common aircraft insulation material is a fire hazard. thousands of planes are refitted with new insulation, and flammability testing is re-evaluated. but they still don t know how the fire started. and if other aircraft are at risk. when we started to look for potential ignition sources the very first thing that comes to mind is aircraft wiring. the investigators scour more than 150 miles of wiring for signs of an electrical malfunction called arcing. arcing events are when electricity jumps from a wire to another piece of metal. it can be another wire or a part of the airplane or something else. when it does that it can create tremendous amount of heat. finding an arcing event is difficult and determining if one preceded another is nearly impossible. but six months into writing the final report, the impossible happens. we managed to come up with a
from the plane. it felt everything was under control and everybody was getting off sniet was a real mixed bag of emotions. of course, we were thrilled to have survived such an incredible ordeal and to realize some people had not survived was still upsetting. immediately after the accident, investigators focus on finding the source of the fire. the investigators knew early on that they had had a fire of likely electric call origin because of the amount of damage done in the lav torrey area. the circuit breakers that popped earlier in the flight were connected to the flush actuator. they immediately suspect an arcing event. the electricity that s flowing through the water.
we thought everybody could get off. like i said, there wasn t any screams. there wasn t any noise coming from the plane. so you felt that everybody was under control. and was getting off. it was a real mixed bag of emotions. of course we were thrilled to have survived such an incredible ordeal. and to realize that some people had not survived was still upsetting. immediately after the accident, investigators focused on finding the source of the fire. the investigators knew early on that they had had a fire of likely electrical origin because of the amount of damage done in the lavatory area. the circuit breakers that popped early in the flight were contained to the flush motor on the lavatory, the sernt of the fire damage. investigators immediately suspected arcing event. the electricity that is
to it. unfortunately in the case of swiss air 111, they were unable to do that. wear and tear on the entertainment system wiring created an opening that allowed electricity to jump out. an arcing event. the arc occurred right next to the wires that powered the flight deck s most crucial equipment, setting off a fire that spread across the cockpit attic, burning through the ceiling. the situation in the final few minutes of flight was catastrophic. the airplane is full of smoke. there is evidence of molten aluminum that s being rained down from the fire overhead. the electrical systems are failing. pneumatic systems are failing. one by one, everything that they need to keep the airplane in flight is failing. they finally lose control of the airplane and it rolls toward the ocean and accelerates and impacts the ocean at a very high speed. in the wake of the swiss air 111 crash, the airline industry
went wrong, investigators discover that a common aircraft insulation material is a fire hazard. thousands of planes are fitted with new insulation. but they still don t know how the fire started. and if other aircraft are at risk. when we started to look for potential ignition sources, the very first thing that comes to mind is aircraft wiring. the investigators scour more than 150 miles of wiring for signs of an electrical malfunction called arcing. arcing events are when electricity jumps from a wire to another piece of metal. it can be another wire or part of the airplane or something else. when it does that it can create tremendous amount of heat. finding an arcing event is difficult, and determining if one preceded another is nearly impossible. but six months into writing the final report, the impossible happens.