Search Ends for 256 Crash Victims’ Remains; Autopsies Planned in U.S.

The remains of 256 American soldiers and crew members killed here Thursday in the crash of a chartered jetliner will be flown this week to Delaware, where autopsies will be performed in a search for clues as to why the plane crashed.

Peter Boag, chief investigator for the Canadian Aviation Safety Board, said the autopsies will be performed at the Armed Forces Institute of Pathology in Dover, rather than here in Newfoundland, “because the local resources are not adequate” for the lengthy and painstaking task.

Boag said that the last identifiable remains were recovered from the mangled, snow-covered wreckage Saturday morning as investigators continued to search for evidence that would explain why the DC-8 slammed into the ground moments after taking off from Gander International Airport.

Canadian officials so far have not speculated on what caused the crash of the Arrow Air jetliner, which had just been refueled for the last leg of a flight from Cairo to Ft. Campbell, Ky., with a stop in Cologne, West Germany.

Recorders May Help

But Boag said that in spite of earlier reports that the flight data recorders recovered from the wreckage were damaged in the crash, it now appears that experts examining the devices in Ottawa “will be able to get some useful information” from them.

The flight data “black box”--the 16-year-old DC-8 was equipped with one of the earlier models, dating from the 1950s--that records air speed, compass heading, altitude and vertical acceleration “could essentially give us the flight path,” Bernard Caiger, a senior research officer in Ottawa, said during a telephone interview.

“Compared to the newer models, it doesn’t give us a great deal, but it’s a lot better than nothing,” Caiger said.

He added that newer aircraft are equipped with more modern digital recorders “that provide a lot more--information on what the engines are doing, the plane’s attitude, hydraulic pressures, the pilot’s control imput. . . .

“Unfortunately, we don’t have that.”

The cockpit voice recorder, which tapes comments made by crew members, was also damaged in the crash. Boag said it is not yet known whether experts will be able to decipher any of the remarks from the cockpit.

Safety Record Studied

Besides the on-the-ground investigation, American officials are looking into concerns over Arrow Air’s safety record.

A Pentagon spokesman in Washington, Lt. Col. Arnold Williams, said that an Arrow Air charter flight that was scheduled to bring another detachment of U.S. troops home from Egypt on Dec. 18 has been canceled and replaced by a military transport plane.

He said the action was taken to ease concerns by relatives of the returning troops and not necessarily because of Arrow’s safety record.

A U.S. Air Force plane and personnel are scheduled to arrive here Monday to begin removing the bodies to the United States. Because of limited aircraft space, several trips will be made, beginning Monday afternoon and lasting several days, Pentagon spokesmen said in Washington.

Boag said that while none of the bodies have yet been examined by pathologists, the extreme force with which the plane hit the ground “makes it extremely unlikely that anyone aboard survived the initial impact.”

Autopsies on Pilots

The autopsies in Dover will be performed on all cockpit crew members and, if necessary, on some of the 248 passengers--members of the 101st Airborne Division who were heading home in time for the holidays after serving with an international peacekeeping force in the Sinai desert.

The bodies of the cockpit crew will be studied, in part, to determine whether any of them was in some way incapacitated--by illness, accident or the reaction to some substance consumed--as they struggled to keep the big jetliner from crashing.

Further studies on the bodies of some of the soldiers may be undertaken to determine the forces to which they were subjected on impact. Such data could help show how the plane struck the ground, and why.

In addition, the investigators will be looking for any burns or other injuries that might have been suffered before the plane hit, indicating an explosion or fire before impact. Thus far, Boag said, there is no evidence of such explosions or fire.

No Evidence on Icing

Interest has focused on why pilot John J. Griffin chose not to de-ice the plane before taking off in sub-freezing temperatures during a light snowfall. But Boag stressed again Saturday that there is no evidence that the DC-8 crashed because of accumulated ice.

Furthermore, other planes taking off at about the same time were not de-iced and reported no difficulties.

Another investigator, David Owen, said Saturday that tests in Ottawa showed that the plane’s fuel was not contaminated and “was found to be well within approved specifications.”

Boag said that documents filed by the flight crew indicated that the gross weight of the plane before takeoff was about 330,000 pounds, below the maximum allowable weight of 355,000 pounds. He said that while “no conclusions have yet been reached as to the accuracy of the crew’s figures, they are being double-checked to assure their accuracy.

Terrorism Discounted

“Except for fuel contamination,” he said, “we’re not able to rule out anything specifically yet.” However, both the Defense Department and the White House in Washington have dismissed claims by Arab terrorist groups that they sabotaged the plane.

Gen. John A. Wickham Jr., the U.S. Army chief of staff, flew here Saturday morning for a two-hour tour of the crash site and an inspection of the temporary morgue in an airport hangar before returning to Washington.

Thomas Niles, the U.S. ambassador to Canada, and John C. Crosbie, Canada’s minister of justice, are among the officials expected here today for a memorial service.

Flags in Gander have been at half-staff since the crash.