EGYPT: EGYPTAIR CLAIMS TECHNICAL PROBLEM CAUSED THE CRASH OF ONE OF ITS BOEING FLEET

Record ID: 383720

  • 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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