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YORK, Mar 27, 2003 /PRNewswire via COMTEX/ -- The Chairman of the International
Aviation Safety Association (IASA), Mrs. Lyn S. Romano, today called for an immediate
investigation into the "criminally negligent homicide" of those parties
implicated in the Report -- including the United States Federal Aviation Administration
(FAA). Mrs. Romano's comments were made at the Halifax, Nova Scotia, release of
the Final Report into the September 2, 1998, crash of Swissair flight 111 that
claimed the lives of all 229 passengers and crew.
"The FAA failed in every respect to ensure
the safety of the 229 people that boarded that aircraft -- an aircraft I shall
continue referring to as a "flying coffin". I hold the FAA responsible
for a lack of oversight." "First,
the FAA project management structure did not ensure that the required elements
were in place to design, install and certify a system compatible with the MD-11
type certificate. Second, the FAA delegated a critical component of the their
oversight role -- without any provision or other authority allowing them to do
so. Third, the organization they delegated to were not qualified to undertake
the job at hand. I haven't even had the opportunity to read through the whole
report and already there is a case for a criminal investigation into the FAA's
complete dereliction of its regulatory function and criminal negligence that is
implicated in the unnecessary deaths of two hundred and twenty nine people"
Mrs. Romano also renewed her calls for access
to the Draft Report into the crash that was distributed to a restricted group
of parties -- including the manufacturers and airline concerned -- in August last
year: "I cannot see what justification there
can be for denying me access to the Draft Report now that the Transportation Safety
Board of Canada has released the Final Report into the crash of Swissair 111.
I consider it a great injustice to deny me access to this critical component in
the investigative process and call upon the Canadian officials concerned to right
this wrong -- not only for my benefit but for the benefit of the next person who
will suffer a loss in similar circumstance" and continued "I shall not
rest until I have a copy of the Draft Report in my hands". In
concluding her remarks Mrs. Romano called for the FAA to act in a more proactive
and progressive manner: "The FAA are reactive
and this results in innocent human beings losing their lives. The FAA knew of
the flammability characteristics of M-PET covered thermal acoustical insulation
blankets years before the crash of Swissair 111 -- but did nothing about it. The
FAA knew of the arcing and flammability characteristics of Kapton insulated wires
years before the crash of Swissair 111 -- but did nothing about it. They did nothing
about these two issues and a host of other issues and my husband and two hundred
and twenty eight other people are dead because of it. I will do something about
it. This was not an accident -- as so many in the aviation community have referred
to it -- but an accident waiting to happen" Note
Mrs Lyn S. Romano formed the International
Aviation Safety Association (IASA) on March 4, 1999. Lyn's forty-four year-old
husband, Ray M. Romano, was one of the 229 people killed when a Swissair operated
MD11 aircraft crashed off the coast of Nova Scotia, Canada on September 2, 1998.
IASA is a non-profit politically and financially
independent organization concerned in all aspects of aviation safety. IASA is
best known for raising awareness of the safety hazards associated with wiring
in aging aircraft. SOURCE International Aviation
Safety Association
http://www.iasa.com.au
Copyright (C) 2003 PR Newswire. All rights reserved.
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