The aeroplane had flown 26 743,48 hours and completed 4 877 operating cycles since new. It had flown 360 hours since the last Phase A inspection, which was required by the approved maintenance schedule to be carried out at 430 flying hours intervals, and 81 hours since the last terminal inspection which was required at 120 flying hour intervals.
An inspection of the aircraft's maintenance records revealed that it had been maintained in accordance with the requirements of the approved maintenance schedule and the applicable Air Navigation Regulations. There were no known defects when the aircraft departed on the last flight. A certificate of safety for flight was issued on October 16th 1987 and was valid for another 70 flying hours, that is until 26 814,09 flying hours had been reached. Because of the in-flight fire which occurred in the main deck cargo compartment, special attention has been paid by the technical investigation team to the maintenance history of the smoke detection system in that compartment.
During the periods August 11th to October 21st 1987 and November 10th to November 14th 1987 several defects
