Three Boeing 737 AEW&C engineers killed in Turkish Airlines crash

By JAMES WALLACE

It appears that three employees of The Boeing Co. were among those killed in the Turkish Airlines crash in Amsterdam, as they returned from a business trip to Ankara, Turkey. A fourth employee was critically injured. The four Boeing engineers from Seattle were in Ankara to assist with the modification work on 737 jets that will be used as airborne electronic warfare planes by the Turkish military. They were returning home on the same kind of plane, a Boeing 737, when it crashed Wednesday about a mile short of a runway at Schiphol Airport in Amsterdam. Boeing said Thursday night that two of the engineers were among nine passengers and crew who died in the crash. A third engineer was injured and hospitalized, Boeing said. Boeing said it was awaiting "official notification" about the fate of the fourth employee. But a person familiar with the situation in Amsterdam said it is believed that employee was killed in the crash.

Although Boeing had previously disclosed the names of the four employees, it would not give their status Thursday night. "Given the pending information, and the request of some of the affected families, the specific condition of each employee on the airplane isn't being released by Boeing at this time," the statement said. But the source said the employee who survived is Michael T. Hemmer, who was in critical condition. "This is a very sad day for our company," Boeing Chairman and Chief Executive Jim McNerney said in the statement. "Our thoughts and prayers are with our colleagues' families, friends and co-workers and with the families of everyone who was on the flight."

The Turkish Airlines plane carried 135 passengers and crew. Among the dead were the two Turkish pilots and another Turkish crew member who was in the cockpit. A Dutch official said Thursday that the dead included four Americans. In addition to Hemmer, Boeing previously identified the other employees as Ronald A. Richey, John Salman and Ricky E. Wilson. In Amsterdam, Haarlemmermeer Mayor Theo Weterings said the names of the victims would not be released until the bodies have been formally identified. "The relatives have been informed" of the deaths, he told The Associated Press. "We have arranged some help for them." Bloomberg News quoted an unnamed Dutch official as saying seven U.S. citizens were on the plane.

At Hemmer's home in Federal Way, a family friend who answered the phone Thursday afternoon said Hemmer's wife was en route to Amsterdam. "He's just a great man. He's done a lot for the community," said the friend, who did not give her name, declining to elaborate. "Anybody you talk to would tell you he's a great man." Dutch and U.S. investigators are reviewing crucial information about the plane's final minutes that was stored on the 737's flight data recorder, one of two so-called black boxes that were recovered from the wreckage.

The flight data recorder will tell investigators many things about the plane's condition, including whether the two CFM International engines were working properly. The other black box recorded the cockpit conversations and also will be valuable in determining what happened, since the cockpit crew was killed.The chairman of the Dutch Safety Board said engine failure could have caused the plane to suddenly drop out of the sky as it approached the airport for landing, given the low forward speed at the point of impact. But that is just one possible cause and nothing has been ruled out, other investigators said.

The plane did not catch fire, which likely saved many lives. The Boeing employees are engineers in Integrated Defense Systems, which is the aerospace giant's military and space business. Their current job is with Turkey's Peace Eagle program, according to sources. Boeing would not talk about the men or what they do for the company.

Hemmer is a manager on the program, according to people familiar with his job. Boeing has several IDS programs to turn the company's existing commercial jets such as the 737 into military platforms. The four Boeing engineers are part of a program to develop an airborne early warning and control plane based on the 737. The 737 AEW&C is a 737-700 with the bigger wing of the 737-800 to support the extra weight. It is essentially a modified Boeing Business Jet with a highly classified electronic warfare system on top of the fuselage.

A militarized version of the world's most oft-flown commercial jetliner, the 737 AEW&C is designed for foreign countries that can't afford or don't need the capability of the much bigger 767 Airborne Warning and Control System planes that Boeing built for Japan a few years ago, or the 707 AWACS planes operated since the 1970s by the United States and later by NATO. The 737 AEW&C has what's known as a phased-array radar "Top Hat" sensor developed by Northrop Grumman and mounted in a small, dorsal-like fin on top of the 737. The radar does not turn. The military design takes advantage of technological advances that allow an airborne early-warning and control system to be mounted on a jet the size of the twin-engine 737.Under a project known as Wedgetail, the Australian government in late 2000 became the launch customer for Boeing's 737 AEW&C program. It ordered six planes.

Turkey became the second customer in 2002. It ordered four planes and two options. But Boeing has struggled to integrate the complex electronic systems on the plane and the Wedgetail program is three years late. Meanwhile, the first of the Turkish Peace Eagle 737s was modified in Seattle. The other three planes are being modified in Ankara by Turkish Aerospace Industries. The four Boeing engineers were in Turkey to assist with that work, according to sources. The plane they were on was a 737-800, one of 49 that Boeing has delivered to Turkish Airlines. Flight TK1951 crashed and broke into three pieces. Chief investigator Pieter van Vollenhoven was quoted as saying evidence at the crash site might suggest the plane's engines stopped. There were some reports from passengers who survived the crash that they heard the engines stop running.

The plane's flight data recorder was sent to Paris, and Vollenhoven said an analysis of the information it contains could be completed as early as Friday, but his agency would probably not make a preliminary finding until next week. "We hope to have a firmer grip as soon as possible," he said. The plane was delivered new by Boeing in 2002.

In a statement Thursday, Turkish Airlines denied reports that the plane had technical problems in the days before the accident. It said the 737 had undergone routine maintenance, known as an A-check, on Feb. 19. The airline did say that the plane was delayed on a Feb. 23 flight so a faulty caution light could be replaced.

Posted in: AWACS,Turkey