SWISSAIR FLIGHT 111
On September 2, 1998, Swissair Flight 111 crashed into the Atlantic Ocean near Peggy’s Cove, Nova Scotia, Canada. All 229 people on board were killed. The Flight 111 was a scheduled international flight from John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York City, United States to Cointrin International Airport in Geneva, Switzerland. The aircraft involved in the accident, was a McDonnell Douglas MD-11, registered as HB-IWF. The pilot-in-command was captain Urs Zimmermann. At the time of the accident, he had approximately 10 800 hours of total flying time. He was also an instructor pilot for the MD-11. Before his career with Swissair, he was a fighter pilot in the Swiss Air Force. The first officer was Stefan Löw, who had approximately 4800 hours of total flying time. From 1982 to 1990, he had been a pilot in the Swiss Air Force.
The flight departed New York at 00:18 UTC. At 01:10 UTC, the flight crew detected an unusual odor in the cockpit. They determined, that some smoke was present in the cockpit, but not in the passenger cabin. They assessed, that the odor and smoke were related to the air conditioning system. Four minutes later, the odor returned, and smoke became visible. At that time, a Pan Pan radio call was made to Moncton air traffic control, the area control center station in charge of air traffic over the Canadian province of Nova Scotia. The crew requested a diversion to Logan International Airport in Boston, before accepting Moncton air traffic control's offer of radar vectors to the closer Halifax International Airport. They immediately received an air traffic service clearance to fly directly to Halifax. At this time, the pilots donned their oxygen masks. At 01:18 UTC, Moncton Center handed over traffic control of the plane to Halifax terminal air traffic control, which was in charge of controlling traffic in and out of Halifax International Airport. Upon being advised by Halifax air traffic control, that they were 30 nautical miles from the airport, the crew requested more flight distance to allow the aircraft to descend safely from its altitude of 21 000 ft at the time. The flight crew discussed internally the dumping of fuel, based on the aircraft's gross weight, and on their perception of the cues regarding the aircraft condition, and agreed to dump fuel. The crew then requested air traffic control to dump fuel to reduce their weight for landing. Halifax air traffic control thus vectored the plane south toward St. Margaret's Bay, where it was safe for the aircraft to dump fuel, while remaining within 40 nautical miles of the airport. In accordance with the Swissair checklist, the crew shut off power to the cabin, which also turned off the recirculating fans in the cabin's ceiling. This allowed the fire to spread to the cockpit, eventually shutting off power to the aircraft's autopilot. At 01:24 UTC, the crew informed Halifax, that they had to fly manually at the time, followed by declaring an emergency. Both pilots almost simultaneously declared an emergency, and the co-pilot indicated to the controller, that they were starting to dump fuel, and that they had to land immediately. Ten seconds later, the crew declared an emergency again. It was the last transmission received from Flight 111. The aircraft flight data recorder and the cockpit voice recorder stopped operating at 01:25 UTC, as the aircraft was descending over the dark waters off the coast of Nova Scotia. At 01:31 UTC, the aircraft crashed into the Atlantic Ocean, in a 20 degrees nose down, and 110 degrees right bank.
The accident was caused by a fire during the flight, which ultimately led to the loss of control of the aircraft. The rapid spread of electrical power failures, led to the breakdown of key avionics systems, and the crew was soon rendered unable to control the aircraft. Finally pilots lost all control, and the doomed plane flew into the ocean uncommanded.
With 229 fatalities, this accident remains deadliest air disaster involving the McDonnell Douglas MD-11.
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