NTSB Rules Out Sabotage On AA Flight 587

Jim Bulloch will never forget November 12, 2001, the day an aircraft engine dropped into his Texaco station on Beach 129 Street and made it arguably the most famous gas station in the world for a couple of days.

He can't forget, because he relives the experience almost every night.

"I don't sleep much any more. I think about that day. I hear an airplane flying over and I look to see which way it is going."

Bulloch was in the station's office that morning, getting ready to begin the day's work.

"I thought that a car exploded in the station," he says, obviously anguished about the memory even seven months later. "I didn't realize that the thing on fire in my station was an aircraft engine until we started to put it out and I saw the identification markings on it."

Bulloch, one of his workers, Carlos, and Bernie Herran, a retired firefighter who lives right across the street from the station, fought the fire and finally got it under control.

"It seemed like we fought it for hours," he says now, "but it was probably only fifteen or twenty minutes."

Herran, the owner of Harbor Light on Newport Avenue, quickly realized that his restaurant was at risk and headed for that site.

Bulloch says that his life has not been the same since that November day.

"I have a different outlook now," he says. "Things are different when I come to the station these days."

When the engine hit the station, Bullock was thrown backwards. He injured his leg. He says that all of the windows in the station blew outwards.

"They imploded from the concussion," he says. "If that glass had blown inward, we would not be talking today."

"There were engine parts embedded in the wall behind my desk," he told the Wave, pointing in that direction.

"I see that every night," he added.

The psychological scars from the incident are proving to be far worse than the physical scars, however.

Bulloch has sought professional help and he says that his son may soon leave his job to join his father at the station.

He has sought help in another way as well.

Manhattan attorney Frank Daly lives in Rockaway and is a customer at Bulloch's station.

Bulloch decided to sue both American Airlines and Airbus Industries, the company that built the Airbus 300-600 that crashed into Rockaway.

That lawsuit accuses American Airlines of negligence and Airbus with constructing the plane in a "dangerous, defective and unsafe manner."

Bulloch, whose wife, Tina, joins him in the suit, charged in the lawsuit that witnessing the "horrific event" close up, he suffered "extreme mental anguish, including fear of his death."

"Emotionally, it really knocked me for a loop," he says. "I was never a soft guy, but now I find myself close to tears all the time."

Retired Airline Pilot Sees Problems With NTSB Investigation

By Captain Ray Lahr, Retired

Lahr is a Graduate Engineer from USC, former Navy pilot (WWII) vintage, former Air Line Pilots Association Safety Representative, and a former United Air Lines Pilot and Captain.

A press conference was called by the NTSB to assure the public that it is actively working on the AA587 investigation. Since the NTSB seems to be steering the investigation away from politically sensitive areas, the press conference needed to be tightly controlled. It was held at the NASA facilities on the Langley Air Force Base near Hampton, Virginia. This assured that only invited guests could gain access to the press conference. NASA was chosen to conduct the research on the vertical tail assembly of AA587, and all of those parts of the aircraft have been transported to this NASA facility for testing. The joint participation of NASA in the conference assured that the conference would be kept focused on NASA's portion of the investigation.

The conference commenced at 10:30 a.m. and Marion Blakey, chairman of the NTSB, did a good job of summarizing the work of the NTSB and NASA regarding the investigation of the composite materials used in the construction of the vertical stabilizer and rudder. She was backed up by a panel of experts. Nothing revolutionary was revealed. Frankly, I predict that nothing revolutionary will be revealed because that could ground the whole Airbus fleet. That would be very awkward politically. There should be no compromise with truth in an accident investigation. The British had the courage to openly test the Comet and reveal the results, even though it cost them dearly. The whole world benefited from their honesty.

The conference was then opened to questions from the floor. Most reporters seemed generally content to ask questions about composite materials. Victor Trombettas was able to ask one question about the crew's comments calling for "max power" and that they had "lost control" and where those comments came in relation to the five rudder movements. Marion Blakey stated that the NTSB had yet to synchronize the CVR with the FDR and that they would place that info in the "docket" when "they have it". This is a troubling answer for a couple of reasons. Victor will elaborate in a separate article. I had signaled for the microphone because I wanted to ask (tongue in cheek) if the eyewitnesses had helped them determine the breakup sequence of the rudder and vertical stabilizer. (Some of eyewitnesses saw an explosion before the vertical tail separated from the aircraft.) The mike never reached me, and I never got to ask the question.

That was the weakness of the conference. No tough questions were asked from the floor. Our guardians of the press seem content to be spoon-fed. I was able to speak to a member of the NTSB staff while we were waiting for the upcoming tour of the hanger where the tail assembly was kept. I asked if a witness group had been formed. "Oh yes," was the answer. I asked how many witnesses had been interviewed. "Well, the NTSB has collected over three hundred witness statements which are still being arranged into categories." I then asked how many eyewitnesses had actually been interviewed. He didn't know, so one can probably infer that there were only a few, if any. Golly gee, in the accident investigations in which I have participated, the witness group was one of the first to be formed, and we attempted to start interviewing the eyewitnesses in the first day or two while memories were still fresh. Sure, some individual eyewitnesses are mistaken on some points, but the composite viewpoint is amazingly accurate. It is very valuable in an investigation. Normally, an NTSB investigator in charge briefs the press on the progress of the whole investigation (Robert Benzon, the Investigator In Charge for 587, was not present at this press conference). When it becomes time for the public hearing, the important witnesses are called to testify. My, oh my, how times have changed.

Two of the important keys to this investigation are the black boxes. Here it is, six months into the investigation, and the NTSB still hasn't revealed what is on the Flight Data Recorder. Some of the flight control parameters were averaged before they were sent to the flight instruments and the FDR. The filtered results are good enough for the pilots to fly the airplane and are good enough for the FDR but not good enough to be released in an accident investigation. Hmmm. But averaged or not, the timing sequence of the separate recorded events remains unchanged, and it is this timing sequence that Victor has been trying to get. So far, no luck. Victor has been able to put together a very reasonable timing sequence from the other sources available, and he would like the FDR timing for verification.

Two call-outs on the Cockpit Voice Recorder are crying out for an explanation. The calls for maximum power and "try escape" indicate a desperate situation before the rudder movements. It is hard to imagine that this could be the result of wake turbulence from the JAL 747, which was at a normally safe distance from AA587. Plans are under way to test various turbulence or improper control scenarios in the simulators at NASA Ames, but there are no plans to test for sabotage as the cause of the tail separation.

The quick and dirty solution so far has been to blame the pilots. Directives have been issued warning the pilots that rapid rudder reversals can tear off the tail of the aircraft. As a pilot, this riles me. Pilots are fully aware of what violent rudder inputs can do. First of all, it can kill and injure people in the back of the aircraft who don't have their seatbelts fastened. When pilots get into wake turbulence, they just kind of wallow through without making violent control inputs. Just keep the aircraft upright and within the proper speed range. Let the altitude change if it has to. Don't make any violent control inputs. Don't hurt the passengers. If there is any reason at all to expect turbulence, have everyone (including the flight attendants) 'fasten your seatbelts'.

Rather than impugning the pilots, who aren't here to defend themselves, the NTSB should be recommending a directive to provide backup power and crash information to the black boxes. This accident is yet another example where power and crash information to the black boxes failed at a critical moment. There should be a rechargeable battery built into each black box. It is not a big deal. For a hundred dollars, I have a backup power supply on my home computer. Actually, there is already a separate battery within each black box, which can operate the pinger for up to 30 hours. It is true that power could still fail to some (or all) of the sensors that send information to the black boxes, but a mike installed in the CVR and an accelerometer installed in the FDR could still provide some final crash data and provide timing for the whole final sequence of events. For something as important as this is to accident investigation, these modifications to the black boxes should be mandatory.

There's no doubt the tail did break off. And so did the engines. But what was the initiating event?

Keep this in mind. The Flight Data Recorder stopped working 10 seconds before the crash, the transponder antenna sent its last radar signal 16 seconds before the crash, and the communications (between crew and Control) from the plane became severely distorted 18 seconds before the crash.

The engines didn't come off the plane until 3 or 4 seconds before the crash, so it's not that they couldn't provide power to the craft. Are we also to believe the tail separation also affected these three systems?

There are too many reliable witnessess giving the same description of events of the crash off AA 587. Namely, the initiating event of the crash was an explosion from within the fuselage.

And the results of that explosion are the only explanation for what follows that does not require torturing logic: Boom, loss of control, mid-air breakup. All other theories require exotic and unprecedented causes and sequences of events.

Just feed AA 587 witnesses into the google search engine. You'll get back a bunch of references, including letters to the NTSB by the witness group.

The NTSB has NEVER interviewed any witnesses. EVERY witness who actually saw the accident happen from the beginning says that a small explosion was the first visible event, and that the tail stayed on the plane until it started breaking up, at about the time of the second and larger of the two explosions witnessed.

Excellent post. The NTSB is torturing logic. There are several cases where loss of control leads to mid-air breakup due to "unusal attitude." This is by far, by several orders of magnitude, the most likely cause of the loss of the tail and the engines. So it is clear the NTSB is avoiding this question: What caused loss of control?

The sequence of events you point out further supports loss of control and loss of large surfaces due to air load as the explanation of why the plane broke up in midair. Moreover, air load provides a simple, reliable, common explanation for the loss of the tail and the engines. Anything else requires an unprecedented and so far unexplainable event.

It's becoming obvious the NTSB is trying to hide another pilot suicide scenario here. And the real problem is how to address this situation. Bless their hearts, the NTSB just doesn't have the resources to properly study and understand pilot suicide although they can't admit it without looking foolish.

The difficulty in proving cruel realities to the American public might strain the NTSB beyond its limit. Perhaps it's time for them to stop messing around with the FBI, the CIA, and NASA, and go get the kind of help that is readily available from government agencies like the EPA. No body would question whether an airliner full of polluted fuel, people, and their carry-on pollution controlled by a suicidal pilot is an enviromental hazard of the worst variety.

The absolute geniuses at EPA would stand a much better chance of establishing a new protocol to combat airline pilot suicide, - a Suicide Protocol. A quick study of the use of Diazinon around children who may grow up to be pilots, or arsenic in neighborhood bullies drinking water who might talk to kids who eventually grow up to be pilots would take only days or hours with the EPA leading the way, we all know the NTSB might work on that problem for far too long.

Just imagine if the EPA was able to get their grass root enviromental groups to back their cause. It wouldn't be surprising if they set up a world-wide Suicide Protocol Fund that could pay the families of these suicidal pilots millions of dollars to rat them out before the plane crashed.

If you ask me its obviously a center tank explosion.

Ray Lahr wasn't happy with the TWA 800 explanation, either, if I remember correctly.

Yeah well, I was certainly hoping the NTSB would throw that log on the fire along with bird strike cheese old engine cheap French plastic tail moose wake turbulence compressor stall excessive showering air frame rattle.

What, ran out of tinfoil just when the Orbiting Mind Control Satellites are overhead?

Ah Ha! You noticed it too! Those Orbiting Mind Control Satellites were overheard and that's just what I was typing. Glad to see someone else is paying attention.

But for crying out loud, I really hope I never witness a crash or anything else I feel the government ought to know about. I can't imagine the frustration these people must go through being treated as if their claim was seeing the man in the moon run out of crackers, or a UFO with a Goodyear logo on the side.

The fact is NTSB or any government agency charged with finding the scientific truth must convince themselves, aircraft companies, airlines, pilots and the general public not only that sound methodology was used, but also that conservative conclusions were reached that are beyond any reasonable doubt. I read yesterday that pilots are losing confidence in this investigation - Some pilots are wary of Airbus 300-600 and it shouldn't surprise anyone.

If you come looking for me and find me dead here at my keyboard, finding a suicide note would be strong evidence. If you don't find a note, you and the NTSB could conclude it was those Orbiting Mind Control Satellites or just say you weren't sure.

I don't want to feed your paranoia needlessly, but AA587 was seen by witnesses to have on-board explotions. It's EgyptAir 900 that was pilot suicide.

Malarky. The forensics are in. The photos were published almost immediately. The application of "to much" rudder in the "wrong" direction due to a possible rudder reversal condition, along with the disconcerting wake turbulences from the previous departing aircraft is a sensible read of this accident.

No bombs, no tin foil hats needed.

Thank you!