DATE=10/31/1999
TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT
TITLE=CRASH INVESTIGATION (L)
NUMBER=2-255662
BYLINE=JIM RANDLE
DATELINE=WASHINGTON
CONTENT=
VOICED AT:
INTRO: U-S officials are quickly organizing an
investigation into the fate of Egypt Air flight 990
and the more than 200-people on board the plane. V-O-
A's Jim Randle reports rescuers, aviation experts, and
a salvage ship are expected to converge on the site
off the U-S East Coast where the plane was last
reported on radar.
TEXT: The U-S Coast Guard says it is sending its
planes, helicopters, and small ships to the area in
the hope of rescuing possible survivors. The
lifesaving service says all available units are at sea
near the Island of Nantucket, where the aircraft
disappeared from radar screens. An additional long-
range search plane has been dispatched from a distant
base (in North Carolina) and should join the search
soon.
Coast Guard officers say they routinely press all
available military, police, and nearby civilian ships
and planes into the effort to find and rescue
survivors.
Finding out what happened to the Egypt Air flight is
the responsibility of the U-S National Transportation
Safety Board. The agency dispatches a team of
specialists who are expert in aircraft structures,
weather, engines, and other matters.
The team generally searches first for the two
recording devices carried aboard commercial airliners.
One preserves cockpit conversations and the other
keeps a record of flight data -- things like course,
speed and engine settings. These and other clues
often help investigators reconstruct the last few
moments of the plane's flight and help determine what
happened.
When planes crash into the sea, investigators face the
additional challenge of recovering wreckage from deep
water. In past accidents, the U-S Navy has sent
salvage ships and large groups of divers to locate
debris and help haul it to the surface.
Experts then do what they can to fit the pieces back
together, as they try to determine whether the plane
was lost to mechanical problems, pilot error, or an
act of violence.
Pentagon officials say they have not been asked to
send a salvage ship in this case, but they anticipate
such a request and say they will do whatever they can
to help. (SIGNED).
NEB/JR/RAE
31-Oct-1999 09:32 AM EDT (31-Oct-1999 1432 UTC)
NNNN
Source: Voice of America
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