Part Suspected in USAir Crash Had Raised Concerns

For a year, the federal government has considered requiring airlines to install an additional safeguard on an engine part under suspicion in the crash of USAir Flight 427.

National Transportation Safety Board investigators suspect the thrust reverser on the Boeing 737’s right engine may have been activated during Thursday’s flight, throwing the plane into a dive and killing all 132 people aboard.

Investigators on Tuesday found a key engine mount piece among the wreckage near Pittsburgh, but the discovery didn’t immediately rule out a theory that the crash might have been caused by an engine coming loose.

Investigators also are looking at whether the plane’s spoilers, used to control direction and slow a plane in flight, worked unevenly.

The NTSB is trying to mimic all three scenarios on computers.

Information from a data recorder indicated that both engines worked with equal thrust as the jet banked to the left and nose-dived into a ravine, said Carl Vogt, a NTSB member. Reversers would not affect the amount of power an engine is producing, only the direction.