99-09-21        0730   To CANMET and continued work on the AES process with the wires.  . . . .

         At about 1730 hrs, Jim FOOT, Gus SIDLA, Christopher FUELLEMANN had a discussion over the future of the beads that I joined in on.  It was started by Christopher at this time as he will be leaving tomorrow for Shearwater.  He is concerned that the Auger process is not working effectively and that another process should be looked for.  He is concerned that BROWN is looking too closely at things that are not in the mandate and thus causing delays.  He is quite adamant that this should be done and implied that it should be done soon.  Jim FOOT explained that Dr. BROWN would have to look at the remainder of the Seattle wires before he can come up with suitable test results and that this will take time.  He also explained that AUGER is the best process for the job at hand, that there is really nothing else to be used which is non-destructive.  Certainly, anything else will certainly be destructive, as the bead will have to be sliced.  Indeed, other processes have been tried along these lines on other test wires and they failed miserably.  I suggested that we should continue with the Auger and that it will make use of the time until all of the material is off the bottom.  It must be remembered that further wires may appear.  By then either the Auger process will prove to work or something else can be looked at knowing that there is nothing left to come off the ocean floor.  Both Jim FOOT & Gus SIDLA stated that nothing destructive would be done until a much later date.  Gus advised that it was their intention to do scanning electron microscopic (SEM) photography of the beads, but it is unknown now if they will be cut.  It will require quite a sophisticated process in order to cut the beads.  It may be noted that Larry FOGG has expressed his own doubts about AES and has likely been talking with Christopher.  It was stated that SWISSAIR is applying pressure to Christopher to come up with answers (likely the same with Boeing for FOGG & BERRY).  It may be noted that Larry FOGG has been watching the whole process very closely taking extensive notes and whenever he sees something strange, he is the first to request clarification.  Just as in Seattle he is the one who is causing many of the delays, not intentionally, but merely to ensure something was done correctly or to verify something.  Jim FOOT advised Christopher that there was not a time limit on this process, and if they were attending in the hopes that things would be done speedily then they were in the wrong place.  It is obvious that Jim FOOT feels that if millions can be spent to bring debris off the ocean floor then he can spend several tens of thousands to try and come up with an answer.

          At 2030 hrs, finished and everything locked up.

(Clarification:)  I found the position taken by Jim Foot to be somewhat strange.  Throughout, he had been adamant that the cause of the fire was a short-circuited wire, and the sooner this was determined, the better.  However, now he wants to take his time.  Jim Foot operated to his own agenda and time schedule, so he had his own ulterior motives behind all of this.  But for Swissair to be in such a hurry was just as puzzling.  Perhaps too they had their agenda.