The pilot of doomed TWA Flight 800 was found still strapped in his seat before a major section of his cockpit - a mangled mess of switches, instruments and seats - was raised from the ocean floor, investigators said Sunday.
The bodies of the pilot, Capt. Ralph G. Kevorkian, 58, of Garden Grove, Calif., and his flight engineer, Richard G. Campbell, 63, of Ridgefield, Conn., were retrieved Saturday night.The recovery of bodies - 194 by Sunday, leaving 36 missing - and the arrival of bargeloads of wreckage were major weekend strides in a disaster probe that had been frustrated for days by bad weather.
The newly recovered wreckage included seats, instruments, switches and fuses mangled together in the cockpit, but did not include a crescent-shaped section with windows that searchers had previously seen under water.
"To see that mass of jumble of wires certainly brought home to me how difficult it's going to be . . . to try to put that all back together again," said James Kallstrom, the special agent in charge of the FBI probe. "Basically, it's just a solid pile of debris all mixed together."
National Transportation Safety Board Vice Chairman Robert Francis said investigators would now begin the arduous task of untangling the wreckage to see what evidence it might contain on the cause of the July 17 explosion that killed 230 people.
Because of the condition of the wreckage, Francis said he was "not expecting dramatic results from today to tomorrow."
It was unclear how many of the cockpit's 900 gauges and dials and gadgets were in the recovered section. An instrument panel - perhaps frozen in time - could yield clues: about engine speed or how the plane was reacting, perhaps whether parts were shattered by the crash or by a blast.
Wreckage will also be inspected for explosive residue, which would suggest a bomb. A missile theory and mechanical failure also have not been ruled out.
A source close to the investigation told The Associated Press that a plastic-foam box, bearing corneas for transplant, has not entirely been ruled out as the source of a bomb.
"If we bring up the cockpit, and there is Styrofoam all over everything, we will have to go back and take a very close look to see if there was a switch," the source told The AP.
The forward cargo area that currently is a prime focus of the investigation was two decks below the cockpit. Francis said Sunday that he believes most of the plane located below the actual cockpit has yet to be recovered.
Navy Rear Adm. Edward Kristensen said the 6-foot-high, 10-foot-wide cockpit section, which was raised and brought ashore Saturday night, probably weighs about a ton.
Earlier Saturday, investigators brought ashore a 40-by-60-foot section of the first-class roof. It was inside-out, like a book with a broken spine, and wires, cables, hydraulic lines, bits of fabrics and seats sprouted from it. Investigators said part of a galley, including a coffeepot, was found inside.
Early Sunday, a Navy barge arrived at the Shinnecock command center and workers unloaded what appeared to be a piece of white-and-red fuselage and at least one of the main landing gears from under a wing.