Muddy crater may hold clues to ValuJet crash
May 18, 1996
Web posted at: 4 p.m. EDTMIAMI, Florida (CNN) -- Divers will most likely have to wait until Sunday before they can make their first descent into the dark and oily crater in the Florida Everglades that holds the remains of ValuJet Flight 592.
The dive, originally scheduled for Saturday, was delayed until special bio-hazard suits arrive to protect the divers from jet fuel.
Investigators hope the divers will find more wreckage, including the plane's cockpit voice recorder, which could help them determine the cause of the May 11 crash which killed all 110 people on board.
Investigators suspect that a major portion of the DC-9 wreckage is submerged in the crater, a 5,200-square-foot area as deep as 8 feet in parts.
Visibility is so poor in the water that diver's cannot see more than an inch in front of their masks. Because they will have to feel their way around, aircraft experts have briefed divers on what to expect.
The divers' mission is to learn more about what wreckage is in the crater so that a plan can be devised for lifting it out of the deep muck.
Radar may find what divers can not
Only 10 percent of the plane has been recovered so far. Investigators plan to use an experimental radar, which can detect objects in mud, to develop a map of the remaining wreckage.
A brainstorming session is expected by the middle of next week in which experts will finalize their plans for removing the sunken or buried wreckage.
Investigators still hope to recover the plane's cockpit voice recorder. The DC-9's flight data recorder was retrieved this week, but critical information on the last minute of the flight is missing. Investigators said a power failure may have caused the data recorder to stop functioning 50 seconds before the plane hit the ground.
The information suggests that something, "locally catastrophic might have happened" seconds before the plane veered out of control, former FAA Administrator Don Engen told CNN in an interview Saturday morning.
Investigators look for source of suspected fire
The soot and reports of smoke in cockpit before the crash suggest there may have been an onboard fire. Investigators have been looking at 50 to 60 oxygen canisters stored in the cargo space as a possible source of a fire. They are still trying to determine whether the canisters were, in fact, empty as labeled.
An expert on airline maintenance who did not wish to be identified told CNN that hours before the ValuJet plane crashed in the Florida Everglades, mechanics found an electrical problem in the cockpit area.
The problem with a hydraulic pump which repeatedly tripped a circuit breaker in a compartment behind the pilot's seat was discovered before the plane left Atlanta for Miami last Saturday. The plane crashed later that day, soon after taking off from Miami on its return leg to Atlanta.
A source familiar with the incident said the airline put the problem on its deferred maintenance list for future repair. Under FAA regulations, it was an acceptable procedure, he said.
The problem "could have caused the wiring to smolder momentarily before popping the circuit breaker," the source said but added that it was very unlikely it could have resulted in a fire.
The circuit breaker was located in the area of the aircraft where crash investigators have found soot deposits on debris recovered from the crash site, he said.
Search for victims continues
While investigators searched for clues to the cause of the crash, the search for human remains continued. So far, the Dade County Medical Examiners office has been unable to identify any remains retrieved from the wreckage.
Sgt. Felix Jimenez of the Metro-Dade Fire Department said the impact of the crash was so great that those remains may never be identified.(363K AIFF or WAV sound) He added that searchers have recovered personal effects such as drivers' licenses and photo albums which may help with the identification process.(295K AIFF or WAV sound)
CNN Correspondent Paul Caron, the Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.
Related stories:
- Complete list of passengers and crew
- ValuJet cuts daily flights - May 17, 1996
- Divers to search ValuJet crash site Saturday - May 17, 1996
- NTSB: No evidence of ValuJet engine fire - May 16, 1996
- FAA study raises new questions about ValuJet's safety record - May 16, 1996
Related sites:
Related newsgroups:
FeedbackSend us your comments.Selected responses are posted daily. |
|
![[Imagemap]](/US/images/9601/navbar.gif){kind=small}
Copyright © 1996 Cable News Network, Inc.
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
External sites are not endorsed by CNN Interactive.
