Spark brought down airliner

AN ELECTRICAL spark from the in-flight entertainment system has been blamed for a fire that brought down an airliner five years ago off Nova Scotia, killing 229 people including a successful Scots businessman.

As Canada's transportation safety board ended its largest ever investigation, the family of Norman Scoular, from Edinburgh, spoke yesterday of their relief that the wait for its report into the Swissair Flight 111 crash was over.

Alexander Scoular, his father, of Longniddry, East Lothian, said that the conclusion of the inquiry would help draw a line under the crash.

He said they had been in regular correspondence with the authorities in Canada adding: "The correspondence keeps bringing it back to us but you just try to carry on. We want the file closed but we'll never forget our son."

Indicating that the father-of-three, returning from a business trip, should have travelled on an aircraft other than the New York-Geneva flight that plunged into the Atlantic Ocean in September 1998, Mr Scoular said: "It was the difference between life and death. He was a very successful businessman and travelled throughout the world."

A lawsuit resulted in a £1m- plus payment to the dead man's two daughters, Ashley, 28, and Angela, 26, and his 24 year-old son Martin as well as to his parents.

Also killed in the air disaster was 23 year-old Stephanie Shaw whose father Ian - with homes in Geneva and France - was born in Perth. The brother of Sir Jack Shaw, former governor of the Bank of Scotland, he abandoned his lucrative career selling watches and crossed the Atlantic to set up home at the village of Peg's Cove, the nearest land point to where the aircraft went down.

Others who died in the tragedy were the son of former world boxing champion Jake la Motta, portrayed by Robert de Niro in the film Raging Bull, and Jonathan Mann, a doctor who headed the World Health Organisation's Aids programme for four years.

A 338-page report compiled by the transportation safety board at a cost of more than £20m concluded a fire probably was brought about by an electrical spark travelling undetected along the insulation of the aircraft, giving the pilots no chance to save those on board.

However, it said it was unable to declare "unequivocally" what caused the fire that brought down the MD-11 airliner. The report focused on the in-flight entertainment system aboard the McDonnell-Douglas aircraft, saying a problem with wiring to power the system went undetected.

It said the US Federal Aviation Administration's certifying system failed to ensure that the entertainment system was designed and installed properly for the MD-11.

The report said smoke infiltrated the cockpit 53 minutes into the trip, and the electrical systems began failing 13 minutes later.

Since the crash, Swissair has gone out of business in the wake of the September 11 terrorist attacks that crippled the airline industry.

The report included nine safety recommendations in-volving testing for insulation materials and electrical systems, and improving the flight cockpit and data recording systems.

Those recommendations follow 14 previously made by safety board investigators that led to flammable insulation material being removed from aircraft and improved fire reaction measures for pilots.

"This has been the largest, most complex aviation investigation the TSB has ever undertaken," said Camille Theriault, the safety board chairman.

"The efforts of thousands of hardworking people from various countries, industries and regulatory authorities have culminated in a comprehensive report that has changed the face of aviation safety."

Gerry Einarsson, a former Canadian government transport engineer, recently said the entertainment system, which allows passengers to view videos and play computer games, required excessive amounts of power to operate, that resulted in higher cabin temperatures.

The report noted that an inspection of 15 other Swissair MD-11s showed the wiring for the entertainment system was installed differently on four of them.

- March 28th