PEGGY’S COVE — The South Shore continues to reel in shock with the rest of the world after 229 people were killed late September 2 in the crash of Swissair Flight 111 off Peggy’s Cove. It was the second worst air disaster in Canadian history. There were no survivors among the 215 passengers and 14 crew members en route from New York to Geneva. The flight took off from JFK International Airport at 9:18 p.m local time. It carried a Saudi Arabian prince, well-known scientists, a renowned AIDS activist, United Nations officials, newlyweds, mothers, fathers, brothers, sisters, sons and daughters.

The plane, a three-engine McDonnell Douglas MD-11, was travelling at 33,000 feet approximately over Liverpool at 10:22 p.m. when the crew notified air traffic control in Moncton that there was smoke in its cockpit. Captain Urs Zimmermann and First Officer Stephan Loew requested an unscheduled landing suggesting Boston, but were diverted to Halifax because it was closer, only 70 nautical miles compared to 300.

According to air traffic control recordings released Saturday by the Transportation Safety Board of Canada, when the crew learned a few minutes later that it was only 30 miles to the runway, they said they needed more distance. The plane was still travelling at between 15,000 and 18,000 feet.

Flight 111 turned toward the north, then announced that it needed to dump fuel before it could land. The MD-11 has a maximum landing weight of 200,000 tonnes and the plane at that point weighed 230,000 tonnes due to the additional fuel needed to get to Europe. With directions from air traffic control, Flight 111 continued its turn and headed south over St. Margaret’s Bay preparing to dump fuel. At 10:24 p.m. the crew radioed: “we are declaring an emergency. . . . we have to land immediately.” That was the last communication from Flight 111. Radar tracked the aircraft for a further six minutes as it turned toward the west, then completed a 360 degree orbit into a southeast direction and disappeared.

Residents along the South Shore as far away as Hebbville reported hearing a low-flying aircraft followed by a bang. Some people on the Aspotogan Peninsula said a crash shook their homes around 10:30 p.m. Local fishermen were the first to take to the water to search for the downed passenger plane, quickly followed by the RCMP, Coast Guard, military ships and aircraft. The search continued until debris was located about eight kilometres southwest of Peggy’s Cove, a few kilometres off East Ironbound around 12:30 a.m Thursday. Despite a huge-scale rescue operation that went on through the remainder of that early morning, day, night and into the next day, by Friday officials said all hope of finding survivors was gone. Swissair had already announced Thursday that no one lived through the disaster, but rescue officials now agreed. Focus switched from search and rescue to search and recovery as more Navy and Coast Guard vessels moved in to help recover debris and remains. The RCMP began calling the area a crime scene and the Coast Guard imposed a no shipping and no fly zone from Mahone Bay to Chebucto Head.

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The last numbers released indicated that 60 bodies had been recovered, but officials refused to say any more citing humanitarian reasons and difficulties with identification. Almost from the time crash debris was first discovered early Thursday morning, reports from fishermen and searchers indicated that body parts were found scattered among small bits of debris covering over 700 square kilometres of the Atlantic and washed up along the coast. The largest piece of the wreckage found by Saturday was no bigger than a car roof.

posted on 09/09/1998