Communiqués

Investigation

Factual Information Released by the Transportation Safety Board of Canada
Concerning the Swissair Flight 111 Investigation

January 28, 1999

• Work in Hangar A at Shearwater, Nova Scotia, on the identification, examination, heat damage analysis, documentation, and matching of aircraft nose section pieces is continuing. As well, the examination, identification, heat damage analysis, documentation, and matching of wire from the aircraft is still in progress.
• Preliminary examination indicates that the Air-Driven Generator (ADG) was not deployed. The ADG can be deployed to provide electrical power if the other electrical generator buses are lost.
• Various electrically driven systems, such as the fuel pumps, will be examined to understand more fully which electrical systems were or were not functioning at the time of impact.
• Preliminary examination of the two fuel dump valves has revealed physical signatures consistent with the fuel dump valves being closed at impact. There is no indication on the flight data recorder that fuel dumping had commenced prior to the recorders stopping.
• With the exception of the autopilot disconnecting, there is no indication on the flight data recorder that the crew encountered other flight-control problems with the aircraft prior to the recorders stopping.
• The Canadian Coast Guard Vessel "PARIZEAU", with investigators from the TSB and the RCMP on board, is utilizing the ROV, the Campod, and the Videograb to continue the survey and plotting of remaining wreckage in the debris field. While the emphasis is on the debris field survey, some aircraft pieces have been recovered using the Videograb equipment supplied by the Bedford Institute of Oceanography of the Department of Fisheries and Oceans. Those pieces will be examined and identified once they are brought ashore. The work on the "PARIZEAU" is continuing 24 hours a day, and will continue, weather permitting, until a larger ROV is deployed on the HMCS "GOOSE BAY" early next week.