The official said aviation investigators in the United States were surprised by the exchange.

Bomb experts and aviation investigators in Calverton, L.I., have pored over the new wreckage as soon as it is brought to shore.

Many aviation investigators have long predicted that it will be impossible to say with absolute certainty what caused the explosion because key evidence was probably destroyed in the explosion.

"All we can say is that's a scenario that could have happened," a beleaguered, senior aviation investigator explained.

Asked if he thought the ignition source would ever be found, the aviation investigator said: "It would be nice.

But it is just the kind of jigsaw that aviation investigators piece together for a living.

American aviation investigators say they do not know whether the explanation given by the pilot, which was first reported today in The Los Angeles Times, is true.

After last November's defeat, Democrats were like aviation investigators sifting through twisted metal in a cornfield, struggling to posit theories about the disaster all around them.

An informal axiom among aviation investigators is that if you don't know the reason for a crash within the first three days, you are in for a long haul.

The aviation investigators have settled on a static spark as a likely culprit because all other identified mechanical ignition sources appear even less likely.