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CNN Live Today

Officials to Give Update Into American 587 Crash

Aired May 03, 2002 - 10:02   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: Also happening this hour, new details on the deadly crash of American Airlines Flight 587. Just minutes from now, we are going to find out about the investigation into that November crash, specifically what caused the tail to rip off the airliner moments before it crashed into a New York neighborhood. Everyone on board that plane was killed.

Our Jeanne Meserve joins us now with more -- Jeanne, hello.

JEANNE MESERVE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Daryn. What we will get today is an update into the probe of what caused American crash 587 to crash just minutes after takeoff from John F. Kennedy Airport.

You will remember what one of the most memorable images of that day was the sight of the tail being lifted out of Jamaica Bay. It had separated from the fuselage. That tail was made of composite material, and so they brought it here to NASA's Langley research facility, where they have developed and fabricated composites for years for use in spacecraft and also civilian and military aircraft. They have been doing testing and analysis here, and they have been using several nondestructive techniques to evaluate the materials involved.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MARK SHUART, NASA LANGLEY RESEARCH CENTER: Up on the top here, you see two ultrasound machines, the same sort of technology that would be used in an ultrasound when somebody is pregnant. But on the end, we also have a thermographic camera, which uses heat in the way that heat is transferred to try and detect damage.

MESERVE (on camera): And when all is said and done, what are you going to be able to determine here?

SHUART: Our goal is to help the NTSB understand the sequence of events that led to the failure of this particular structure.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MESERVE: Because of concerns about composites, officials have looked at some other Airbus A-300s to determine if they have had similar damage. They have found one with some damage in the tail area. It too had been exposed to extremely forceful side-to-side motions, which the aircraft was not designed to handle. But composites are not the only thing they are looking at, because American Flight 587 took off right after another aircraft, they are looking at the effect of wake turbulence, and also how pilots have been trained to handle that. Already, they have been instructed not to use forceful rudder movements to try and compensate for wake turbulence and other sorts of situations the hit in the air.

So we will be getting a few more details today into how this probe is progressing -- Daryn.

KAGAN: All right. Jeanne Meserve, thank you so much. And as that news conference gets under way at the bottom of the hour, we will bring you any news as it is revealed.

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