The news sent shock waves through the aviation industry. Both Swissair and the MD-11 have impeccable reputations; indeed, Swissair maintenance workers are in great demand and often help out at other airlines. They have not had a single crash in nearly 20 years. The downed plane was seven years old, a mere babe in industry terms. "This was a descendant of the DC-10," says TIME aviation expert Jerry Hannifin, "and a hell of a reliable stable airplane." Nevertheless, there was one incident last year at Newark Airport in which a Federal Express-owned MD-11 crashed on landing. That investigation is ongoing. Now the NTSB has another, greater mystery on its hands.
The Crash That Shocked an Industry
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NEW YORK: There's but one conclusion to be drawn so far from the known facts about the crash of Swissair flight 111, a McDonnell Douglas MD-11 that went down Wednesday night with 229 passengers and crew: There were no survivors. Among the dead were 137 Americans. Beyond that, details get sketchy: The pilot reported smoke in the cockpit less than an hour after taking off from JFK; the plane dumped fuel over Novia Scotia and seemed to be preparing for an emergency landing at Halifax airport; it plunged into the ocean shortly after 9:30 p.m. EDT. Swissair quickly ruled out the possibility of a terrorist attack.