PANEL SUMMARY: Recovery

The chief of the U.S. Navy’s salvage operation to recover the wreckage of TWA flight 800 told the NTSB Board of Inquiry that the diving and recovery effort was among the most extensive in the Navy’s history, scouring more than 150 square miles of ocean bottom for parts ranging from massive engines to items as small as a man’s wallet.

Wreckage Recovery Zones (75K)

Captain Raymond "Chip" McCord, director of Ocean Engineering and Supervisor of Salvage and Diving for the Naval Sea System Command, said that the Navy and local divers under his command made more than 4,000 dives and that underwater recovery vehicles spent 110 days on the ocean bottom.

In the end, McCord said, remains of all the 230 people on board were recovered, and in his estimation about 98 percent of the 747’s wreckage.

He said the biggest and heaviest pieces were brought up from the 120-foot depth by cranes – a wing had to be cut apart before it could be moved onto a salvage ship and then transported to a hangar at Calverton, N. Y. – and the smaller pieces in wire mesh baskets.

McCord said his first task was to locate and then map the debris field on the ocean floor, then to recover the bodies and then to recover the wreckage. His crew, drawn from local police, fire and other emergency services, as well as the Navy, initially worked in the areas with the most debris and then to fringe areas.

He said the navy used side-scanning towed underwater vehicles that moved about two to three miles an hour and covered an area of 100-150 yards to each side. A laser scanner was then used for a closer look at the debris to identify it for recovery.

Scallop trawlers were used later, McCord said, as the underwater recovery operation drew to a close.

As the wreckage was located, zones were identified - the red zone was furthest west and contained the first pieces that came off the aircraft; the yellow zone was east of the red and contained the nose section of the aircraft; and the green zone was furthest east and contained the wings and aft fuselage.