投稿者 佐藤雅彦 日時 2001 年 11 月 16 日 13:05:07:
●先日ニューヨークの住宅地に墜落したアメリカン航空機について
その後の捜査でも謎が深まるばかり――というニュース記事が登場
したので紹介しておきます。
●日航機が原因だという説も現われましたが、そういうシナリオで
話が進んだ場合、日本航空にまで責任が及ぶのでしょうかね？
仮にそういう事態になれば、多大な賠償金が請求されるでしょうから
日航は経営危機に陥るかも知れませんな。
●数年前(1996年7月17日)にケネディ空港に近くでおきた旅客機(TWA800便)
の墜落事故では、強力な電磁的干渉を受けて操縦困難になった、という報道
もあったし、ミサイルが飛んでいったのを見た、という目撃証言もありました。
（フジテレビの『アンビリーバボー』では、強引にHAARPと結びつけて、HAARP
が送出した“電磁ビーム”で撃ち落とされたというトンデモ理論を開陳して
いましたが、それはないと思いますけどね。）
●今回の墜落事故は、85年8月12日に群馬県御巣鷹山で起きた日航ジャンボ機
(123便)墜落事故とも似ていますが、そういえば、あの事故も不可解な原因が
とりざたされていましたね……。
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Doomed flight mystery deepens
http://news.com.au/common/story_page/0,4057,3252032%255E401,00.html
More tragedy: Firefighters search through debris at the scene of theplane crash in suburban New York.
By MICHAEL BEACH and agencies
15nov01
THE pilot of flight 587 complained of massive turbulence just minutesbefore his plane plunged into a New York suburb.
But investigators are still baffled about what caused the AmericanAirlines Airbus to fall apart just after takeoff on Monday, killing upto 263 people.
They say there seems to be nothing wrong with either engine. And theyhave ruled out the theory a flock of birds brought down the plane.
"We're scratching our heads on this," said Eric Doten, director of theCentre for Aerospace Safety Education.
The cockpit recorder reveals the flight crew were worried about the wakefrom a Japan Air 747 that had taken off from JFK airport just before theAirbus.
Investigators say turbulence may have disrupted airflow into theengines, but it wouldn't cause an engine or tail to fall off.
National Transportation Safety Board member George Black said theplane's massive frame made a noticeable rattling noise that was caughton the recorder.
At the 114-second mark, Mr Black said, the flight crew complained of a"wake encounter".
Seven seconds later another rattle was heard. At 127 seconds, the pilotssaid there was a loss of all power.
On the ground, people heard what they thought was a sonic boom as theengines roared.
The No. 1 engine eventually crashed into a boat in a back yard while theNo. 2 engine - which was due for a 10,000 hour overhaul - hit a nearbyTexaco service station.
The tail fin broke away and sank in Jamaica Bay.
Flight 587 was now a missile locked in a death spiral straight down.
Mr Black said there was nothing wrong with the engines. They were bothintact and neither malfunctioned.
"There was no evidence on initial inspection of the engines of any kindof foreign object damage, including a bird," he said.
Purdue University aviation professor Dale Oderman is also perplexed."It's hard to understand," he said.
Wake turbulence could have disrupted airflow into the massive turbineengines, causing the compressor to stall, Professor Oderman said.
But that wouldn't cause the engine to fall off -- or the tail, which wasfound a good distance from the rest of the wreckage.
"You have a whole bunch of swirling parts going at very fast speeds,"Professor Oderman said.
It is not unheard of for one engine to break away. Never two.
Another expert said he had no recollection of such a strange airdisaster.
"I can't remember a crash where a plane broke up this quickly," saidformer Federal Aviation Administration chief of staff Michael Goldfarb.
Investigators say the takeoff from JFK's runway 31 had been almosttextbook.
Shortly after the plane was in the air, the control tower gave CaptainEdward States, 42, the go-ahead to climb to 4000m.
His co-pilot, Sten Molin, was in charge for the first flight manoeuvres.Both men had flown this route many times.
Investigators will now match the voice recorder to a second black box --the instrument data recorder -- to see if they can shed any light on whyan apparently perfectly sound plane fell out of the sky.
The black box measures speed, altitude, engine performance and othermajor systems on the plane. It was found in a Rockaway Beach yard.
Chief investigator Marion Blakey, head of the National Transportationand Safety Board, said nothing had been found to indicate thedestruction of flight 587 was anything other than a plane falling apart.
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New Clues Deepen Flight 587 Crash Mystery
http://www.aviationnow.com/avnow/news/channel_maint.jsp?view=story&id=news/raa11114.xml
By Sean Broderick/AviationNow.com
14-Nov-2001 12:56 AM U.S. EST
As work continued into the night on reading the plane's flight datarecorder, investigators late Tuesday revealed several new clues aboutthe crash of American Airlines Flight 587, but the information merelydeepened the mystery of what caused the accident.
With both of the Airbus A300-600's engines and its vertical stabilizercoming down before the rest of the airplane, early accident-relatedspeculation was on a catastrophic engine failure that triggeredcollateral structural damage. But investigators have found nothing thatbacks such a scenario, and the near-pristine condition of the tailpieces indicates that something besides debris caused them to separatefrom the plane.
Visual inspection of the plane's two engines showed "no physicalevidence" of an engine or fan failure, U.S. National TransportationSafety Board (NTSB) Investigator-In-Charge George Black told reportersin the first of two briefings held late Tuesday. Black also confirmedwhat AviationNow.com reported several hours before the briefing: neitherof the General Electric CF6-80C2 engines showed evidence of a birdstrike.
"We will have to await tear-down to completely analyze the condition ofthe engines and any part they might have played in the accident," Blackcautioned, adding that both engines will go to American's Tulsa, Okla.,maintenance base for disassembly.
While an engine failure seems less remote based on the lack of evidence,other facts clearly indicate that something went suddenly and terriblywrong shortly after Flight 587 left Runway 31 Left at John F. Kennedy Airport Monday morning. All 251 passengers and nine crewmembers werekilled when the jet plunged into a residential waterside area of Queens,New York.
In perhaps the most perplexing development Tuesday, the A300-600'svertical stabilizer and rudder were pulled from Jamaica Bay -- about ahalf-mile from the main debris site -- and both pieces "appear to becomplete," Black said. Television images of the tail showed no marks,holes, or other structural damage that would indicate that the tail wasknocked off by debris -- such as from a disintegrating engine.
Relying on what Black described as a "second quick look" at the cockpitvoice recorder (CVR) tape recovered hours after the accident,investigators have determined the first part of the flight was "normal."
About three minutes into the flight -- or 107 seconds after power wasapplied to start the A300-600's takeoff roll -- an "airframe rattlingnoise" was captured on the tape, Black said.
Seven seconds later, one of the pilots mentioned a "wake encounter," butthere was no further discussion, Black said.
At 121 seconds, a second rattling sound is heard.
Four seconds later, the first officer called for maximum power to theplane's engines. This could indicate several things, such as setting upengine thrust to help steer the plane -- an option to compensate for alack of rudder control -- or an effort to climb in preparation for anemergency return to JFK.
At 127 seconds, one of the pilots indicated that control of the planehas been lost.
The recording stopped 144 seconds after takeoff power was first applied.
The vertical stabilizer and rudder were pulled from Jamaica Bay Tuesday,and both of them "appear to be complete," Black said. Television imagesof the tail showed no marks, holes, or other structural damage thatwould indicate that the tail was knocked off by debris -- such as from adisintegrating engine.
The CVR information alone doesn't reveal when Flight 587 took off or howlong it stayed airborne, Black said. The CVR information will be mergedwith data from the FDR, air traffic control radar tapes, and othersources to develop a detailed look at the plane's flight profile.
The rattling noises captured on the CVR will surely get significantscrutiny from investigators. Black, who was relaying information fromother investigators and has not listed to the tape, could not providedetails on the noises.
Aside from the two rattling sounds, Black did not indicate that otherunusual noises were captured by the CVR. In the past, onboard explosions-- such as what would occur due to an uncontained engine failure, fueltank ignition, or bomb detonation -- have often been picked up onrecorders.
"Not only are words important on a tape, but sounds are important,"Black said.
While no sounds pointing to explosions have been picked up from the CVRanalysis sessions, Black said investigators noted "noises" on an airtraffic control tower tape of communications between controllers andFlight 587. The noises -- which Black did not describe in detail -- wereheard at about the time crew lost control. He did not say what thesounds indicated.
Detailed analysis of the tapes and coordinated timeline of the eventswill help shed more light on how the clues fit together, Black said.Transcription of the CVR is slated to begin Wednesday, withparticipation of representatives from France's Bureau Enquetes-Accidentsas well as Airbus.
Flight 587 took off about two minutes and twenty seconds behind a JapanAirlines 747-400, Black said. While investigators will examine that factin connection with the Flight 587 crew's reference to wake turbulence,Black noted that the separation between the two jets exceeded thetwo-minute requirement.
Evidence from eyewitnesses has provided some insight on Flight 587'sfinal moments, Black said. Members of two airline crews that witnessedat least part of the American Airlines jet's final flight have beeninterviewed, and each pilot tells roughly the same story, Black said.Each pilot recounted that Flight 587 "wobbled," spiraled out of control,and went down at a severe nose-first angle, Black said.
Black said a construction worker shot video of Flight 587's takeoffroll, but turned his camera away as the A300-600's gear was retracting.Black did not indicate that the tape showed anything amiss with theplane during the departure, but investigators are hoping to talk withwitnesses -- including airline crews -- that were on the ground asFlight 587 taxied out and took off.
Investigators have not determined if any debris was on the runway whenFlight 587 took off, but Black said the board hopes to have moredefinitive information in the coming days.
All major parts of the plane have been recovered, Black said. Thevertical stabilizer and rudder were pulled from Jamaica Bay. The rest ofthe plane, including both engines, came to rest on land.
Flight 587 took off to the northwest and investigators believe itcompleted about half a turn and was heading southeast when it began tobreak up. Black said the Airbus stopped sending transponder signals atan altitude of about 3,000 feet, indicating that something -- such as amajor structural failure -- cut the unit's power. "Primary" targetreturns -- indicating aircraft or large pieces of debris without workingtransponders -- began at that point, Black said.
Tracing the plane's assumed flight path, the vertical stabilizer was thefirst piece of debris found, followed by the rudder about 200 yardsfurther down the flight path. Both pieces were in the water, about halfa mile from the main crash crater.
The plane's No. 1 engine ended up in a gas station parking lot about 700feet from the crater, while the No. 2 engine came down in about 800 feetfrom the main crater. All of the debris is "more or less in a line,"Black said.
A sweep of a 16-block area around the crash site turned up oneadditional piece of wreckage, and a helicopter flight over the areaindicated that no major pieces remained in the shallow bay waters.Divers made 15 trips into the bay Tuesday and found nothing substantial,Black said.
Examination of the wreckage showed that the plane's flaps wereretracted, which would be expected during a climb-out. The horizontalstabilizer jackscrew was in the neutral position, while the rudder trimactuator indicated a 10-degrees left displacement.
Black also released information on Flight 587's two pilots. The captainwas a 16-year veteran of American and had 8,050 total flight hours,including 1,723 as the left-seat occupant on an Airbus A300-600. Thefirst officer joined American in 1991 and had 4,400 total flight hours,including 1,835 as an A300-600 first officer.
Tuesday's progress meetings, attended by more than 100 investigators,included updates from most of the subgroups tasked with probing specificaspects of the accident. Progress reports from the maintenance, humanfactors, flight data recorder, and cockpit voice recorder groups areexpected in the next day or two.
The maintenance group has been sent to Tulsa to review the A300-600'srecords, while the two recorder groups were working to extract detailedinformation
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題名には必ず「阿修羅さんへ」と記述してください。