Wednesday, 14 November 2001 : "More on the crash of flight 587"

Briefings and interviews throughout the day indicated that the board has assembled an unusual amount of information for this early in an investigation: Both the voice and data recorders have been recovered. Numerous witnesses -- including two flight crews -- tell a remarkably similar story. All significant parts of the plane have been found and given a preliminary check... Yet the tragedy that took at least 262 lives remained a mystery. Indeed, each new piece of evidence seemed to eliminate another likely scenario. Investigators said a preliminary reading of the plane's cockpit voice recorder offers no evidence that terrorists downed the plane. But at the same time, they said, nothing on the tape would rule out sabotage.

Investigators ... said they remained puzzled that both engines and the airplane's vertical tail fin cracked off for no apparent reason. In particular, several investigators spoke of being baffled that the vertical tail fin may have broken off first.

On Monday, many speculated that engine failure had downed the plane. But investigators have found no evidence of catastrophic failure in the big General Electric Co. engines, NTSB board member George Black said. Nor, Black said, was there any evidence that the engines had sucked in birds -- a theory that was widely repeated early today -- perhaps causing them to stall.