From: knop@dutecad.et.tudelft.nl (Peter Knoppers)
Subject: Re: NL Runway Naming and El Al crash update
Organization: Delft University of Technology, Dept. of Electrical Engineering
Date: Sun, 11 Oct 1992 14:13:01 GMT

philf@xymox.palo-alto.ca.us (Phil Fernandez) writes:

>Peter Knoppers writes:
>>...
>>airport using the "Zwanenburgbaan" (straight North). The plane
>>...
>>prepare runway 06 (the "Kaagbaan"). With the rather strong wind
>>...
>>"Buitenveldertbaan". (It is assumed that the crew wanted to land

>This is a naming convention with which I'm unfamiliar.  Are these
>names of the runways themselves, or of the approach/departure
>corridors?  Are they used commonly?  Instead of the numeric runway
>heading?  Is this a NL practice, or used elsewhere (non-US, the only
>thing with which I'm familiar :-( )?

The names are derived from neighboring villages (Zwanenburg, Kaag,
Buitenveldert, Amstelveen). Baan means track or road, in this case
runway. I assume that in the communications between tower and aircraft
only the numbers are used. I /think/ that the Zwanenburgbaan is 01L.
I don't have any aviation related documents about Schiphol, only
'normal' maps (I'm just an interested reader of the aviation news-
groups). The newspaper probably preferred to use the long names,
because otherwise most readers would not have known which is which.

>BTW, Peter -- thanks much for the really good summary of the El Al
>events. 

Thank you, I have some new information as well:

The flight data recorder has been found and is currently under
investigation by US authorities. It is badly damaged.

The voice recorder has not been found, at least I haven't heard
about it.

It is quite certain that two engines have separated from the plane
while still in flight. Engine 4 has been recovered and also some
parts of the mounting structure of engine 3. Engine 3 itself has
not been found (contrary to earlier information). Engine 4 appears
not to have been on fire, in fact it seems that it was in operating
condition until impact on the water/ground. Evidently no birds were
sucked into engine 4.

At this moment 51 bodies have been found, 16 of those have been
identified. The list of missing or known-dead persons now contains
75 names. It is likely that quite a few illegal aliens are dead,
but not on the list. Personally I can't believe that 80 appartments
around dinner time on Sunday contain only 75 persons...

The search operation is now complete. Some more appartments are
being demolished because these may collapse by themselves given
time.  It is reasoned that some bodies have been totally cremated
in the fires (temperatures over 1000 C) and that the ashes may be
unrecognizable as human remains. Human ash may have been blown
away by wind.

The Amsterdam police commissioner Nordholt has said that we will
never know for sure the number of people killed.
Today there has been a silent procession of tens of thousands of
people at the scene of the crash.
Currently a ceremony is in progress in the RAI congress centre.
Some 10.000 people are expected to attend in person. There is live
coverage on Dutch television.

The teletext service of Dutch television currently contains three
lists of names
1: Names of identified corpses
2: Names of persons who were probably in or nearby one of the
   destroyed appartments.
3: Names of persons reported missing, but where there is no
   certainty that they were in or near the concerned appartments
   at the time of the crash.
These lists are regularly updated as new information reaches the
police (and is verified by them).

Eventually a memorial sign will be built near the scene of the crash.

Peter Knoppers - knop@duteca.et.tudelft.nl