Wreckage Investigation

Whenever there is an air crash, investigators quickly go to the crash site, to find out what caused the crash.
This KAL_007 Korean crash, KAL007 must be the first ever where the entire cause was announced within one day, without any wreckage investigation!
The following are examples of what can be done, (if some effort is made).

China Airlines, Flight 198 December 29 1991

When a Boeing 747 of China Airlines crashed in Taiwan, it probabaly didn't rate a mention in your newspaper. A freight-only plane with a crew of five. Investigators quickly discovered that the No 3 engine was not in the debris. So, where was it?
They searched the sea nearby and eventually found the engine, but not the pylon that attaches it to the wing. Finding that took another seven months! Subsequently, Boeing changed the design of engine attachment and all existing 747's had to be modified, (all 948 of them!). It took 40 days for each and cost $1 million each.
See  Crash report

TWA800, July 17, 1996

An enormous effort was made to retrieve and examine as much wreckage and as many bodies as possible.
The center fuel tank exploded, but why? A bomb? A missile? The wreckage tells the story.
An NTSB investigator said..."We weren't getting anything to suggest that a criminal enterprise had taken place, no evidence from the floating debris, no pitting or gas washing on the metal and the bodies gave us no evidence, no fragments or materials. There was no shred of evidence telling us this could be a crime." ie, a bomb, or missile.
All in marked contrast to the KAL007 story.

United Flight 232, Sioux City, July 19,1989

They lost all hydraulics when the tail engine lost its fan disc which fell into a huge area of mature corn and wasn't found til harvest time 3 months later. Metallurgical examination revealed a tiny flaw caused by nitrogen when the titanium was first moulded.
Lots on other pages...The Pilot's Story

BEA Comet, October 12, 1967

G-ARCO, from London to Nicosia, Cyprus via Athens. Contact lost in the middle of a radio message. Deep water, floating debris only. No black-boxes. Some of the foam-rubber seats had explosion damage on the underneath as did one of the passenger's body. A bomb, under a specific seat. From the two fields of debris they deduced that the plane had dropped about half its height before breaking up.

National Airllines DC-10 November 3, 1973

Houston-Las Vegas. At 39,000ft an engine disintegrates, parts smash a window causing massive decompression. One passenger sucked out. During the investion, a computer was used to predict the paths on which the components would have fallen. The resulting search in the New Mexico desert found the engine cowling, and the ring which held the fan blades in position and several of the missing fan blades.

Air India, Flight 182 June 23, 1985

mid Atlantic Ocean. Bomb. Wreckage in 7,000ft water. Black-boxes recovered within a few days. Scarab II drone TV footage shows passengers still strapped in their seats. 131 bodies recovered using just three ships and two aircraft.
airdisaster.com/special/special-ai182.shtml shows the full story of what happened and the investigations.

South African Airways 747-200B November 27, 1987

ZS-SPE. Near Mauritius, Indian Ocean. Freight-only. Crew report 'smoke in cockpit'. Many months later, after a painstaking deep-sea salvage operation, the investigation concluded that a fire had developed on a freight pallet in the main deck area and quickly burned out of control.

BOAC Comet, January 10, 1954

G-ALYP with 29 passengers and 6 crew. Crashed near the island of Elba in the Mediteranean, in water 600ft deep. Some bodies were recovered but showed no signs of metal fragments which would have suggested a bomb as the cause, but they did show signs of decompression injuries. Much later, after trawling the sea bed, lots of wreckage was recovered. There were fibers from the cabin carpet on the tail fin, suggesting a sudden decompression, ie, the fuselage split open. Eventually the actual site of the initial fatigue fracture was found.
A very informative page  www.plane-truth.com
Huge Comet page in oocities.com/CapeCanaveral/Lab/8803/summary.htm
another Huge Comet Page in oocities.com/Heartland/Ridge/1747/comet.htm

Detroit, August 16, 1987

Flight 255 crashed just after takeoff. There was no evidence of failure of engines, flight controls or avionics. But examination of the wreckage showed that the flaps/slats were not deployed and the cockpit flap/slat handle was in the closed position. Takeoff without flap is not possible at normal operating weight. The CVR showed that the crew had not gone through the taxi checklist.

UA flight 811 February 24, 1989

A cargo door fell off 20 minutes after taking off from Honolulu. Nine passengers were sucked out. Pilot David Cronin turned back and landed safely. The US Navy recovered the missing door from deep in the Pacific Ocean.
full details

KALINFO home page at  oocities.com/kalinfo/index.html
more later...maybe
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