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Crash of Flight 111
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Program Overview
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Note:
This program contains information that may be upsetting to students. Please
preview it to determine its appropriateness for your classroom.
NOVA follows the four-and-a-half year, $39 million investigation into why
Swissair Flight 111 crashed on September 2, 1998, killing all 229
passengers.
The program:
reviews the series of events that led up to the crash of the
McDonnell-Douglas MD-11 plane in the waters off Nova Scotia. chronicles how scientists used evidence to establish how and why the
crash occurred. follows the salvage and sorting of hundreds of thousands of pounds of
wreckage—such as metal pieces, wires, burnt rugs, and other airplane
debris—from 55 meters (180 feet) below the ocean surface. shows the recovery of the black box and the subsequent finding that it
did not record the final six minutes of flight. details the reassembly of the plane in a hangar in Halifax and the
creation of a three-dimensional computer model of the aircraft. demonstrates a variety of tests that investigators conducted, including
exposing metal to different levels of heat to determine color changes and
performing materials flammability tests. shows how investigators came to reconstruct the series of events that led
up to the crash—a damaged wire in the entertainment system gave rise to
an electrical arc-generated fire that spread out of sight in the plane's attic
area. reviews the recommendations made by the Transportation Safety Board of
Canada upon completion of its investigation. notes that the Federal Aviation Administration has given airlines five
years to implement the most important recommendation resulting from the
investigation—replacing the type of flammable insulation materials found
in Swissair Flight 111.
Taping Rights: Can be used up to one year after the program is taped off the air.
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