Flight 587

STRUCTURAL FAILURE OR sabotage? Although nothing is known for certain, preliminary evidence collected on the disastrous crash of American Airlines Flight 587 suggests that it was caused by a rogue engine system rather than a terrorist attack. But for New Yorkers, whose collective psyche has been severely scarred by the devastation wreaked on September 11, the carnage at Rockaway must appear like a second visitation, a ghastly relapse. At a time when memories of passenger aircraft ploughing into the World Trade Center are still fresh, the images of Flight 587 plummetting into a New York suburb have spread waves of horror in the city and elsewhere in America. It is a measure of these insecure and anxious times that an unmistakable undercurrent of relief was noticeable when immediate speculation about another terrorist attack gave way to the theory that the crash was caused by mechanical failure. However, with about 260 passengers and crew on board and with possibly dozens of people killed on the ground, the scale of the tragedy is truly enormous. And it will hardly be of much comfort for those who have lost their relatives and dear ones to discover that their loss was induced by a faulty engine rather than an act of terrorism.

It will be a while before it is determined exactly what brought down the Airbus-300 bound for the Dominican Republic. Although the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) has claimed that all available information points towards an accident, eyewitness reports of an explosion before the plane hit the ground and the fact that an engine became separated from the wing before impact have created a measure of doubt in some minds. The mystery will be resolved soon with the decoding of the two data recorders, one of which has already been found in the debris. If the crash is conclusively established as an accident, the engines which propel the Airbus-300, a subject on which the NTSB has made some recommendations, are likely to become the subject of further scrutiny and debate. Among the recent recommendations made by the Board are that engines similar to that used on the ill-fated Flight 587 be reviewed for improving their fire detection systems and for repairs on cracked engine blades. Although it has been known to happen before, it is extremely unusual for an engine to fall off an aircraft - something that is bound to occupy the attention of the accident's investigators.

In these extraordinary times, it was perhaps inevitable that the crash provoked extraordinary measures. The partial lockdown of the United Nations, the evacuation of the Empire State Building, the closing of all New York bridges and tunnels and the additional combat air patrols flown over the United States and its coastline reflect a nation, in these fluid and jittery times, that is anxious and vulnerable. What must worry U.S. decision- makers now is the fallout of the crash on America's general business confidence and, more specifically, its enormous but already tottering airline industry. Indeed, it is likely to also deepen the crisis engulfing the world's major carriers which are undergoing their roughest-ever patch. The Rockaway crash is likely to persuade even more people to stay away from flying, disastrous for an industry which post-September 11 has been severely hit by lay-offs and bankruptcy. Demands that the downturn cannot be arrested unless airport security is drastically improved and passenger confidence restored are likely to get even stronger now. Flight 587 may have been an accident but this is not going to prevent people from fearing it was terrorism. As airline industry watchers have repeatedly emphasised, the only way to rebuild passenger confidence is to adopt quick and forceful measures which convince people it is actually safe to fly.

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Section  : Opinion
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