Swissair Flight 111: Working together in the midst of tragedy
Operations
The RCMP, Canadian military and Halifax Search and Rescue were among the many agencies who worked together following the crash of Swissair Flight 111 in 1998.
Image by RCMP
August 29, 2024
Content
Trigger warning: death
The case of Swissair Flight 111 stretched the RCMP's human, technical, and operational resources to their limits. The investigation was complex, requiring a steadfast commitment to collaboration and co-ordination across several organizations.
Flight 111 left New York on September 2, 1998, on what should have been a routine flight to Geneva. Less than an hour after takeoff, the crew smelled something strange in the cockpit and noticed smoke. They thought it was an issue with the air conditioning system.
Unaware that a fire was spreading above the ceiling, the flight crew decided to divert the plane to Halifax International Airport in Canada, and declared an emergency after a rapid series of system failures. One minute later, radio communications and radar contact were lost and the flight recorders stopped working.
At 10:31 pm, Flight 111 crashed into the Atlantic Ocean eight kilometres southwest of Peggy's Cove, Nova Scotia. None of the 229 people on board survived.
Recovery operation
What started that night as a search-and-rescue mission soon turned into a long and daunting recovery operation.
When staff from the Transportation Safety Board (TSB) arrived the next day, they found a well-organized personnel and logistical support system already in place. Three investigators from RCMP Headquarters in Ottawa arrived earlier that day with timely and relevant advice based on their experience with the Air India investigation.
On board the Canadian navy vessel HCMS Preserver, RCMP Superintendent Stan Ferguson was tasked with ensuring the continuity of evidence recovered from the crash site. The Canadian Coast Guard, the United States Navy and an armada of small boats supported that effort, picking up everything they could find.
The Preserver acted as a central collection point for human remains and aircraft debris, which were catalogued and sent to two hangars at Canadian Forces Base (CFB) Shearwater.
RCMP Constable Jim Passmore worked with the Canadian Forces and the TSB to co-ordinate diving operations. When dozens of divers from the Navy, Army, and Reserves arrived with equipment suited for the deeper waters, RCMP divers shifted their focus to the investigation as well as maintaining the integrity of the evidence.
Collaborative spirit essential
Within just two days of the crash, the salvage and recovery operation was running smoothly. The officer in charge of criminal operations for the province of Nova Scotia, RCMP Chief Superintendent Steve Duncan, attributed this accomplishment to having the right people in the right jobs.
"While each agency had different mandates and different methods of doing business, we were all independent," he said. "There was a harmony, a cadence, that seemed to go through the entire investigation." For example, one phase of the recovery effort involved the use of a salvage barge staffed by more than 100 RCMP officers. They were divided into teams that were reinforced by members of the Canadian Armed Forces, Coast Guard, TSB and local fire fighters, and supported by other government departments and civilian personnel.
Magnitude and complexity
The operation involved using a crane mounted on an off-shore exploration ship to recover debris from the ocean floor and carefully place it on the deck of a barge — a flat-bottomed boat for carrying freight — moored alongside.
An estimated 2 million pieces of debris were recovered and hand inspected by teams of RCMP officers with utmost care and respect. They were looking for human remains, personal effects, and valuables from the aircraft's cargo hold. The material was then transported to CFB Shearwater, where it was sorted and inspected by more than 350 investigators from multiple organizations, including the TSB, the United States National Transportation Safety Board, the United States Federal Aviation Administration, the Swiss Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau, Boeing, Pratt & Whitney, the Air Line Pilots Association, and Swissair.
The majority of the aircraft was recovered, and nearly all of the victims were positively identified within 10 weeks of the crash. DNA specialists working in RCMP forensic labs were able to identify more than 100 victims using personal effects and blood samples. According to Constable Jim Passmore, the efficiency of the operation was "directly attributed to the excellent co-operation between the various agencies."
Editor's Note: This article is based largely on the April 1999 special edition of the RCMP's internal magazine, The Pony Express
