Page:Report of the Board of Inquiry into the Helderberg air disaster.djvu/206

 21 APPENDIX "E

National Transportation Safety Board

Washinhton, D.C. 20594

Safety Recommendation

Date: May 16, 1988

In reply refer to: a-88-61 Through -63

Honorable T. Allan McArtor Administrator Federal Aviation Administration Washington, D.C. 20591

On November 28, 1987, a South African Airways Boeing 747-244B, call sign Springbok 295, on a scheduled flight from Taipei, Taiwan, to Johannesburg, South Africa, with an en route stop in Mauritius, crashed into the sea about 140 miles northeast of Mauritius. All 141 passengers end 19 crewmembers on board were killed in the accident. Preliminary evidence, based on the estimated l percent of the wreckage that has been retrieved, and the communications between Springpck 295 and Mauritius air traffic control, suggests that an in-flight fire disabled the airplane, the fligiiterew, or both.

The continuing investigation of the accident is being conducted by the Directorate of Civil Aviation of the Republic of South Africh, with the full participation of the National Transportation Safety Board representing the United States, the state of manufacture of the airplane, in accordance with the provisions ot Annex 13 of the International Civil Aviation Organization. Considerable evidence remains to be obtained primarily by complex underwater recovery efforts. However, the accident has raised several issues which the Safety Board believes deserve immediate corrective action.

The Boeing 747-2448 airplane was a "Combi" airplane, that is, an airplane in which a portion of the main, passenger compartment can be used to transport cargo. In the Boeing 147 Combi, the two aft cabins can be converted within hours to either passenger or cargo configurations. Federal Aviation Regulations (FAR) categorize aircraft cargo compartments into five classes, A through E, according to their volume, in-flight accessibllity, air flow, and fire containment capabilities (see 14 Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) 25.857). Accordingly, the aft, main deck, cargo compartment of the Boeing 747 Combi is a class 'B' compartment. Among other requirements of 14 CFR 25.857, this type of compartment must have sufflcient access to enable a crew member to effectively reach any part of the compartment while in flight; separate smoke or fire detecton to alert flightcrew members at their stations to smoke or fire within the compartment; and the ability to prevent smoke from the compartment from entering the passenger compartment.

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