Gulf Air Probe Begins

Aviation experts began an investigation Saturday into the crash of Gulf Air Flight 072, examining the plane's tail that still juts out of the sea like a gravestone for the 143 passengers and crew who perished.

The United States is leading the team of more than 20 inspectors from Bahrain, France, Egypt and Oman. Their job will be to piece together clues from the wreckage to determine why the Airbus 320, flying from Cairo, crashed Wednesday in near-perfect conditions just off Bahrain's coast.

An eight-man advance team began Saturday by photographing an expanse of sea littered with scraps. Mobile phones and clothing bobbed in the water, although most of the personal effects had been retrieved by divers from Bahrain and the U.S. Navy's 5th Fleet, which is headquartered in Bahrain.

"We're going to map out the wreckage area and where the pieces are," said one of three investigators from the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board. "Obviously, then we still have to pull the stuff out."

Nineteen wreckage pieces, several still in the sea, have been logged as "significant" so far.

"Time is now of the essence because of the sand," said Bahraini Col. James Windsor, who is coordinating the salvage work. "If you don't recover them in the next few days, it will cover up the pieces."

The investigators, in addition to an Airbus Industries representative, will have other evidence to rely on, including the plane's flight data and voice cockpit recorders. The recorders were to be flown to Washington on Saturday night for analysis.

Earlier, caskets wrapped in blue plaid cloth were loaded aboard a Gulf Air Boeing 767 bound for Cairo. Sixty-four Egyptians were killed in the crash, and 56 of the bodies headed home Saturday, along with about 100 relatives who had come to Bahrain to identify them.

The investigative team hopes to pinpoint what happened between the time pilot Ihsan Shakeeb aborted his landing at Manama's airport without explanation and the plane's dive into the sea 60 seconds later.

Officials said the plane crashed short of the runway into the Gulf as it was maneuvering for a third landing attempt at the end of an evening flight from Cairo to the Bahrain capital.

Gulf Air's chief pilot Hameed Ali has said investigators would examine the speed and altitude of Shakeeb's aborted landing as part of their probe. But, he stressed, "we have spotted no error in (Shakeeb's) approach."

Some witnesses in Bahrain had reported seeing flames coming from one of the plane's engines. Bahrain television initially reported that the plane crashed after one engine caught fire.

But Gulf Air said it had no evidence that an engine on the Airbus, powered by two CFM56-5 engines built by General Electric Co. and France's state-owned SNECMA, had caught fire.

Veteran investigators say the accident at first blush is puzzling because an engine problem alone, if there was one, shouldn't have caused the crash.

The weather was fine. The plane had no known safety problems. And if the pilots knew they had a problem, they didn't say so.

Gulf Air said 135 passengers and eight crew members were on board. The passengers included 63 Egyptians, 34 Bahrainis, 12 Saudi Arabians, nine Palestinians, six people from the United Arab Emirates, three Chinese, two Britons and one each from Canada, Oman, Kuwait, Sudan, Australia and America.

CBS News Transportation Correspondent Bob Orr reported Thursday that the American, 31-year-old Seth Foti, was a State Department courier who was carrying classified information when he went down with the plane.

After hours of searching Friday, U.S. Navy divers found the pouches that Foti was carrying, said Cmdr. Jeff Gradeck, spokesman for the 5th Fleet.