Avionics
TSB questions standby instrument placement
Following the 1998 crash of a Swissair MD-11 off Peggy’s Cove, Nova Scotia, Canada’s Transportation Safety Board (TSB) has issued an aviation safety adviso

Following the 1998 crash of a Swissair MD-11 off Peggy’s Cove, Nova Scotia, Canada’s Transportation Safety Board (TSB) has issued an aviation safety advisory concerning the location, size and power sources of standby flight instruments. However, the TSB is emphasizing that no evidence suggests these caused the accident.

Nevertheless, the Canadians point out that the emergency’s circumstances–diverting to an unfamiliar airport at night, with the probable loss of primary instruments due to electrical failure, a smoke-filled cockpit and the need for the crew to wear oxygen masks and goggles–could have been exacerbated by the size, layout, locations and power sources of the standby instruments, which the pilots may have had to use. The MD-11 debris field on the ocean floor measured roughly 350 by 300 ft, indicating a very steep impact angle.