Using manual controls, the crew struggled desperately to turn the plane back to the airport. They succeeded in steering the aircraft toward the centre runway and in lowering the smoking landing gear.

But the plane began to fall apart, witnesses said. Nine minutes after takeoff, it nose-dived into the desert about two kilometres short of the runway. This report fails to mention that after the landing gear was lowered in anticipation of landing, that several passengers fell out of the airplane. In fact, bodies were found several miles from the crash site, that had fallen from the aircraft as it approached the airport.

The explosion and fire were so intense that some bodies, including that of Montreal attendant Caroline Leclerc, still have not been found and are believed to have been incinerated.

The DC-8's twisted metal carcass was scattered over a 600-metre stretch of sandy desert.

Almost as if nothing had happened, other airlines ferrying pilgrims and other travellers continued to land and takeoff on nearby runways as emergency crews used tractors to tow firefighting equipment through the soft sand in a futile attempt at rescue.

Then the post-mortem began. Canadian and Saudi investigators have interviewed Nationair pilots, mechanics and other employees who had anything to do with the Jedda contracts.

As well, a Saudi investigator visited Accra to interview local officials, to gather records about the key and tire incidents, and to find out what equipment was available for tire changes. He found the airport was well equipped.

Rumors and speculation have led investigators on wild goose chases.

One rumor is that Nationair had changed the tires in Jedda. Investigators found no evidence of this.

Obadia has claimed that a foreign object or debris on the runway might have caused the blowout. But Barayan and his investigators have rejected this claim as simply Obadia's "personal opinion".

Obadia continues to maintain, however, that witnesses have told him that there was debris on the runway and that it was swept away after the crash.

Barayan said Obadia has not given his investigators names of any witnesses to support his claim.

When the The Gazette asked Obadia why he had not provided the names of his witnesses to crash investigators, he replied: "It is not up to us to do it."

Barayan said his investigators found fragments of the DC-8's wheel rim on the Jedda runway.

Four and a half months before the crash, Nationair told Transport Canada it was inspecting all its DC-8 wheel rims in a bid to determine why some of them were falling apart during takeoffs and landings.

Obadia said through his secretary that the first tire that blew was on a rim that was previously inspected and deemed safe by Nationair.

And Barayan said investigators so far have ruled out the possibility that a broken rim blew the tire. They are, however, still awaiting the results of lab tests.

A day after the Jedda crash, Transort Canada subjected Nationair's maintenance and flight operations in Canada and abroad - particularly its DC-8s to a special safety review.

For what it's worth, when I was interviewed after the crash, I mentioned a 1985 experience in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, in which we experienced tire failure on takeoff on a DC-8-61, with another company. The tire and rim failed on the left side, remnants of which punctured the wing and fuselage. After aborting takeoff, we did an evacuation of the aircraft as the remaining rubber on the strut was on fire. We were told at the time that had we continued with the flight, we "would not have gotten very far".