Aviation authorities said an initial analysis of the cockpit voice recorder from the American Airlines crash here showed the pilots knew they were in trouble within two minutes of takeoff.
"There are several comments suggesting loss of control of the aircraft" two minutes and two seconds after Flight 587 began rolling down the runway at John F. Kennedy international airport Monday, National Transportation Safety Board official George Black told reporters.
PHOTO: AFP
Black said a second "quick look" at data from the voice recorder recovered from the crash had detected "airframe rattling noises" a few seconds apart, and that after 114 seconds "the captain makes a comment about wake encounter" -- referring to turbulence that may be caused by the wake of the last plane to take off from the same runway, a Japan Air Lines Boeing 747.
The NTSB also announced the discovery of the plane's flight data recorder, thought to contain crucial clues to the cause of the crash.
The final death toll of the crash is expected to be 265 -- all 260 people aboard the plane and five on the ground in the Belle Harbor area of Queens.
Most indications suggested that the crash was an accident as the grim task of recovering bodies neared a conclusion Tuesday.
"I was able to tell the family members who we just met with that we have recovered almost all of the remains now and the process of identification is beginning," Blakey said.
The airliner was heading for Santo Domingo and most of the passengers were from the Dominican Republic.
Hundreds of people visited Tuesday the Washington Heights area in northern Manhattan where around a quarter of the nation's one-million-strong community in New York lives. Dominicans were already hard-hit by the Sept. 11 terror attacks, some 41 killed in the collapse of the World Trade Center.
And Republican Senator for New York Charles Schumer outlined details of measures by the US government to speed up visa issuance to around a week for Dominicans to travel to New York in the wake of the tragedy.
Family members are being asked to apply for visas with passport, documents, evidence of relationship to the crash victim, plus a receipt for 810 pesos (US$50) deposited with the Dominican Republic's Banco Popular.
The US Embassy in Santo Domingo said it was "ready to carry out accelerated processing" for visa applications.
Earlier Tuesday, New York Mayor Rudolph Giuliani said he was relieved that terrorism could be ruled out as a cause for the crash. "You have to assume the worst, that this might be part of an attack ... it turned out not to be necessary, thank goodness," he said.
Speculation had immediately centered on a possible new terror attack. City authorities ordered a huge security alert, as military jets flew air cover and city bridges, tunnels and airports were closed.
The UN building where the UN General Assembly annual debate is taking place was immediately sealed off and the Security Council stood in silence for one minute in tribute to the victims.
"Nothing would lead us to believe it was anything other than an accident," Black said Monday. Tuesday he also ruled out the remote possibility that one or more birds had been sucked into an engine, causing the crash.
The American Airlines aircraft, a French-made Airbus A300-600 with the capacity to hold 266 passengers, was delivered to the US carrier in July 1988, and was powered by two General Electric CF6-80C2A5 turbofan engines, Airbus said in a statement.
Concerns about the safety of the General Electric engines, while generally considered workhorse equipment, have emerged from recent incidents.
As a result of those concerns, the FAA in August last year ordered more frequent inspections for cracks in the high-pressure turbine discs and to further tighten the requirements in June.
"We are not aware of any operational issues that would have endangered the aircraft at this point," GE spokesman William Kennedy said Monday in response to the crash.
One of the two engines on the Airbus that crashed had gone 9,788 hours since its last overhaul, while the other had gone 694, said American spokesman Al Becker.
Overhauls are supposed to be conducted every 10,000 hours, he said.
Reports emerged Tuesday of two passengers who had cheated death Sept. 11, escaping the trade center's twin towers before they collapsed, only to perish in the crash.
In Santo Domingo, authorities declared three days of mourning for the dead. Two French nationals also were among the victims, the French foreign ministry said Tuesday.
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