Crash report points to wiring By Gary Stoller, USA TODAY HALIFAX, Nova Scotia =97 An electrical wiring problem was the most likely=20 cause of a fire that caused Swissair Flight 111 to crash into the Atlantic= =20 Ocean near here in 1998, Canadian investigators said in a report Thursday.= =20 The 349-page report stopped short of declaring the jet's in-flight=20 entertainment system responsible for the accident, but it said that one or= =20 more wires connected to the system short-circuited in the area where the=20 fire started. The entertainment system was made by a U.S. company,=20 Interactive Flight Technologies. After the crash, Swissair disconnected the= =20 system from its planes and the Federal Aviation Administration, citing=20 problems with its design, banned it from airliners. The Canadian=20 Transportation Safety Board's report faulted contractors authorized to act= =20 on the FAA's behalf who certified that the system met U.S. safety=20 standards. The report also criticized the FAA's oversight of those=20 contractors. The fire ignited insulation above the ceiling in the rear of=20 the cockpit, then spread to other flammable materials, the TSB said. All=20 229 people on the McDonnell Douglas MD-11 jet were killed. Flight 111 was one of only a handful of jets worldwide that had the IFT=20 entertainment system, which allowed passengers to watch movies, play games= =20 and, on some flights, gamble. USA TODAY reported Feb. 17 that the faulty=20 systems were improperly installed and certified by contractors without=20 adequate FAA oversight. The TSB said mistakes were made by contractors=20 Hollingsead International and Santa Barbara Aerospace. Hollingsead=20 employees did an electrical analysis for the entertainment system, even=20 though they had no experience with MD-11 jets, the TSB said. Neither Santa= =20 Barbara, which certified the system met FAA safety standards, nor=20 Hollingsead had staff members familiar enough with the MD-11's electrical=20 design to judge whether the system was compatible, the TSB said. Relatives= =20 of some crash victims criticized the report. The TSB's analysis of the fire= =20 was "very impressive," said Mark Fetherolf, whose 16-year-old daughter,=20 Tara, was killed. But it appeared the board "didn't want the media to=20 report the headline: 'Entertainment system causes crash.' " U.S. airlines=20 are under FAA orders to remove the type of insulation that was on the=20 Swissair jet from their planes by May 2005. The TSB has made 23 safety=20 recommendations as a result of the Swissair investigation. It called for: =95 More fire detection and suppression equipment on planes. =95 Flammability testing requirements for airplane wiring. =95 Review of aircraft alterations certified by contractors. *************************************************** The owner of Roger's Trinbago Site/TnTisland.com Roj (Roger James) escape email mailto:ejames@xxxxxxxxx Trinbago site: www.tntisland.com Carib Brass Ctn site www.tntisland.com/caribbeanbrassconnection/ Steel Expressions www.mts.net/~ejames/se/ Site of the Week: http://www.thehummingbirdonline.com TnT Webdirectory: http://search.co.tt *********************************************************