Date: September, 3rd 1998 (GMT)
Type: McDonnell Douglas MD-11
Registration: HB-IWF
Operator: Swissair
Where: Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada
Report No.-
Report Date: -
Pages: -

This is not an accident investigation report.


Swiss Jet crash near Canadian Coast:

Canada...@ 21h30 Canada Eastern Time on wed. Sept 2nd. (00h30 GMT on Sept.3rd)

PEGGY'S COVE, Nova Scotia (CANADA) -- A Swissair pilot reported smoke in the cockpit, dumped tons of fuel and attempted an emergency landing before his jetliner crashed into the ocean off Nova Scotia, killing all 229 people aboard, including 136 Americans.

Flight SR111 from New York to Geneva plunged into the Atlantic late Wednesday night after leaving Kennedy International Airport at 8:17 p.m. It carried 215 passengers -- including two infants -- and 14 crew.

By the morning, 36 bodies had been found.

The McDonnell Douglas MD-11 reported problems at 33,000 feet, then descended to roughly 8,000 feet before disappearing from radar about 30 miles south of Halifax International Airport, said Philippe Bruggisser, chief executive officer of Swissair's parent group.

The crash occurred between seven and 10 minutes before the plane would have reached Halifax, he said at a news conference in Zurich.

The passengers had been prepared for an emergency landing and many were wearing lifevests, he said, adding that the 136 Americans killed were the largest single group aboard the plane.


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The following are excerpts from an updated, complete transcript of the final conversations Sept. 2 involving the crew of Swissair Flight 111 and air traffic control centers in Moncton, New Brunswick and Halifax before the plane crashed.

Times in parentheses are p.m. Atlantic Daylight Time. ADT is one hour ahead of EDT.

Swissair 111 (9:58:15.8): Moncton Center, Swissair one-one-one heavy (a term for a wide-bodied plane) good, uh, evening, level three-three-zero (flying level at 33,000 feet).

Moncton controller (9:58:20.4)@: Swissair one-eleven heavy, Moncton Center, good evening. Reports of occasional light turbulence at all levels.

Swissair 111 (10:14:18.0)@: Swissair one-eleven heavy is declaring Pan Pan Pan (a term for an urgent message, short of a distress call). We have, uh, smoke in the cockpit. Uh, request immediate return, uh, to a convenient place, I guess, uh, Boston.

Moncton controller (10:14:33.2)@: Swissair one-eleven, roger . . . turn right proceed . . . uh . . .you say to Boston you want to go.

Swissair 111 (10:14:33.2)@: I guess Boston . . . we need first the weather so, uh, we start a right turn here. Swissair one-one-one heavy.

Moncton controller (10:14:45.2): Swissair one-eleven, roger, and a descent to flight level three-one-zero (31,000 feet). Is that OK?@

Swissair 111 (10:14:50.3)@: Three-one-zero. (Unintelligible words obscured by a noise. Possibly the noise associated with donning oxygen masks.) Three-one- zero . . . one-one heavy.

Moncton controller (10:15:08.6)@: Uh, would you prefer to go into Halifax?

Swissair 111 (10:15:11.6)@: Uh, standby.

Swissair 111 (10:15:38.4)@: Affirmative for Swissair one-eleven heavy. We prefer Halifax from our position.

Moncton controller (10:15:43.8)@: Swissair one-eleven, roger. Proceed direct to Halifax. Descend now to flight level two-niner-zero (29,000 feet).

British Airways 214 (10:15:58.3)@: And, uh, Swissair one-eleven heavy, from Speedbird (British Airways flight) two-one-four, I can give you the Halifax weather if you like.

Swissair 111 (10:16:04.1)@: Swissair one-eleven heavy, we have the, uh, the oxygen mask on. Go ahead with the weather.

Halifax controller (10:19:14.5)@: OK, can I vector (direct) you, uh, to set up for runway zero-six at Halifax?

Swissair 111 (10:19:19.4)@: Ah, say again latest wind, please.

Halifax controller (10:19:22.1)@: OK, active runway Halifax zero-six. Should I start you on a vector for six?

Swissair 111 (10:19:26.3)@: Yes, uh, vector for six will be fine. Swissair one-eleven heavy.

Halifax controller (10:19:39.5)@: OK, it's a back course approach for runway zero-six (the runway is equipped with a ``localizer'' radio signal that shows the runway's location, but the system does not automatically show the pilot the precise descent angle). The localizer frequency one-zero-niner-decimal- niner. You've got thirty miles to fly to the threshold.

Swissair 111 (10:19:53.3)@: Uh, we need more than thirty miles. .

Halifax controller (10:21:23.1)@: Swissair one-eleven, when you have time could I have the number of souls on board and your fuel onboard please for emergency services.

Swissair 111 (10:21:30.1)@: Roger. At the time, uh, fuel on board is, uh, two- three-zero tons. We must, uh, dump some fuel. May we do that in this area during descent? (Note: Two three zero tons represents the current gross weight of the aircraft, not the amount of fuel on board.)

Halifax controller (10:22:04.2)@: Swissair one-eleven, uh roger, uh turn to the ah, left, heading of, ah, two-zero-zero degrees and advise time when you are ready to dump. It will be about 10 miles before you are off the coast. You are still within about 25 miles of the airport.

Swissair 111 (10:22:20.3)@: Roger, we are turning left and, ah, in that case we're descending at the time only to ten thousand feet to dump the fuel.

Halifax controller (10:22:29.6)@: OK, maintain one-zero-thousand. I'll advise you when you are over the water and it will be very shortly.

Swissair 111 (10:22:34.4)@: Roger.

Swissair 111 (10:22:36.2)@: (conversation between the pilots, inadvertently broadcast on the air) Du bisch emergency checklist fur air conditioning smoke? (Translation: You are in the emergency checklist for air conditioning smoke?)

Swissair 111 (10:24:28.1)@: (Background phone). Ah, Swissair one-eleven. At the time we must fly, ah, manually. Are we cleared to fly between, ah, ten thou ... eleven thousand and niner thousand feet? (Sound of audible signal when the autopilot is switched off) .

Swissair 111 (10:24:45.1)@: Swissair one-eleven heavy is declaring emergency.

Swissair 111 (10:24:56.5)@: Eleven heavy, we starting dump now, we have to land immediate.

Halifax controller (10:25:00.7@: Swissair one-eleven, just a couple of miles, I'll be right with you.

Halifax controller (10:25:19.2)@: Swissair one-eleven, you are cleared to, ah, commence your fuel dump on that track (while maintaining your present direction) and advise me, ah, when the dump is complete.

Halifax controller (10:25:43.0)@: Swissair one-eleven, check you're cleared to start the fuel dump.

No further communications were heard from the Swissair plane. It disappeared from radar screens about six minutes later.

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Roy Bears, a Canadian aviation safety investigator, said he understood the pilot had talked to Logan International Airport in Boston and was not allowed to land there because Halifax was closer.

But officials at Logan said they had received no notification of any plane in serious trouble.

``We were not put on alert here of any flight coming this way,'' said airport spokesman Phil Orlandella.

Bruggisser identified the pilot as Urs Zimmermann, 50, and co-pilot Stefan Low, 36. Both were Swiss.

Witnesses on the ground reported hearing sputtering noises from an aircraft passing overhead and then a thundering crash.

``The motors were still going, but it was the worst-sounding deep groan that I've ever heard,'' said witness Claudia Zinck-Gilroy.

Dozens of fishing boats and coast guard ships immediately headed out in driving rain to the crash site, about six miles off the coast of Peggy's Cove, a picturesque fishing village popular with tourists. Debris was found about an hour after the plane was reported missing.

``We knew it was an explosion, there was a silence for two seconds after the explosion, then my ears popped,'' said Darrell Fralick, 26, a resident of Peggy's Cove. ``At that split second, I looked at my watch it was 10:35, I don't know why I looked at my watch, I just did.''

Wreckage from the crash spread out over six miles, and fishermen helping with the rescue effort said the smell of fuel was overwhelming.

Bears said divers were using sonar to map the debris field and try to locate the black box -- which gives technical data on the flight -- in about 150 feet of water.

The White House and the FBI said terrorism likely was not a factor in the crash.

``Preliminary indications show absolutely no sign of a criminal act,'' saud FBI spokesman Jim Margolin, adding it is standard for the FBI to monitor air disaster investigations.

Swissair said the passenger list will not be released until family members are notified.

Dr. Jonathan Mann, a former professor at the Harvard School of Public Health and a pioneer in the fight against AIDS, was among the dead, along with his wife, according to the World Health Organization.

The United Nations said seven U.N. workers returning to headquarters in Geneva were on board the plane.

Debris from the aircraft was found off Clam Island and other islets between Peggy's Cove and Blandford, 20 miles southwest of Halifax.

Searchlights from coast guard cutters, fishing boats, helicopters and planes illuminated the area for most of the night. Heavy surf -- a remnant of Hurricane Bonnie -- hampered the first hours of the rescue effort. Drenching rains continued all night, easing at dawn.

``It's real ugly,'' said Craig Sanford, operator of a whale-watching boat that was one of the first vessels on the scene. ``You see Styrofoam floating, chunks of wood, panels, the odd body here and there. It's not a nice scene.''

The three-engine plane dumped tons of fuel over nearby St. Margaret's Bay before crashing, The Canadian Press quoted an airport worker as saying.

Canadian navy spokeswoman Tracy Simoneau said civilian rescuers were at the scene within minutes of the crash. Four rescue planes and four helicopters, as well as a Canadian navy ship, were also searching through the debris.

At the airports in New York and Geneva, grief counselors were on hand for relatives of the crash victims. A special lounge was set up in the Delta Air Lines terminal at Kennedy Airport.

More than 100 relatives and friends had gathered at the Geneva airport. Kennedy officials reported only a handful of relatives had shown up there overnight.

The National Transportation Safety Board in Washington sent a team of 10 people to Canada this morning.

It was the first crash of a Swissair plane since Oct. 7, 1979, when one of its DC-8s overshot the runway in Athens, Greece, while attempting to land and burst into flames. Fourteen people were killed.

The plane was put into service in August 1991 and was overhauled in August and September last year, said Georges Schorderet, the chief financial officer of parent company SAirGroup. It had been checked as all are before takeoff, he added.

``This airplane was in perfect working order,'' Schorderet said.

The McDonnell Douglas MD-11 is a jet known for its reliability, even though its manufacturer, Boeing, has announced plans to discontinue the model in the year 2000.

``Both the aircraft and the airline have extremely good safety records, among the very best in the industry,'' Daly said.


Swissair Flight 111 left New York's Kennedy International Airport about 8:30 p.m. bound for Geneva with 227 passengers and crew and declared an emergency about an hour later, said Lt. Cmdr. Glenn Chamberlain of the Halifax Rescue Coordination Center.

The McDonnell Douglas MD-11 attempted an emergency landing at the Halifax Airport and disappeared moments later, he said.

The pilot reported smoke in the cabin shortly before losing contact with the air traffic control tower in Moncton, New Brunswick, Canadian Press said. The plane also dumped fuel over nearby St. Margaret's Bay before crashing, the agency quoted an airport worker as saying.

Some aircraft debris was believed found off Clam Island between Blandford, about 20 miles southwest of Halifax, and the popular tourist retreat of Peggys Cove, the Canadian Broadcasting Corp. said. The plane was found about seven nautical miles off Peggy's Cove, Nova Scotia, according to Grant Langley of Nova Scotia's Emergency Health Services, who was interviewed on CBC. Two rescue ships and two helicopters were attempting to rescue survivors, CNN said.

The pilot apparently reported fire in the cockpit and was dumping fuel in the ocean in preparation for an attempted emergency landing in Halifax, CBC said. Lt. Cmdr. Mike Considine of the Search and Rescue Center in Halifax said the weather in the area was good, with clear skies and relatively calm seas. Chamberlain said rescue crews were searching for the aircraft seven miles off Peggys Cove.

Residents told of hearing loud noises from an aircraft passing overhead. Dozens of ambulances were dispatched to the scene and rescue vessels began combing the waters off the coast.

Canadian air force Col. Brian Akitt said federal emergency officials informed him at 10:50 p.m. EDT that an airliner was believed to have gone down off the coast and the military was preparing a rescue operation.

``We heard the plane go over our home, then my husband and son heard quite an explosion,'' Blandford resident Audrey Bachman told The Associated Press. She said she was sleeping at the time of the crash.

``We have no survivors,'' said Lt. Cmdr. Glenn Chamberlain of the Halifax Rescue Coordination Center, as rescue efforts continued through the night in the inky darkness off Nova Scotia's coast.

Rescue official Andre Ereaut said four bodies had been recovered so far.

Witnesses reported debris from the downed aircraft spread over a wide area of ocean, including an oil slick and life preservers -- all illuminated by searchlights from coast guard cutters, helicopters and overflying aircraft.

Local fishing vessels helped the comb the waters for possible survivors. But early Thursday, there were only reports of rescuers finding bodies and human remains in 61-degree waters.

Philippe Roy, a Geneva airports spokesman, said the Geneva-bound Flight 111 left New York's Kennedy International Airport about 8:30 p.m. EDT with 215 passengers -- including two infants -- and 14 crew. It was not immediately known if there were Americans on board.

In Atlanta, Delta spokesman Bill Berry said the ``best information available'' was that 53 Delta passengers were on board the flight, which the two airlines share.

The McDonnell Douglas MD-11 declared an emergency about an hour into the flight, Chamberlain said. The pilot reported smoke in the cockpit of the McDonnell Douglas MD-11 shortly before losing contact with the air traffic control tower in Moncton, New Brunswick, The Canadian Press said.

The 200-foot plane also dumped fuel over nearby St. Margaret's Bay before crashing, the news agency quoted an airport worker as saying.

Witnesses reported hearing sputtering sounds before a thunderous crash.

``The motors were still going, but it was the worst-sounding deep groan that I've ever heard,'' said Claudia Zinck-Gilroy.

Debris believed to be from the aircraft was found off Clam Island between Blandford, about 20 miles southwest of Halifax, and the popular tourist destination of Peggys Cove, the Canadian Broadcasting Corp. said.

Lt. Cmdr. Mike Considine of the Search and Rescue Center in Halifax said the weather in the area was good, with clear skies and relatively calm seas.

Residents told of hearing loud noises from an aircraft passing overhead. Dozens of ambulances were dispatched to the scene and rescue vessels began combing the waters off the coast. ``We heard the plane go over our home, then my husband and son heard quite an explosion,'' Blandford resident Audrey Bachman told The Associated Press. She said she was sleeping at the time of the crash. Chamberlain said rescue crews were searching for the aircraft seven miles off Peggys Cove. Local fishermen were called to the area because they are familiar with the waters. CBC reported deteriorating weather conditions at the scene, including rain. ``There have been lights spotted in the water, white lights, that could be from lifejackets. We're not sure,'' Search and Rescue spokesman Dan Bedell said. There were four rescue planes and four helicopters in the area, Canadian navy spokeswoman Tracy Simoneau said. A Canadian navy ship, the HMSC Preserver, also was on the scene.

``They are reporting that they have located debris, but they are unsure if it's from the aircraft. They also report an oil slick and a strong smell of oil. They have not found the fuselage,'' Simoneau said.

She said civilian rescuers were at the scene within minutes of the crash.

Police at Kennedy Airport were not allowing reporters inside the Delta airlines terminal used by Swissair.

An elderly man entering the terminal told reporters ``I know somebody on this flight'' before police allowed him inside the terminal.

In Geneva, the airport's arrivals board said the Swissair plane, which was due to arrive at 9.30 a.m. local time, was ``delayed.''

It was Swissair's first crash since Oct. 7, 1979, when a Swissair DC-8 overshot the runway in Athens while attempting to land and burst into flames. Fourteen people were killed.