Swissair crash heightens fear of flying
By LOIS LEGGE and JEFFREY SIMPSON / Staff Reporters

Doris Pelham thought twice about travelling by air again after Swissair Flight 111 crashed off the coast of Peggys Cove in September.

But the risk was worth it Sunday as she prepared to board a plane for Florida at Halifax International Airport.

Experts hope Swissair crash will change aviation practices
By STEPHEN THORNE / The Canadian Press

Aviation safety experts are hoping last month's crash of a Swissair jet off Nova Scotia will reverse what they call a disturbing trend in the airline industry: a decade-long rise in smoke-related incidents.

"The crash of Swissair Flight 111 is likely to be one of those seminal events that changes design practices and operational procedures throughout the airline industry," says the latest issue of Air Safety Week.

Swissair salvage vessel's hold to be expanded for debris
By DAVENE JEFFREY / Staff Reporter

The scallop dragger involved in recovering Swissair Flight 111 wreckage is being modified to hold more debris.

Changes are being made to the ship's hold so that more storage boxes can be held on board, a spokesman for the Transportation Safety Board of Canada said Monday.

Cockpit wires heat-damaged - probe - Board denies temperatures reached 300 C
By STEPHEN THORNE / The Canadian Press

Investigators have recovered heat-damaged Kapton wiring along with other burned electrics from the cockpit of Swissair Flight 111, a spokesman said Thursday.

But Jim Harris of the Transportation Safety Board of Canada denied a report that temperatures rose to 300C as far back as the first-class section before the plane crashed off Peggys Cove on Sept.2, killing all 229 passengers and crew.

Families forge bond - Brother of Swissair crash victim forms support group
By LOIS LEGGE / Staff Reporter

Shortly after the crash of Swissair Flight 111, Miles Gerety sat on the rocks at Peggys Cove and wondered how anything positive could ever come from his older brother's death.

His 58-year-old brother had been an idol, a handsome Harvard law graduate who went into the world at an early age to help others.

Swissair debris recovery nearly finished - RCMP
By PETER DUFFY / Staff Reporter

The search for debris from Swissair Flight 111 may soon be wrapped up, an RCMP spokesman says.

"In the next two weeks, that phase of the underwater recovery will hopefully be completed," Sgt. Bill Price said Sunday.

Swissair frame to be moved

Officials were to transfer a framework resembling the nose section of the downed Swissair jet to CFB Shearwater on Monday at midnight.

Built at the Department of Transportation and Public Works base at Miller's Lake, the piece will enable investigators to fit together recovered parts of the mangled MD-11.

DND thanks Blandford - Community 'synonymous with kindness'
By LOIS LEGGE / Staff Reporter

When Swissair Flight 111 went down in waters near Jane Schnare's house, the force of the crash shook the pictures off her walls.

Within days of the Sept.2 disaster, human remains and some of the personal belongings of the 229 people who died began washing up on the beach in front of her Blandford home.

Storm cancels Swissair debris recovery

Efforts to recover debris at the Swissair crash site with a scallop dragger were halted by high winds on Sunday and probably won't begin again for a few days.

Winds of 55 to 65 kilometres per hour posed a danger to recovery workers, said Jim Harris, spokesman for the Transportation Safety Board of Canada.

Slowed Swissair wreckage recovery keeps investigators from rebuilding nose section

The stalled recovery of wreckage from Swissair Flight 111 means investigators still can't reconstruct the jet's nose section.

"We feel that a lot of the forward part of the aircraft is (underwater and) in fairly small pieces no more than two feet, and some of it is as small as a loonie," Jim Harris of the Transportation Safety Board of Canada said Monday.

Authorities identify 222 Swissair victims
By SUSAN LeBLANC / Staff Reporter

Almost all of the victims of Swissair Flight 111 have been identified.

By Wednesday, the remains of 222 of the 229 victims were identified, said Michele McKinnon, spokeswoman for the chief medical examiner's office.

Inquiry into Swissair crash possible

MONTREAL (CP) - The Canadian Transport Safety Board might hold a short public inquiry into the Swissair crash off Nova Scotia, board chairman Benoit Bouchard says.

It would be the first such probe for the board since its creation in 1990.

Swissair defends video system

ZURICH, Switzerland (AP) - Swissair has defended an in-flight entertainment system it removed from its planes following the crash of Flight 111 off Nova Scotia in September.

Swissair acted voluntarily to disconnect the video system, linked to a power supply routed through the cockpit, after Canadian investigators detected signs of heat damage on wiring and other debris from the cockpit of the MD-11.

Swissair kin to meet at Peggys Cove

STAMFORD, Conn. (AP) - Miles Gerety knew this Thanksgiving would be painful for his family and other families who lost loved ones in the crash of Swissair Flight 111.

So he and a dozen other relatives of the crash victims will spend the U.S. Thanksgiving weekend in a place where they can feel close to those they loved: Peggys Cove, where the plane went down Sept. 2.

No decision on inquiry into Swissair disaster
By SUSAN LeBLANC / Staff Reporter

Despite comments by the board's chairman, the Transportation Safety Board of Canada has not decided whether to hold an inquiry into the Swissair crash, a spokesman said Monday.

"An inquiry is always a possibility (but) a decision has not been made on that," said spokesman Jim Harris, who's based in Ottawa but has worked largely in Halifax since Flight 111 crashed Sept.2.

Swissair probe delays other crash reports

OTTAWA (CP) - The massive investigation of the Swissair Flight 111 disaster has delayed a probe on the crash of an Air Canada jet in Fredericton last December, the Ottawa Citizen reported today.

The National Transportation Safety Board had hoped to release its final report on the Fredericton crash next month, but with so many of its investigators working on Swissair crash the board won't be able to publish until some time in the new year.

Boat resumes Swissair search

A scallop dragger resumed searching Wednesday at the site of the crash of Swissair Flight 111.

The Lunenburg-based Anne S. Pierce, owned by Clearwater Fine Foods, was at work based on information on the debris field gathered through recent laser line scans, said Jim Harris of the Transportation Safety Board of Canada.

Remote island considered for crash memorial
By SUSAN LeBLANC / Staff Reporter

Pearl Island, a remote patch of land with a lighthouse near Aspotogan, could become the site of a memorial to Swissair victims.

The half dozen or so families of victims travelling to Nova Scotia this weekend hope to visit the 600- by 400-metre island, says Canadian navy spokesman Lieut. Jason Proulx.

Bound by grief - Swissair 111 families find solace at site
By Clare Mellor / Staff Reporter

It was a boat ride from hell, but not one passenger would have passed it up.

Eleven relatives of Swissair Flight 111 crash victims battled seasickness, rolling seas and biting North Atlantic winds Saturday so they could see a remote part of the ocean where the MD-11 plunged into the water on Sept. 2, killing all 229 passengers and crew.

In praise of 'ground pounders' - During the 60 days after the Swissair 111 disaster, members of the all-volunteer ground search, rescue teams gave their time, hearts to the victims, their families and the people of Nova Scotia
Tony Rodgers

PLEASE allow me these few lines to promote public acknowledgment of some of the most caring, dedicated and unselfish people that I have ever met in this world and they live right here in our own province. They are the members of the all-volunteer Nova Scotia ground search and rescue teams.

During the 60 days after the Swissair 111 disaster, these volunteers gave of their time, gave of their physical selves and gave of their hearts to the victims, their survivors and the people of Nova Scotia.

Depths of depair, heights of hope - A military reserve chaplain sees love, compassion emerge from the Swissair Flight 111 tragedy
By Capt. John O'Donnell

HANGING on one of the walls in my office is a photograph of the lighthouse at Peggys Cove, standing in defiance of yet another raging Atlantic storm. The sky is a dark, dusky blue and the waves crashing down on the rocks at the foot of the famous sentinel are enormous - half as high as the lighthouse itself.

A childhood friend of mine, John Chaisson, captured the moment on film a couple of years ago. He gave me the photograph earlier this year, inscribing on it his initials in the lower right-hand corner: "J.C."

Families of victims find comfort online
By Susan LeBlanc / Staff Reporter

FOR the families of Swissair crash victims, the Internet has become a safe haven.

Some of the loved ones of the 229 air-crash victims are turning to a Web site they've created, to find comfort, Internet chatter and information on the ongoing investigation into the Sept. 2 accident off Nova Scotia. (Address: www.clubs.yahoo.com/clubs/familiesofswissairflight111)