia turned up heat-damaged wires, the company said today. The Canadian Transportation Safety Board, conducting an extensive probe of the crash of Swissair 111 into the Atlantic which claimed 229 lives, said there is not yet enough evidence to determine if the wires themselves caused a fire or if they were charred in the course of "other events." Investigators are still trying to piece together the events which led to the New York-Geneva flight's plunge into the ocean minutes after the pilot reported smoke in the cockpit. Swissair said in a statement that the in-flight Entertainment System, certified by the US Federal Aviation Administration, had not been identified as a cause of the accident. Its wires are routed through the cockpit ceilings of 15 MD-11 and three Boeing 747 aircraft in the Swissair fleet. The company will voluntarily keep the systems switched off pending further information from Canadian investigators. The Transportation Safety Board said in a separate release that based on current information available, it believes the set-up of this system is unique to Swissair, a unit of SAir Group. Investigators are trying to determine if other aircraft may have the system on board. Swissair MD-11 and 747 jets are also equipped with standard video and audio entertainment systems and these systems are not impacted by this precautionary measure, the company said.

25 September 1998 - Nador, Morocco

A Paukn Air British Aerospace BEA 146-100 aircraft carrying 38 people slammed into a hillside near Morocco's Mediterranean coast today killing all on board. A government spokesman in Spain's North African enclave of Melilla, the destination of the Paukn Air flight, said emergency crews found no survivors in the wreckage. The aircraft was on a flight from the southern Spanish city of Malaga. A Moroccan official in the north Moroccan town of Nador said: "According to preliminary reports, the airplane crashed in the mountainous area of Farkhana, north of Nador." The official, who declined to be named, said most of the dead were believed to be Spaniards. Nador's governor had gone to the site, along with emergency services, to supervise rescue operations. Morocco's official news agency MAP, which quoted the Moroccan interior ministry also as saying there were no survivors, said: "The plane crashed near Boumahfoud hamlet, in the forest of Taourirt, 30km from Nador." Spanish Civil Guard officials said the aircraft carrying 34 passengers and four crew members, suddenly disappeared from air traffic controllers' radar screens just after 09.00 (07.00, GMT). It crashed in an unpopulated, mountainous area about 20km from the airport, said a Melilla government spokesman. Spanish and Moroccan emergency crews, including helicopters, and fire-fighting equipment, rushed to the scene, but the rocky terrain hampered their efforts. Spanish Interior Minister Jaime Mayor Oreja immediately made contact with his Moroccan counterpart to co-ordinate operations. The cause of the crash, which occurred about 30 minutes after take-off from Malaga, was not known. Weather was favourable in the area at the time of the accident, officials said. Spanish officials said most of the passengers were Melilla residents but several Moroccans were also believed to have been on board. The aircraft had a seating capacity of more than 80 people. Paukn Air has flown the route between Malaga and Melilla since 1995.

26 September 1998 - Following the tragic accident of the Spanish aircraft, which crashed yesterday during a normal flight between Malaga and the occupied town of Melilla, near Douar Taourirt in Nador Province, the Ministry of Transport and Merchant Marine announced that a decision was taken to create a technical investigation committee in accordance with laws currently in effect at the national and international levels. The two black boxes, which will help identify the causes of the accident which left 38 dead, including two Moroccans, have been found.

27 September 1998 - A Moroccan paramilitary officer has said that preliminary information indicated fog was the cause of the crash. The flight data recorder and the cockpit voice recorder have been recovered. They will be analysed by a team of investigators from Morocco and Spain which will make an official finding on the accident. Gerd Peter Paukner, a German businessman who controls Paukn Air, said the plane passed an inspection in June, the Spanish daily El Pais reported today. The small local airline, which operates only one other plane in addition to the one that crashed, has suspended its flights for now, the newspaper said.

1 October 1998 - The flight recorders of a plane which crashed in Morocco last week killing 38 people will be taken to Britain tomorrow for examination, a Moroccan official said on Thursday. Spanish, British and Moroccan aviation experts met in Rabat today to discuss the cause of last Friday's (25 September) crash of the British-made BAe 146-100 plane operated by Spanish regional carrier Paukn Air. "The committee ended its work on Thursday evening and decided to transfer the two black boxes to England to be examined by experts of the Air Accident Investigation Bureau," a senior official at the Moroccan Transport Ministry said.

30 September 1998 - Sri Lanka

Sri Lankan naval gunboats searched today for a privately owned airliner that went missing with 55 people on board shortly after take off, military officials said. The Russian-made AN-24, belonging to Sri Lanka's Lionair airlines, went missing yesterday, soon after take off from a northern Jaffna peninsula airbase, officials have said. "We have deployed our boats from the time we received a message that the aircraft was missing, but have been unsuccessful in detecting anything," Lieutenant Commander Sarath Mohotty of the navy said today. The airline said in a statement that the control lower lost radio contact with Lionair flight 602 after the pilot requested permission to climb. The flight left the Palaly airbase at 13.40, local time, yesterday. "The aircraft was carrying 48 civilian passengers, mainly Tamil, and the crew of four foreign cockpit crew and two Sri Lankan cabin crew and a Sri Lankan Tabourer," the airline statement said. The navy official said the naval boats were searching along the western coastline, part of the flight path set for flight 602 on its route to Colombo. The two private airlines that fly to Jaffna, Lionair and Monara Airlines, said they had suspended their flights until more details of the incident were known. Local newspapers reported today that both private airlines had received letters from the LTTE telling them to stop flying to Jaffna, accusing them of carrying troops and military equipment.

2 October 1998 - The Sri Lankan navy has sighted three bodies in seas off the north-western coast that officials believe may be passengers from a civilian aircraft that has been missing for three days, navy officials said today. They said navy boats scouring the area between Mannar and islands off the northern Jaffna peninsula also had recovered a life jacket believed to be from a Lionair Antonov-24 that disappeared on Tuesday (29 September) with 55 people aboard. No further details were immediately available. Lionair officials said they were awaiting details and would have no comment until the sighting was confirmed by the Sri Lanka Air Force, which was heading the search operations. Lionair said today that a team of experts from the plane's manufacturer, the Antonov Design Bureau, and its agents, AAR Airlines of Kiev, were expected to visit Sri Lanka shortly to conduct a comprehensive, independent investigation. Sri Lanka's Civil Aviation Department today asked the two private airlines flying to Jaffna - Lionair and Monara Airline - to suspend flights to the northern peninsula on advice from the defence ministry.

21 October 1998 - Fortaleza, Brazil

A Brazilian cargo aircraft, spewing flames, smashed through a residential neighbourhood of Fortaleza today, killing three people and injuring eight, aviation authorities said. The aircraft, carrying cargo, was trying to land near the airport when it suddenly lost altitude and crashed, a spokesman for the Aeronautics Ministry said. He said investigators were searching for clues as to the cause of the accident, at 08.50, local time (10.50, UTC). Witnesses said the aircraft, a Brasilia, was already on fire before the first impact. The aircraft ripped through electrical cables and tore across several rooftops before smashing into a brick house, killing a woman inside. The pilot and copilot died instantly, local airport officials said. A third crew member suffered severe burns over most of his body and was taken to hospital where he was in critical condition. Seven other people were injured in either the resulting fires or by flying debris, the officials said. The aircraft, part of a fleet called Air Taxi Capital from the Bahia state capital Salvador, had been transporting 2.5 tons of medicines from the north eastern city of Teresina to Fortaleza.

22 October 1998 - PT-WKH, operator Taxi Aereo Capital, Salvador, cargo 2.5 tons of medicines, was approaching to land at Fortaleza Airport, Pinto Martins, when the aircraft suddenly lost altitude and crashed at 08.55, local time, 21 October. Witnesses state the aircraft had a fire in one engine before the crash. Two crew members were killed and one passenger seriously injured. One person on the ground was killed. As a result of the crash the roof of a textile factory was partially destroyed, two houses damaged, electricity and telephone lines damaged, with interruption of energy supply and communications for several hours.

25 October 1998 - New York, USA

TWA and Boeing have settled lawsuits with 11 families of victims killed in the 1996 crash of TWA Flight 800 (Boeing 747-131, N93119) off Long Island, for undisclosed amounts reportedly in six figures. The settlements last week in US District Court in Manhattan included at least one involving a flight attendant, Sandra Meade, 42, of „Camano Island, Wash. Her lawyer, Paul Hedlund, of Los Angeles, said the settlement was "fair" and "substantial." Other plaintiffs were not identified, but TWA attorney William Brown said the airline and the Boeing Co., maker of the aircraft, had agreed to pay unspecified workers' compensation to the families of Meade and five other crew members. Most families of the 230 people killed in the 17 July 1996, crash have filed suit against TWA and Boeing.

27 October 1998 - Montreal, Canada

A report from LaSalle, Quebec states: A Press report dated 26 October, states: Hydraulic fluid that overheated, sparking a fire, was the cause of the June crash of a Propair jet-liner that killed 11 people at Mirabel Airport, a Transportation Safety Board source said. The fluid in the landing gear caused a fire in a fuel storage tank in the wing, it was reported. The pilot was trying to make an emergency landing at Mirabel when it exploded and crashed just short of the runway. CTV news quotes sources as saying that if the fire had started 20 seconds later, some or all of the passengers would have survived.

17 November 1998 - Koror, Palau

Nine people died when an eight-seater Cessna aircraft crashed in heavy rain today while trying to land at this Pacific island-state's international airport, officials said. The dead included seven passengers - all Palau „residents - and the pilot and copilot. The cause of the crash is being investigated. Witnesses said the aircraft made four attempts to land before crashing.

18 November 1998 - Campeche Sound, Gulf of Mexico

At least 16 people died when two Mexican helicopters crashed in mid-flight early today between oil platforms in the Gulf of Mexico, oil monopoly Petroleos Mexicanos (Pemex) said. Sixteen bodies were recovered near the crash site and rescue workers were searching for the other six people travelling in the helicopters, Pemex said in a statement. Pemex said the accident took place at 07.30, local time (13.30, UTC), between two privately owned helicopters flying to oil platforms in the Campeche Sound near Ciudad del Carmen, Campeche. "Mexican Navy and Pemex <$>\ldots<$> were searching on small boats to rescue the other six people and to identify the victims," the statement said. Pemex said the cause of the crash was unknown, but being investigated.

18 November 1998 - Two helicopters collided in mid-flight between two oil platforms in the Gulf of Mexico today, killing all 22 passengers and crew aboard both aircraft, officials said. The privately owned helicopters were on their way to the oil platforms owned by Petroleos Mexicanos (Pemex), the „company said. Sixteen Pemex officials, four crew members and two officials from firms working for Pemex, were lost, Mexican Energy Minister Luis Tellez told a news conference. Pemex said in a statement, the cause of the crash was unknown. Poor visibility and communications problems had probably caused the crash, which occurred in dense fog over open sea at a considerable distance from the oil platforms, said a civilian aeronautical official. Pemex said rescue workers from the oil firm and the Mexican navy had recovered 18 bodies from the sea and were searching for four others still missing in the Campeche Sound, near Ciudad del Carmen. Ten of the bodies, including two of the four crew members, had been identified, it added.

28 November 1998 - Dubai

An investigation has blamed human error and fatigue for the crash of a Tajik Air Tupolev Tu-154 airliner (EY-85281) in the United Arab Emirates which killed 85 people last year, the official WAM news agency said today. It quoted the head of the UAE civil aviation department, Mohammed al-Ghaith, as saying that "operational procedures by the airliner's crew, the effects of exhaustion and some air pockets" contributed to the crash. Ghaith also said that the pilot, in his last contact with the airport tower, did not obey instructions to maintain a certain altitude and "continued unintentionally to head towards the ground". "All the investigations have shown that all aircraft engines and equipment were operating normally," WAM reported. Only one person survived when the aircraft, flying from Khudzhand in northern Tajikistan to Sharjah, crashed on 15 December. WAM said the UAE civil aviation department had made nine recommendations to aircraft operators and to local and international civil aviation authorities to improve air safety. It said that UAE authorities had also increased the number of inspectors checking on foreign aircraft operating in the country.

29 November 1998 - Siberia, Russia

A report from LaSalle, dated 28 November, states: A Russian cargo plane belonging to the Yakutsk-based airline Sakha-avia crashed in flames in a Siberian forest on 11 November, before the pilot could report any problem, killing all 13 on board, a spokesman for the Emergencies Ministry said. The burning wreckage of the Antonov An-12 was noticed by crew of another aircraft. The aircraft disappeared from radar minutes after taking off from Krasnoyarsk airport in heavy snow. It was carrying 13 tonnes of food from Novosibirsk to Mirny. It has stopped at Krasnoyarsk to refuel.

30 November 1998 - Athens, Greece

A Ukrainian Yakovlev Yak-42 aircraft crashed in the mountains of northern Greece last year, killing all 70 people on board, because the cockpit crew miscalculated the landing and never asked for help, a special committee said today. The committee, set up after the accident last December, said in its findings that the Aerosweet Airlines aircraft flying from Kiev to Thessaloniki was also in bad shape and should not have been flying. "The company was negligent in supervising the aircraft's flight capability, and the aircraft did not fulfil national and international flight capability regulations," the committee said in its 70-page report, released by the Greek Ministry of Transport. However, it put most of the blame for the disaster on the captain and the cockpit crew, saying they had poor training, flew too low, did not know how to use the radar equipment and failed to declare an emergency after they missed the landing strip. The aircraft vanished from radar screens shortly after it was due to land and it took hundreds of soldiers and rescue workers almost a week to find the wreckage on a remote snow-covered mountain slope.

11 December 1998 - Surat Thani, Thailand

A Thai Airways Airbus carrying about 146 passengers crashed today while trying to land at a provincial airport in southern Thailand, Thailand's transport minister said. The aircraft crashed and caught fire about three to five km south-west of the airport at Surat Thani, Transport Minister Suthep Thaugsuban told local television. "A Thai Airways Airbus crashed in poor visibility due to rain," he said. "And it crashed on its third try on landing at the airport." Flight TG 261 was flying from Bangkok to Surat Thani, which services popular tourist resorts including Koh Samui. He did not have any details of casualties. Passengers may include members of the Thai parliament, he said.

13 December 1998 - Equipment to allow aircraft to land safely in bad weather was removed from the airport here six months before a Thai Airways aircraft crashed on Friday killing 101 people, aviation sources said today. The plane, an Airbus A310-200, made two failed attempts to land in heavy rain at the airport before coming in for a third fatal approach. The aircraft crashed into nearby swampland and burst into flames, but 45 people on board survived. Surat Thani airport's Instrument Landing System (ILS) had been removed during construction work to extend its runway, said an air traffic control official at the airport who did not want to be identified by name. A Thai air force pilot who had just flown into the airport today said that the removal of the system meant pilots had to use a less accurate radio navigation system that relies on a visual sighting of the runway once the aircraft has descended to 500 feet. "The only system working at the airport is the radio system," he said. "In bad weather all pilots prefer the ILS system over the radio system," he said. Survivors of the crash said the pilot had complained of poor visibility, had twice failed to land and was trying a third time when the aircraft crashed into flooded swampland about two miles from the airport. There were 45 survivors, including 12 of the 25 foreigners on board. The pilot said the radio system guided the aircraft in a diagonal rather than straight approach to the runway and a visual sighting of the landing strip was needed to adjust the flight path for a straight landing. "If you don't see the runway you should miss the approach and go around," he said. All pilots, both civil and military, had been informed that the ILS was not operating at Surat Thani and that they needed to rely on the radio system and runway landing lights, the air force pilot said. "If you cannot see the runway on the third attempt, then it's better to divert to another airport which has the ILS system," he said. The southern Thai airports at Hat Yai and Phuket had ILS. The other alternative for the plane that crashed would have been to return to Bangkok, he said. The Thai Airways pilot told passengers before the crash that if he could not land on his third attempt he would turn the plane around and return to the capital. Officials at the airport and at Thai Airways have declined to provide details of the navigation system except to say that a radio navigation system was functioning normally. Asked today if navigation systems at Surat Thani were up to international standards, the president of Thai Airways Thamnoon Wangle told reporters: "I do believe so." The 700 million baht ($19.5 million) runway extension project at Surat Thani began in August last year and should have been competed in July this year, but work was delayed by Thailand's economic crisis, airport staff said. The air traffic controller said pilots all over the world had been notified several months ago that navigation facilities were inadequate at Surat Thani for low-visibility landings due to the work on the runway and so they should not risk more than two approaches. He said antennae for the ILS navigation system had to be installed at the head of the runway and that could not be done until the work on the strip was completed. "All of the pilots knew. They should not have attempted a third approach," the controller said. Investigators from the National Investigation Team for Air Accidents had already interviewed staff on duty at the Surat Thani airport's air control tower on the fateful night of the crash, the airport's director general, Chamnong Sarnhaksorn, told reporters. He added that all the air traffic control equipment at the airport on the night of the crash had been fully functional.

14 December 1998 - A Press report, dated Bangkok today, states: Thai International yesterday announced that it will pay a compensation of baht 3.6 million for each of the 101 victims who were killed on Friday's crash (of an Airbus A310-200) in Surat Thani. THAI president Thammanoon Wanglee said the airline and insurers Theves Insurance, Thippaya Insurance and Bangkok Insurance companies had agreed to the sum. Survivors will get an initial baht 200,000 for medical expenses. An agreement can be reached later if they think that this is too little. THAI would consider claims on a case-by-case basis. "Whether they are slightly injured or crippled, the airline will take care of all their medical expenses," said Mr Thammanoon. He said those injured still in Surat Thani would be moved to other hospitals if they wished. Mr Thammanoon said he would not comment on allegations that pilot error had been to blame for the crash. The National Disaster Investigation Committee would look into it. "The decision of the pilot will be left to the aviation experts to judge. The panel will also probe THAI for not cancelling the flight given the poor weather," he said. However, he said both pilots had more than 20 years of flying experience. The president said: "I have set up a committee composed of high-ranking administrators to check the work of our aviation safety people." He said Airbus officials from France and from engine makers GE, of the USA, would be giving advice and talking with the committee investigating the crash. The panel is chaired by the Air Force chief-of-staff and the Commercial Aviation Department director-general is its deputy chairman. The aircraft's black box is now being kept by the Air Force.

14 December 1998 - Thai aviation officials said today that the southern Surat Thani Airport lacked some equipment to allow aircraft to land safely in bad weather. The Director-General of the Civil Aviation „Department, Sawat Silthiwong, told a news conference that the Instrument Landing System had been removed from the airport so the runway could be extended. However, he said the absence of the equipment would not have been the only cause for the crash, as the airport used a radio communications system, used in other airports as well, to aid in landings. "I don't think that the absence of the ILS would be the only cause of the crash," Sawat said. "Even though the ILS was removed, the airport used a radio system used in many airports as well." "Even in Don Muang International Airport in Bangkok, if you land from the south side, we use this system and there has not been any problem so far," he added. The Surat Thani radio communications system was last given a check-up in September. The ILS would be reinstalled at the airport by the end of January, Sawat said. An air traffic controller at the Surat Thani airport and a Thai air force pilot said yesterday that the ILS had been removed six months ago. The removal meant that pilots had to use the less accurate radio system, which relies on visual sighting of the runway once aircraft descend to 500 feet, they said. Survivors of the plane crash had said the pilot had complained of poor visibility, had twice failed to land and was making a third attempt when the aircraft crashed in driving rain into flooded swampland about three km from the airport. There were 45 survivors, including 12 of the 25 foreigners on board.

21 December 1998 - A press report, dated Dee 19, states: The flight and data recorders from a Thai Airway jet that crashed last week will be sent to Canada early next year for analysis, a local newspaper reported today. Results of the analysis will be sent to Thailand about two weeks after the black boxes are dispatched to Canada on 2 January.

14 December 1998 - New Delhi, India

A Kazakh Airlines pilot's failure to understand instructions from air traffic controllers was one of the main causes of the world's worst mid-air collision two years ago, an Indian investigation has concluded. Altogether, 349 people were killed in November, 1996, when a Kazakh Airlines Ilyushin 11-76 (UN76435) coming in to New Delhi collided with a Saudi Arabian Boeing 747 (HZ-AIH) which had just taken off. There were no survivors of the collision, which caused the aircraft to erupt into a fireball and left a trail of debris seven km long and two km wide on the ground. The report of an investigation under Justice R.C. Lahoti said the civil/military air traffic control co-ordination in India suffers from "serious shortcoming which adversely affect air safety in India". It also said there was no system of licensing of air traffic controllers, and the proficiency standards being followed in civil and military air traffic control were not uniform. However, referring to the direct causes of the collision, the report said the air traffic controller had issued clear and correct instructions to the pilots. "The root and approximate cause of the collision was the unauthorised descending by the Kazakh aircraft to FL-140 and failure to maintain the assigned FL-150," it said. FL stands for flight level. FL-140 means 14,000 feet above ground, the altitude at which the two aircraft collided. It said that among the factors contributing to the unauthorised descent of the Kazakh aircraft were the pilot's "inadequate knowledge of English language", which resulted in misinterpretation of air traffic controllers' instructions. The report said that nearly 30 seconds before the collision, both aircraft entered a cloud layer and felt some turbulence, but their visibility was not affected. "However, the cloud did not cause any such severe turbulence as to result in an abrupt loss of altitude to the extent of 1,000 feet, pertaining to the level of the Kazakh aircraft," the report said. Kazakh Airlines argued after the collision that its plane lost altitude suddenly in thick cloud after severe turbulence. "Vertical separation of 1,000 feet for the crossing of the two aircraft as assigned by the Delhi Air Traffic Control was adequate and met the International Civil Aviation Organisation standards of safety," the report said. It also pinned the blame on "poor airmanship", the pilot-in-command's lack of proper crew resource management skill and the "casual attitude of the crew". A Kazakh civil aviation official last year blamed the New Delhi control tower for not being satisfactorily organised. The report noted that there was no secondary surveillance radar in New Delhi, and said that although the airport's single air corridor did not contribute to the accident, unilateral routes would enhance traffic handling capacity. It also noted that neither aircraft was equipped with airborne collision avoidance systems, not obligatory under Indian civil aviation law at that time.

15 December 1998 - Singapore

SilkAir has settled in full with the families of five of the 104 passengers and crew who were killed when one of its aircraft (Boeing 737-300 9V-TRF) crashed near Palembang in Sumatra, Indonesia, on 19 December last year. The families of the victims, an Australian, an Indian and three Indonesians, were paid between US$25,000 and US$75,000. The families of another 57 victims accepted the advance payment of US$20,000 that the airline had offered in the early days of the crash, a SilkAir spokesman said in response to criticism that the airline had been niggardly with its compensation for the victims' families. "SilkAir is prepared to offer more, within legal limits, to those in financial difficulties and can prove hardship," the spokesman added, pointing out that SilkAir was limited to paying a maximum of US$75,000 under the Warsaw Convention. "Those who wanted compensation beyond the limits could seek recourse through the courts," the spokesman said, noting that nearly every family of the 104 victims had engaged lawyers, both local and foreign. In fact, most of the families have been advised by their lawyers not to negotiate or settle with SilkAir pending the findings of the inquiry into the crash, he said. SilkAir also disclosed that an update on the crash investigations will be provided on Friday by Oetarjo Diiran, who leads the Indonesian inquiry team. Apart from providing various forms of aid to the inquiry team, he emphasised SilkAir had nothing to do with the investigations which are being carried out by the government of Indonesia as the crash took place there.

26 December - Vila Nova, Angola

The United Nations said a transport C-130 aircraft with 14 people on board crashed today in central Angola, scene of fighting between UNITA rebels and government troops, the Portuguese news agency Lusa reported. Lusa said the UN observation mission in Angola, MONUA, issued a statement in Luanda saying the aircraft, carrying ten passengers and four crew, had caught fire shortly after taking off from the central highland town of Huambo. It gave no further details about the cause of the crash or who was on board. The aircraft was en route to the north-eastern town of Saurimo in the province of Lunda Sul. The United Nations, quoting local government officials, said the aircraft came down near the district of Vila Nova, some 45km from Huambo.

Search parties were not expected to be sent out before tomorrow morning because of the continued fighting in the area. The central highland provinces of Huambo and Bie have been at the centre of fierce clashes between rebels and troops loyal to the government of President Jose Eduardo dos Santos since early this month.

29 December 1998 - A senior United Nations official said today the wreckage of an aircraft which crashed in Angola's central highlands Saturday (26 December) had been located and there were indications there might be survivors. "Some images we have received from the area indicate that the aircraft which has crashed did not disintegrate. It is there and can be seen, so there is still a chance to save people," Issa Diallo, head of the UN Observer Mission in Angola (MONUA), said. The UN-chartered C-130 transport aircraft, carrying 14 people, crashed on Saturday in dense jungle near Vila Nova, 25km from Huambo, the scene of intense fighting between UNITA rebels and Government forces in recent weeks. Diallo reiterated the UN's call for a 48-hour ceasefire in the area to allow a search-and-rescue team access to the area. UNITA and the Angolan government have not yet responded to Sunday's request for the 48-hour ceasefire.

29 December 1998 - The UN Security Council today made an urgent appeal on Angola's government and the rebel UNITA to help rescue survivors from a crashed aircraft and to allow UN forces access to the crash site. "Any further delay jeopardises the lives of possible survivors," the council said in a statement to the press read by its current president, Jassim Mohammed Buallay of Bahrain. "Council members urgently call on the Government of Angola and UNITA to co-operate immediately and fully with the United Nations Observer Mission in Angola," he said. UN officials in New York and Luanda said the plane's owner, TransAfrik of South Africa, flew a high-altitude reconnaissance plane over the crash site and observed that the aircraft seemed to be intact. But they feared there was only a slim chance of any survivors. The United Nations today also identified the 14 passengers and crew.