Italian police yesterday seized parts taken from six Airbus A300 jets at Rome’s airport – a discovery that may shed light on what caused the crash of American Airlines Flight 587.
Investigators said the spare parts, which included radar instruments and fuel gauges, may have been part of an international market where used airplane pieces are falsely certified as new, the Italian daily Corriere della Sera reported.
“In our opinion, the spare parts were disassembled without following regulations,” Maj. Anselmi Mocci, head of Italy’s paramilitary police. “We contend that this can compromise the very safety of the parts taken from the airliners.”
FBI agents are working with Italian police to see if their discovery has anything to do with the crash of a Santo Domingo-bound American Airlines A300 jet Nov. 12 over Belle Harbor, which killed 265 people.
The seizure of the parts came a day after police in Naples found three containers of Airbus parts ready to be shipped to the United States.