Glitches Frustrate 747 Probe Broken Camera, Sonar Prevent Viewing Of Debris

Federal officials leading the investigation into the explosion of TWA Flight 800 were visibly frustrated Sunday after the second major equipment failure in two days prevented them from viewing the underwater crash site.

“The reality is that I need this forensic evidence,” said James Kallstrom, head of the FBI’s New York office. “Because if I do have a terrorist here - and I’m not saying I do - it’s another day’s head start that this individual has to do whatever he is doing to cover his tracks.”

An underwater video camera that investigators hoped would give them a clear view of the crash site failed Sunday. Today is the earliest they’ll make another attempt at locating the wreckage of the Boeing 747.

The Paris-bound jumbo jet exploded after takeoff from New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport on Wednesday night. All 230 people on board were killed.

The cause of the explosion is unknown, but Kallstrom said only three possible scenarios remain: A bomb was placed on the aircraft; a missile was used to shoot it down; or a mechanical problem triggered the explosion.

“Hopefully we will find this airplane (today) and get one of these scenarios closed and end this chapter of the book,” Kallstrom said.

But to this point, the major bits of evidence investigators need have eluded them.

A 2-by-4-mile scan of Atlantic seabed south of Long Island failed to uncover the pinging noises emitted by the plane’s flight data and cockpit voice recorders, said Al Dickinson, the National Transportation Safety Board’s chief investigator. And a special aerial sonar scanner used to map the ocean floor remained inoperable Sunday after snagging on undersea debris a day earlier.

Kallstrom said the only bright spot Sunday was the rapid progress of pathologists, who had identified 46 of the 100 bodies recovered so far. All autopsies would be completed by the end of the day Sunday.

There were other small victories as well.

The FBI has made steady progress in collecting information on the flight and possible causes of the crash through thousands of interviews, calls to the FBI’s toll-free telephone number and messages to the agency’s site on the Internet’s World Wide Web.

Still, Kallstrom was disheartened.

“We did not move the ball in the standpoint of getting wreckage.” Officials were able to use sonar equipment to reinforce their belief that they’ve found the main crash site and a rich lode of debris in more than 100 feet of water some nine miles from the Long Island coast, however.

They hope the site holds significant pieces of wreckage, including one 15-foot-high object that could be a major part of the 747’s fuselage.

Investigators are eager to inspect the fuselage for clues, but time is running short, they said. If the plane was downed by a device employing plastic explosives, for example, the chemical remains would begin to fade after a week.

The frustrating day for investigators did little to provide much-needed answers to the victims’ families, whose grief has given way to anger over what they see as a series of betrayals:

By TWA, which they thought was too slow to give out the list of those aboard the plane.

By Congress, which they say should have done more to tighten airline security after the explosion of a Pan Am Boeing 747 jet over Lockerbie, Scotland, in 1988.

By crash investigators, who the relatives believe are focusing too much on the recovery of the airplane’s black boxes rather than finding the missing bodies.

By the Navy, which they see as moving too slowly on its underwater search.

And most especially, by Suffolk County Medical Examiner Charles Wetli, who they say took far too long to disclose information and carry out autopsies.

Wetli disputed the relatives’ accusations on Sunday, but said he understood their feelings.

“We realize that part of the grief reaction is anger and frustration and denial, and all of these things are taking place,” he said.

Victims’ relatives, TWA employees and thousands of people touched by the explosion sought solace in other places as well, in churches across the country, at a service for the people of East Moriches, at an emotional memorial for the families themselves in a Ramada Inn at the edge of Kennedy International.

“We must never say or hint that this was God’s will,” the Rev. Stephen McGough told parishioners in Montoursville, Pa., home to 16 high school French Club students and five chaperones who died.

” We must not attempt to offer glib answers in the face of grim tragedy.”