ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Wednesday, May 15, 1996 TAG: 9605150068
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-1 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: MIAMI
SOURCE: From Knight-Ridder/Tribune and The Associated Press
NOTE: Above
THE PLANE IN WHICH 110 DIED Saturday after its cockpit filled with smoke carried old, oxygen-making chemicals beneath or near the cockpit, officials say.
Investigators into the crash of ValuJet Airlines' Flight 592 said late Tuesday that old chemicals stored in more than 50 bottles in the cargo hold may have triggered a blast that brought down the DC-9 over the Florida Everglades, killing all 110 aboard.
``There could have been an explosion,'' said Robert Francis, vice chairman of the National Transportation Safety Board.
During a late-night news conference, NTSB officials said that between 50 and 60 bottles of chemicals used to make oxygen, and which had exceeded their shelf life, were being flown to Atlanta in the hold, somewhere beneath the first-class cabin and the cockpit.
John Olson, an independent aviation consultant and a pilot for 40 years for Braniff Airlines, said three scores of oxygen bottles was ``an enormous amount'' to be carrying in flight. He said the bottles would not likely explode, but that an oxygen leak could fuel a fire.
Investigators, however, also said they have not yet found any debris flung far from the plane's point of impact to prove an in-air explosion occurred. Also, two witnesses have said the plane appeared to be intact as it fell Saturday and that no flames were visible.
In another development, The Miami Herald learned Tuesday - and Francis confirmed that an infant, apparently not listed on the flight manifest, was also on the plane when it crashed, bringing the death toll to 110. ValuJet spokesman Gregg Kenyon said there were no small children listed on the manifest, but he would not discuss the presence of any babies who may have been on the flight.
``You'll have to call the NTSB,'' Kenyon said. ``We have heard that, but it's not confirmed yet.'' Kenyon would not say from whom he had heard about the child, but added that a baby without his or own ticket or seat ``would not be entered into our records when the customer checks in. A lap child would not show up on our flight manifest.''
Also Tuesday, the Federal Aviation Administration confirmed that under an agency order the plane, along with all other aging DC-9s flown in the United States, was scheduled for inspection today of certain wires to ``prevent the potential for fire and uncontrolled smoke throughout the cockpit.''
Elizabeth Yoest, deputy director of the FAA's aircraft certification service, cautioned that it was ``much too early'' to tell whether the cockpit wiring problem caused the crash.
The FAA's ``airworthiness directive'' takes effect 16 months after the first report of a smoke problem in the overhead switch panels of some planes built by McDonnell Douglas.
The agency first became aware of the apparent wiring problem in January 1995 after the crew of an American Airlines MD-82 passenger liner noticed smoke in the cockpit soon after landing.
The FAA told relatives of victims in Saturday's disaster that they would be taken to the crash area this afternoon, where a wreath of flowers will be placed on the water. The visit comes after three days of requests by family members to be allowed to see the site.
Also, a state wildlife officer for Florida Game and Freshwater Fish Commission said late Tuesday that he and other searchers had found the pilot's and co-pilot's logbooks - little bound notebooks that could provide insight into the crash. Roy Martinez said the water at the site is filled not only with human remains, but also dead snakes and fish.
NTSB investigators also disclosed Tuesday that:
* Pieces of the front interior of the plane and a floor beam have been recovered with evidence of what looks like soot damage, bolstering the theory that a fire broke out in the plane moments before it began a 40-second freefall.
* About 31/2 minutes before the crash, the DC-9 was traveling at 232 knots at an altitude of 10,620 feet, climbing at a normal rate, when there was the ``first indication of an anomaly,'' Francis said.
* The first sign of anything out of the ordinary was a drop in indicated altitude of 815 feet, and a corresponding drop of 34 knots in airspeed. ``This lasted between three and four seconds,'' Francis said.
* Twenty-three seconds later, the right engine thrust dropped sharply during a period of eight seconds, although Francis cautioned that it was not clear whether the drop in engine power was intentional.
* Two minutes and 40 seconds after the sign of trouble, the flight data recorder ceased working. Investigators said the recorder gets its power from the airplane.
The missing 50-second gap of the recorder posed yet another mystery.
Black boxes are ``designed to record for the duration of the flight,'' said John Olson, an independent aviation consultant. ``It records certain parameters unless there is an interruption in the source of energy.''
Olson listed other possible reasons the black box went dead: An on-plane explosion, a fire, or an electrical failure could shut down the recorder for good, he said.
Francis was careful to point out that the black-box findings are very preliminary. He said he would neither speculate about any significance they may have in determining why the airliner crashed, nor analyze the information before it had been thoroughly studied.
Out in the Everglades, the search dragged on. U.S. Navy experts used sonar to gauge the extent of debris submerged in the muck, including the plane's second black box - its voice cockpit recorder.
Francis said investigators were trying to figure out how to begin probing a huge crater in the middle of the crash site, measuring about 130 feet long, 40 to 50 feet wide, and of unknown depth.``We want to do it properly and we're going to take our time to make sure we don't plunge into some sort of an effort that leads us down the wrong road,'' Francis said Tuesday afternoon.
All along, investigators have focused on that trench, although they have not said whether they think there's a significantly intact portion of the plane embedded there.
Energized by Monday's discovery of the first black box, divers resumed their intense, slogging search of the area. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers brought in large floats to serve as on-site docks at the site.
The one item they wanted most was the cockpit voice recorder, which might contain the last conversations among the crew members as they tried to wrestle the DC-9 back onto a safe course.
Although elated at hearing a pinging sound they believe is coming from the recorder, Francis cautioned that under either of two scenarios - the recorder's battery eventually goes dead, or the recorder is hopelessly buried in mud - finding the device could be next to impossible.
LENGTH: Long : 123 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: AP. A crew prepares to airlift a floating platformby CNBTuesday to hold heavy equipment at the site of Saturday's ValuJet
DC-9 crash. color.