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Transportation Safety Board to Send Crashed Plane's Voice Recorder to France

Posted on: Thursday, 4 August 2005, 21:00 CDT

TORONTO (CP) - Canada lacks equipment needed to download crucial data held by the black boxes of an Air France jet that skidded off a Toronto runway, the lead investigator said Thursday as an airline official suggested braking problems may have caused the fiery crash.

The cockpit voice and flight data recorders will instead be sent to France, where investigators can access the key details documenting the moments before the crash, Transportation Safety Board lead investigator Real Levasseur said Thursday.

"We do not have the type of equipment to download that type of data from those types of recorders," Levasseur told a news conference. The decoding gear needed to translate the data is very expensive, he added.

"This is an early type of recorder that was put into that aircraft."

Levasseur said the data tapes will be escorted to France for the information to be downloaded. The data will then be returned to Canada for analysis, a process Levasseur believes will take about three days.

The chairman of Air France, Jean-Cyril Spinetta, reported that the plane may have been unable to stop after touching ground at Pearson International Airport on Tuesday during a torrential rainstorm.

Spinetta made the guarded comments after meeting with most of the flight crew, including the co-pilot who landed the plane.

"They, themselves, have given us no explanation, they can only tell us what they felt physically - that the plane skidded, and that it didn't brake. Well, I'll stop myself at that," Spinetta said in french.

Investigators hope information contained in the black boxes will indicate whether the passenger jet experienced brake trouble or hydraulic pressure problems during the failed landing.

They may also reveal conversations between the pilots and Pearson's control tower in the moments before the passenger jet skidded 200 metres off the 2.7-kilometre runway.

Meanwhile, the burned-out shell of the plane, which came to rest nose down in a wooded ravine at the foot of the runway, will remain right where it is until the flight data can be analyzed.

"The problem or issue right now is waiting for the (flight data recorder) to come back from its decoding work," said Levasseur.

"Once I have information from the FDR, that will determine what I do with the wreck."

Levasseur thanked investigators who continued Thursday to carry out the arduous and unpleasant work of picking through the wreckage, a stinking, smouldering hulk of ash and charred, twisted metal.

Those working at the crash scene have to wear full biohazard gear while contending with temperatures that have lingered in the low 30 C range all week.

"It's humid, it's hot, it's full of smoke because the wreck is still smoking from time to time and it has to be hosed down," said Levasseur.

"It's wet out there, they're in mud and it doesn't smell very nice, as you can imagine."

The first officer, or co-pilot, was interviewed Thursday, but Levasseur said details of the conversation are privileged information that can't be divulged. The co-pilot was at the plane's helm when the crash occurred.

Levasseur said Flight 358's pilot, also known as the captain, is still in hospital with unspecified back injuries. The pilot will not be interviewed by the investigation team until doctors are satisfied he is healthy enough to talk, he added.

"I will not be talking to him until he is capable of talking to us."

Ultimately, having the statements of both pilots - a rarity for those who are used to probing plane crashes that claim a lot of lives - will be a boon to the investigation, he added.

"This is a big plus because when we talk to the pilot then we can corroborate with other pieces of data collected to ensure that, yes, this is what really happened."

None of the 309 passengers and crew perished in the fiery crash, a fact largely credited to the crew who were quick to get everyone on board off the aircraft before it was consumed by the flames.

Flight attendants will be debriefed in the coming days.

Levasseur said the crew did not declare an emergency to air traffic controllers or anyone else as the Airbus A-340 approached the runway. Preliminary evidence suggests there was nothing wrong with the aircraft upon approach, but Levasseur stressed that still needs to be confirmed.

The plane was still travelling at about 150 kilometres per hour when it left the runway, which helps explain why it plowed through 200 metres of field before coming to rest in a wooded ravine, he said.

Wreckage of the charred plane still littered the area, along with excess fuel and water, but there was no evidence that the plane broke apart between the time it touched down and when it slid off the runway and into the ravine.

"We don't have any indication that any part of the airplane is missing," Levasseur said. The engines appeared to be in good shape, he added.

Some parts of plane will be removed for examination for Thursday, although Levasseur said it is a gruelling process.

"This is meticulous work," he said. "This is hard work."

He added that three of the plane's four thrust reversers were operating correctly, but the condition of the fourth during landing remained unclear due to extensive fire damage to surrounding metal.

Thrust reversers help to slow down the plane upon landing.

Source: Canadian Press

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