Gander Crash Probe Called ‘Negligent, Unacceptable’

U.S. agencies acted in a “grossly negligent” and “unacceptable” manner by failing to investigate terrorism as a possible cause of a plane crash in Canada that killed 256 Americans, most of them soldiers, a congressional report said today.

The aftermath of the 1985 crash in Gander, Newfoundland, was marked by “a near-total absence” of U.S. participation in the Canadian investigation of the tragedy, said the study by the staff of the House Judiciary subcommittee on crime.

“We found no evidence that there was an investigation of possible terrorism” by either the United States or Canada, added the report, which formed the basis for a subcommittee hearing today.

“Incredibly, no U.S. government agency, or at least none with official responsibility, demonstrated any determination to find out just what caused the crash,” subcommittee Chairman William J. Hughes (D-N.J.) said at the hearing.

“The National Transportation Safety Board, and other agencies of the U.S. government, chose to sit back and watch as the Canadian efforts became embroiled in controversy,” Hughes said.

“The NTSB routinely rubber-stamped the Canadian findings, without comment,” Hughes added.

The Canadian Air Safety Board found by a 5-4 vote that icing of the wings was the most probable cause, but a subsequent Canadian review found that ice had not been the cause. The U.S. NTSB nonetheless supported the original finding blaming it on ice.

“The NTSB was grossly negligent and was not acting in the public’s interest for taking such a position,” said the congressional report. “It appears that the NTSB was predisposed to not find fault.”

FBI agents sent to Gander the day of the crash apparently “waited in a . . . motel for whatever reports or conclusions Canadian authorities saw fit to share with them,” said the staff report, which has not been voted on by subcommittee members.

After 36 hours, the FBI agents accepted a declaration that terrorism was not involved and returned home, apparently without getting any evidence to bolster that conclusion, it added.

“Such a course of conduct on the part of the FBI is . . . unacceptable if not also unbelievable,” the report contended.

Spokesmen for the NTSB and FBI declined comment. Both agencies are sending representatives to testify at the hearing.

The DC-8 jetliner crashed Dec. 12, 1985, less than 30 seconds after liftoff from the airport at Gander.

The chartered flight, operated by Miami-based Arrow Air, was carrying soldiers from the 101st Airborne Division home from peacekeeping duties in Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula.