| Swissair Flight 111 |
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| CATEGORIES ABOUT SWISSAIR FLIGHT 111 | |
| aviation accidents and incidents in 1998 | |
| canadian air disasters | |
| disasters in nova scotia | |
| history of switzerland | |
| in-flight airliner fires | |
| 1998 in canada | |
Swissair Flight 111 (SR-111) was a Swissair McDonnell Douglas MD-11 on a scheduled airline flight from John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York City , United States to Cointrin International Airport in Geneva , Switzerland . This flight was also a Codeshare flight with Delta Air Lines . On September 2 , 1998 , the aircraft used for the flight, registered HB-IWF, crashed into the Atlantic Ocean southwest of Halifax International Airport at the entrance to St. Margarets Bay , Nova Scotia . The crash site was 8 Km from shore, roughly equidistant between the tiny fishing and tourist communities of Peggys Cove and Bayswater. All 229 people on board were killed. The flight departed JFK at 8:18 PM ( in Halifax, Nova Scotia . . The final phase of wreckage recovery by dredging ended in December 1999 with around 2 million pieces of the aircraft and its contents recovered, 98 per cent of the aircraft was retrieved from the 50-60 m deep water. The investigation identified the cause of the crash as originating in a fire in the right side cockpit overhead controls. Arcing from wiring of the in-flight entertainment network did not trip the circuit breakers but ignited flammable covering on insulation blankets and quickly spread across other flammable materials. The crew did not recognize that a fire had started and were not warned by instruments, and reacting to an uncertain problem, the crew's ability to control the aircraft was soon overcome as the rapid spread of the fire led to the failure of key display systems. After the displays in the cockpit failed, the pilot was steering the plane blindly, as he had no light by which to see his controls. As a result the plane swerved off course and headed back out into the Atlantic. Recovered fragments of the plane show that the heat inside the cockpit as the displays failed was so great that the ceiling started to melt. The speed at which the plane hit the water was so great that everyone on board died nearly instantly, because upon impact with the water the nose of the plane slowed down considerably. In less than a second the tail of the plane (now moving much faster than the nose) would have reached the nose of the plane, compacting the plane and killing all on board. The TSB has concluded that even if they had been aware of the nature of the problem the rate of spread of the fire would have precluded a safe landing at Halifax even if an approach had begun as soon as the 'pan pan' was declared. The TSB made nine recommendations relating to changes in aircraft materials, electrical systems and flight data capture (both flight recorders had halted operations six minutes before impact). General recommendations were also made regarding improvements in checklists, fire detection and fire-fighting equipment. In September 1999 Swissair and Boeing offered the families of the passengers full compensatory damages. This was rejected in favor of a $19.8 billion suit against Swissair and DuPont , the supplier of Mylar® insulation sheathing. The claim was rejected in a US federal court in February 2002. A number of famous or notable people died in this accident, including Joseph LaMotta , son of former Boxing world champion Jake LaMotta , and Jonathan Mann , a well-known former head of the WHO 's AIDS program. A number of works of art, including a piece by Pablo Picasso , were lost in the crash. Two memorials to the victims have been established by the government of Nova Scotia. One is located east of the crash site at The Whalesback, a Promontory 1 km north of Peggys Cove ; the other is a more private but much larger commemoration located west of the crash site near Bayswater Beach Provincial Park on the Aspotogan Peninsula and is where the unidentified remains of the victims are interred. After the crash, the flight route designator for Swissair's New York-Geneva route was changed to Flight 139. Since the crash there have been many television documentaries on Flight 111, including episodes of disaster shows like History Channel 's ''Disasters Of the Century'' and National Geographic 's '' Air Crash Investigation ''. SEE ALSO EXTERNAL LINKS
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