Communiqués

November 08, 1998

The Canadian Coast Guard vessel "EARL GREY" has completed the latest series of ROV inspections of the debris field in preparation of the restart of the dragging operation.

The ROV showed that there is still considerable debris, including some small pieces of the fuselage, wiring, and a large number of smaller pieces of material. A number of target areas have been outlined and the information passed on to the crew of the dragger "ANNE S. PIERCE" for reference in the renewed dragging operation.

The latest dragging operation that started Friday (November 06, 1998) morning has been in operation over the weekend. Considerable amounts of material have been recovered and sorted in preparation for technical examination. The dragging operation will continue for at least a week. At that time, a laser line scan will be made of the area in order to determine what materials are left and to define the scope of the remaining debris field. It is anticipated that a further dragger operation will be required after the laser line scan data are analysed.

The team working on the examination of wire and wire bundles has been busy attempting to determine where the wires were located on the aircraft and to which systems they were connected. This aircraft has over 165 miles of wiring. Some portions of wire have been sent to the TSB Engineering Laboratory for further evaluation.

Technical examination and documentation of the recovered wreckage is continuing.

The reconstruction jig is almost complete and will arrive at Shearwater early next week. The reconstruction process will begin after the jig is installed in the hangar.

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