PEGGY'S COVE — 1998 · Major Tragedy
The Swissair Flight 111 Disaster
On the night of 2 September 1998 a fire broke out above the cockpit of Swissair Flight 111, an MD-11 flying from New York to Geneva. The pilots noticed smoke and diverted toward Halifax for an emergency landing, but the fire spread out of control and the aircraft plunged into the Atlantic about 8 km offshore, between Peggy's Cove and Bayswater. All 215 passengers and 14 crew died. Canada's investigation, lasting more than four years and costing CA$57 million, found that flammable insulation material in the aircraft's structure had allowed the fire to spread. Its recommendations were incorporated into aviation safety standards. Two memorials on the shore commemorate the victims.
- Date
- 1998
- Place
- St. Margarets Bay, Nova Scotia, Canada, Peggy's Cove, CA
- Category
- Major Tragedy
- Case Status
- Closed
- Coordinates
- 44.4090, -63.9780 ↗
Timeline of Events
- 2 September 1998Fire broke out on board; the aircraft crashed off Nova Scotia.
- 1998-1999A major recovery operation was mounted for wreckage and victims.
- 27 March 2003The Transportation Safety Board of Canada published its final report.
Sources
- PBS NOVA — Crash of Flight 111: Dissection of a Disaster pbs.org ↗
- CBC News — 20 years after the Swissair Flight 111 crash cbc.ca ↗
- Wikipedia — Swissair Flight 111 en.wikipedia.org ↗
- PBS NOVA
- CBC News
- Wikipedia
Source grade A: several independent sources, at least one an official record or reference work. If you spot a mistake or something missing, report it with "Suggest a correction" in the app.
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🕯️ This record was prepared with respect, in memory of those who lost their lives.