99-09-23          0730    To CANMET and continued wire examination.  Everyone except John BERRY & Christopher FUELLEMANN were present.  Doug ANDERBURG is leaving late this afternoon.  Had a conversation with Dr. BROWN over his findings so far.  The finding of magnesium, iron and zinc is of concern to him.  At this time, he feels that there are three possible explanations. 

The first is that there was an extremely hot fire in which the aluminium and other objects were already involved.  This released magnesium that was then absorbed by the wire during the short.  This would mean a post fire short circuit, but would also mean a selective absorption of the magnesium in greater quantities than the aluminium.  As well, where did the iron come from?  Zinc may be present in the paint, but to what quantities.

The second is that the wires absorbed magnesium, etc while on the sea floor.  Because of the activity of seawater or the presence of minute fissures in the wires, there may have been a migration of magnesium into the wires.  However, he feels that this is unlikely due to the fact that he is not finding the other elements present in the sea water, including calcium, chlorine, and others.  He suggests that clean, new sample wires should be submersed to depth in the immediate area for a month or so to see what happens.

The third scenario is an incendiary device that is high in magnesium and the other elements that he is finding.  The nature of the device is open to one’s imagination.

Obviously he is not prepared to offer up any one explanation over any other, and indeed there may develop a fourth & even a fifth explanation.  However, from our point of view, it is important that he has a very open mind and is looking for all the answers and is not just looking for the time line of the event.

Dr. BROWN felt that it would now be advantageous to analyse unburnt Kapton & Tefzel coated wires to determine their makeup.  Ends of wires from 1A (Exh #1-11138) became Exh #1-11169 & 2A (Exh #1-11141) became Exh #1-11170 when cut.

After lunch, went over to FIRRS to discuss things with Brian YAMISHITA.  Met up with Lee FRASER & Al MISNER and some of the others in FIRRS.  Filled them in briefly on what is happening.  Dropped off the exposed film with Dennis SICOTTE in photo section.  A total of 63 rolls of EPT36 slide film, and 4 rolls of GA36 print.  He showed me the equipment on which they scan the negatives to disk. Used Brian’s ROSS to send off the memo and copy of notes to Vic GORMAN & Karl CHRISTIANSEN.  On returning to CANMET, John & I discussed the Air Flow test.  Apparently it is still on, but Boeing is having problems getting a permit for their pilots to fly a Swissair aircraft with people on board to conduct tests.  They would prefer that Swissair do it in Zurich.  Apparently though Swissair isn't keen on doing it in Zurich.  As for the wire examination, Larry GALBRAITH is still working on the first two of the standard samples.