00-09-20          0700    Morning routine.  …..

            Attended the 1600 hr TSB meeting.  Vic GERDEN was present to hold it, with John GARSTANG and Doug McEWEN present for the TSB, and Paul FRY present for Swissair.  On the telephone on conference call were Larry VANCE, Mike POOL, Jim FOOT, Gus SIDLA, and Randy VITT from Ottawa, and Bill FOWLER from Halifax. 

            John GARSTANG was the lead off, and spoke about the oxygen line test at the TSB Engineering Lab.  He described that the line had been pressurized to 70 PSI, and heated to 800 deg F., and then leaked at the cap.  He then said that it had been repeated at 1000 deg F.  John also advised that a MPRM had been released today on the acoustic/insulation panels, providing new specs, etc.  He then mentioned the status of the frame patterns, that Neil is at station 440 and proceeding.  Then, new Computer Fire Model software was mentioned as being looked into.  John then went into the fire tests for the duct end caps, and that samples will be forwarded to the FAA Tech Centre for further analysis and burn tests, and that he is arranging for a G3 galley chiller duct system to be supplied for analysis.  He also mentioned that the FAA is starting a new initiative for fire testing of hidden materials, and that it was timely in view of the local findings.  John mentioned that the flex hose preliminary test shows that it burns, but that a formal test will be taped when Larry FOGG returns to the hangar.  He also mentioned about the OM’s of the FDCM, and that they came out very well.

            Doug McEWEN then had the floor and stated that he has sorted the ceiling panels by thickness and is now waiting for the manufacturers representatives to show up to examine them.  He said that the ducts are largely finished with, the cockpit door and bulkhead are ready for OM’s, and that the proposed end date for the frame is the end of October.

            Bill FOWLER spoke about storage of the frame and exhibits upon completion of the work here at the hangar.  It is planned to rent space in Hangar ‘A’ to store the frame, secured with a 12-foot wooden fence and wire mesh above that to the ceiling, alarmed to the local MP’s.  There is some thought given to moving the annex to Hangar ‘J’, or to building an additional building in the compound, however it was also felt that there was sufficient space in the present Hangar ‘J’ to store everything.  Some mention was made for a working area under a heated environment, but more is yet to be done on it.  The total bill could be as much as $100,000, with breakdowns given for rental and construction, etc.  However much has yet to be done.  Hangar ‘J’ security is expected to be passed on to the local MP’s via alarms and patrols, etc.

            Paul FRY of Swissair expressed the concern of his company about an article in yesterday’s Wall Street Journal.  It expresses the opinion of HINDERBERGER that the MD-11 has suffered an excessive number of accidents and is an unsafe airplane.  He passed on his company’s concerns that the local press in Switzerland will surely get wind of the article and ask questions.  He asked if the TSB could offer any assistance in how they should handle such questions.  Vic GERDEN answered by saying that they have complied with every AD and recommendation of the FAA and of Boeing, and that they are following every safety procedure and inspection process that is required.  They can do nothing more.  All potential known issues have been dealt with by the required means.

            Mike POOL spoke about the CVR.  They have conducted further tests in the US and have examined the sound that they had already identified that occurs about 3.5 minutes prior to noticing the smell in the cockpit.  Another sound occurs just before the autopilot disconnect.  However, they had problems with the tapes supplied by SR Technics, as they were cassettes and in future, they recommend actual CVR tapes from the system.  They found anomalies in the tapes that had set them off track.

            Jim FOOT spoke about the IFEN system, that they are gathering further information to be able to put their report together.

            Gus SIDLA advised that he had received 43 CD’s from Sky Scan and is in the process of examining them.  He also stated that eleven beads are being processed through the FIB/TEM process.  However, when asked by Vic GERDEN, he could not offer a time line for the completion of this process, or if BROWN will be submitting his report independently of the FIB/TEM process. 

            Larry VANCE had some comments regarding other TSB matters, and that pretty well sums up the meeting’s involvement with Swissair.  The meeting ended about 1710 hrs.