Aircraft Accident Brief Ntsb/aab-02/01 (Pb2002-910401): Egypt Air Flight 990, Boeing 767-366er, Su-Gap - National Transportation Safety Board Page 40
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160 34
WRECKAGE INFORMATION
About 70 percent of the airplane was recovered during the initial recovery
operations, which began on the morning of October 31 and ended on December 22, 1999.
Subsequent recovery efforts conducted between March 29 and April 3, 2000, resulted in
the recovery of the left engine and additional pieces of airplane wreckage.
Sonar mapping of the wreckage site depicted two distinct underwater debris fields,
which were identified by recovery personnel and investigators as the western and eastern
debris fields. These debris fields were about 366 meters (1,200 feet) apart from center
point to center point. The western debris field, which was estimated to be 62 meters by
66 meters and was centered about 40° 20' 57" north latitude, 69° 45' 40" west longitude,
contained mainly parts associated with the left engine and various other small pieces of
wreckage (including portions of two wing panels, fuselage skin, horizontal stabilizer skin,
and the majority of the nose landing gear assembly). The eastern debris field, which was
estimated to be 83 meters by 73 meters and was centered about 40° 20' 51" north latitude,
69° 45' 24" west longitude, contained the bulk of the airplane’s fuselage, wings,
empennage (including the outboard tips of the right and left elevators and all recovered
elevator PCAs), right engine, main landing gear, and flight recorders. Many pieces of
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floating wreckage (including pieces of the right and left elevator surfaces)
were
recovered from the water’s surface in or near the eastern debris field shortly after the
accident; specific recovery locations for some of these pieces were not noted. The small
size of most of the recovered pieces of wreckage was consistent with the airplane
impacting the water at a high speed. The locations of the two main wreckage debris fields
were consistent with the accident airplane’s flightpath, as indicated by the primary radar
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data.
The Safety Board leased a commercial vessel to recover the wreckage that had
settled on the ocean floor. Pieces of wreckage were recovered from a depth of about
230 feet using a clamshell scoop and a crane, loaded (using a front loader) into containers
on the recovery vessel, and moved to shore. Upon reaching shore, the containers of
wreckage were lifted off the recovery vessel and rinsed thoroughly twice. The containers
were then moved into the hangar at Quonset Point, Rhode Island, where they were tipped
onto their sides. The wreckage was then moved out of the containers onto the floor using
rakes and shovels. Once on the hangar floor, the wreckage was spread evenly by a front
loader to assist the drying process. During this process, FBI and Safety Board
investigators examined the recovered wreckage for evidence of fire or explosion damage.
The FBI placed identification tags on some of the debris; accident investigators then
documented all of the debris.
Four of the elevators’ six PCAs (the center and outboard right elevator PCAs and
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two elevator PCAs whose positions could not be determined)
were recovered.
Postaccident examination revealed that all four of the recovered PCAs exhibited
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In total, about 37 percent of the total elevator surface area was recovered.
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For additional information, see the section titled, “Review of Radar Data.”
NTSB/AAB-02/01
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