EGYPT: EGYPTAIR CLAIMS TECHNICAL PROBLEM CAUSED THE CRASH OF ONE OF ITS BOEING FLEET
Record ID:
383720
EGYPT: EGYPTAIR CLAIMS TECHNICAL PROBLEM CAUSED THE CRASH OF ONE OF ITS BOEING FLEET
- Title: EGYPT: EGYPTAIR CLAIMS TECHNICAL PROBLEM CAUSED THE CRASH OF ONE OF ITS BOEING FLEET
- Date: 17th August 2000
- Summary: CAIRO, EGYPT (AUGUST 17, 2000) (REUTERS) 1. WS EGYPTAIR CHAIRMAN MOHAMMED FAHIM RAYAN AT NEWS CONFERENCE 0.07 2. MV FAHIM HOLDING UP REPORT 0.12 3. CU PHOTOGRAPH OF EGYPTAIR AIRCRAFT 0.17 4. SCU (SOUNDBITE) (English) FAHIM " We are 99 percent sure that there was something (wrong) in the elevator system" 0.34 5. GRAPH DETAILING CHRONOLY OF EVENTS IN DOOMED FLIGHT 0.46 6. CUTAWAYS REPORTERS AT NEWS CONFERENCE 0.57 7. REPORTERS SEATED 1.02 Initials Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved
- Embargoed: 1st September 2000 13:00
- Keywords:
- Location: CAIRO, EGYPT
- Country: Egypt
- Reuters ID: LVA745QJLWS2G7L7TBYFX624B9KP
- Story Text: Egyptair has said a technical problem caused the crash
of one of its fleet Boeing's last October resulting in the
deaths of over two hundred people.
EgyptAir Chairman Mohamed Fahim Rayan said on Thursday
he was "99 percent sure" a technical problem and not a
suicidal pilot caused an EgyptAir plane to crash last October,
killing all 217 people aboard.
"We are 99 percent sure that there was something (wrong)
in the elevator system," Rayan told a news conference, citing
a Boeing service bulletin earlier this week as evidence.
The elevators are movable panels on the horizontal tail
surface which direct the aircraft's nose up or down.
The plane's manufacturer, Boeing Co, on Tuesday urged all
airlines flying the 767 to perform a special inspection to
assure the integrity of parts that help move elevators, but
said the stepped-up inspection was not connected to the crash
probe.
The U.S. National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) said
last week it had been unable to conclude what caused the crash
of EgyptAir Flight 990, which was heading for Cairo from New
York on October 31 when it suddenly plunged into the ocean.
The NTSB's 1,665-page assessment appeared to dismiss
Egyptian theories of technical problems but did mention
alleged lewd behaviour by the relief co-pilot Gamil
al-Batouti.
Rayan mocked the allegations as irrelevant, otherwise "50
percent of men would commit suicide", he said.
U.S. investigators have left scant doubt they are working
on a theory that Batouti deliberately crashed the aircraft.
Rayan said the suicide theory did not fit with the plane's
controlled descent, mentioned in last week's NTSB report.
He said that the switching off of the plane's autopilot
just before its fatal descent did not constitute evidence for
the theory because it had disengaged itself three times during
the plane's earlier flight from Los Angeles to New York.
Transport Minister Ibrahim Demiri told reporters after a
cabinet meeting to discuss the inquiry that Egyptian and
American aviation officials would meet later on Thursday to
consider further evidence.
The Egyptian Pilots' Federation said last week it wanted
U.S. authorities to release radar images and to question an
air traffic controller on duty at the time of the crash, as
well as three pilots from Germany, Jordan and Britain, said to
have seen missiles while flying in the area where the plane
went down.
Last week EgyptAir said metallurgical analysis of wreckage
showed that the rivets on two of the three bell cranks in the
right elevator were sheared in a direction that would force
the elevator down.
The rivets on the other bell crank were sheared in the
opposite direction, a pattern EgyptAir said was consistent
with the possible failure or jam of power control units that
would cause the aircraft to pitch down.
Mechanical links called bell cranks are connected to
hydraulic controls that move elevators on the tail-piece.
The Egyptian Pilots' Federation said on Monday the NTSB
should turn its inquiry over to a third party unless it
releases what the federation views as key evidence.
JRC/
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