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SWISSAIR UPDATE
September 7, 1998The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer Transcript |
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Investigators located one of the two black boxes from the Swissair flight that crashed off the Canadian coast.
PHIL PONCE: The recovery of one of the two black boxes from Swissair Flight 111 was the first major breakthrough for crash investigators.MICHAEL POOLE, Canadian Transportation Safety Board: It's in much better condition than we expected. The small things that we've been recovering to date - we're, I would say, fearing the worst - but it actually looks in extremely good condition. And we're optimistic the internal memory module will be intact.
PHIL PONCE: The recorder should provide more than 100 pieces of technical information, such as altitude, speed, and engine status, that could help the inquiry into what caused the crash that killed all 229 on board. The data recorder was flown to a laboratory in Ottawa for examination. And today more progress -- as Canadian navy searchers, working in 190-foot waters picked up signals from the second black box, the cockpit voice recorder still underwater. The voice recorder should reveal other noises in the cockpit, other than the pilot's conversation with controllers. Divers also discovered three large pieces of wreckage believed to be the plane's fuselage, the main body of the MD-11 jetliner. Recovery of the fuselage could lead to the recovery of more bodies. Meanwhile, those who lost loved ones on the flight are still gathered on the Nova Scotia coast. Memorial services were held at local churches over the weekend, and the village's lighthouse has become a makeshift memorial of flowers and wreaths in honor of those who died. Volunteers continue to counsel the grieving.
SPOKESMAN: What we have is a story of all of the people out there being affected by all of the kinds of things they're being exposed to. Their reactions are many and the same, and one of the things that we emphasize to them and to you is that all of these are normal reactions of normal people doing a very difficult task in an abnormal circumstance.
PHIL PONCE: Today, officials were not able to identify any additional remains. Identification is difficult because of the force with which the airliner hit the water. The body of one passenger, a French woman, was identified late Friday and released. There is no official count of how many bodies have been recovered, but authorities have indicated that most remain in the sea. In an effort to assist in the recovery of large aircraft parts, the U.S. has deployed Navy salvage and rescue ship, the USS Grapple from its home port in Philadelphia. The Grapple, carrying equipment capable of lifting three hundred tons, assisted in the deep sea investigation of TWA Flight 800 in 1996. The ship is expected to reach Nova Scotia on Wednesday. Late this afternoon, another update.
VIC GERDEN, Canadian Transportation Safety Board: We now know that there is a good likelihood that we will have good data from the flight data recorder, but it is limited to approximately 10,000 feet and above. There is no information on the flight data recorder for the portion of the flight below 10,000 feet.
REPORTER: Does it limit your ability to draw certain conclusions, knowing that you don't have those 100 parameters after the 10,000-foot level?
VIC GERDEN: Again, what we are trying to do is find out what the cause of this accident was, the contributing factors, any safety deficiencies that may have been involved, and there is a strong possibility that we may - we may be able to do that with the information that we have already. But we look forward to having additional information so that we can make a better picture - paint a better picture, a consolidated picture of what was going on, and, indeed, even below 10,000 feet there may be other information that can be used. And until we really assess all of it, it's premature to make conclusions at this point. And it's unfair.
PHIL PONCE: Officials said bad weather is expected to delay deep diving for the next day and a half.
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