Section of TWA cockpit located; 'Critical' step in investigation;

By Pamela Ferdinand, Globe Correspondent; and Fred Kaplan, Globe Staff

EAST MORICHES, N.Y.

In a critical step toward finding out what downed TWA Flight 800 more than two weeks ago, federal investigators yesterday confirmed they have located part of the cockpit.

It will take at least 24 hours for the section - the cockpit's front windows and part of the interior - to be recovered and tested for traces of an explosive device. But smaller critical pieces of debris recovered yesterday from the same area already are at the FBI laboratory in Washington, D.C., undergoing forensic tests, officials said.

"It's sort of the nerve center of the aircraft," said Robert Francis, vice chairman of the National Transportation Safety Board. "It's the area you're interested in being able to look at in any accident."

With this discovery, analysts will soon be able to examine what remains of the plane's controls and electronics. A huge chunk of plane found the day before contains the first-class section.

"If we are right, if the event was caused by something in the front of the aircraft," said FBI Assistant Director James Kallstrom, "hopefully, we're going to see that, whether it was in the cargo or whether it was in the food carts or the first-class cabin."

Investigators believe a bomb was set in the forward section of the aircraft because of radar signals and the way the debris scattered in the ocean. The recovery of the cockpit at the bottom of the debris pile is further evidence that the explosion sheared off the nose of the plane first, Francis said. All of the passengers and crew were killed.

A small chip from a food service cart removed from the body of a first-class passenger has further led investigators to believe the blast occurred in or near the cart because the smallest pieces of retrievable evidence are often nearest the blast - as in the case of Pan Am 103, which exploded in 1988 over Lockerbie, Scotland.

"Obviously, we want to know what it looks like in there," Kallstrom said, referring to the cockpit. "We want to know what it looks like in the entire first-class cabin . . . and we want to look into those extra cargo containers."

Galley items, such as a coffee maker with the coffee pot still in the maker, a burnt tray table and part of a cart have been recovered, along with tiny pieces of shrapnel from first-class passengers' bodies and seats, said sources close to the investigation.

Carts used to serve first-class passengers are usually stowed in a galley located above the front cargo hold, and sources said investigators are focusing on how food service supplies were loaded onto the aircraft in New York. The TWA caterer at John F. Kennedy International Airport is Ogden, according to a high-ranking Port Authority source.

Airline food normally is sealed but it is not X-rayed before being loaded, according to a source close to the investigation. The carts are sometimes stored on the plane and sometimes loaded along with the food. Carts brought on board are not X-rayed, but they are stored in a secure location.

Because only 230 passengers were flying on Flight 800 the night of July 17, only a quarter of the plane's available cargo space was filled - meaning that the bins containing luggage were probably pushed to the forward area. At least one cargo bin has been recovered.

Large pieces of the plane have been recovered in recent days, including a front section of the passenger cabin with 15 windows, a 40-foot portion of aluminum skin from the left wing, a section of fuselage from the right side, and a 15-foot part of the left with its flap assembly in place, sources said.

Investigators at the Grumman hangar in Calverton, N.Y., are trying to piece the plane together using blueprints and a passenger seating chart. But progress has been slow given the lengthy recovery process and the extent of damage, said one source familiar with the investigation.

NTSB investigators are looking at structural damage, including whether fractures show evidence of soot or fatigue, while FBI investigators are conducting preliminary forensic tests and passing bits and pieces of evidence, from fiberglass flooring to aluminum skin, to the Washington lab.

"Every piece that has been looked at has either breakup or impact damage on it, from the largest to the smallest piece," the source said. "It's incredible. Everything is deformed and twisted and bent."

Meanwhile, some involved in the investigation are frustrated at the pace as it goes into its third weekend. No more victims were recovered yesterday, keeping the total found at 184, and seven divers have suffered decompression sickness since the underwater search began, officials said.

Francis said yesterday, "I would hope we're still going to recover significant numbers of victims." However, he added they would probably not find all of the rest.