EGYPT: HEAD OF PILOT'S FEDERATION REJECTS SUGGESTIONS OF PILOT SUICIDE AS CAUSE OF CRASH OF EGYPTAIR FLIGHT 900.

Record ID: 590444

  • Title: EGYPT: HEAD OF PILOT'S FEDERATION REJECTS SUGGESTIONS OF PILOT SUICIDE AS CAUSE OF CRASH OF EGYPTAIR FLIGHT 900.
  • Date: 19th November 1999
  • Summary: HELIOPOLIS,CAIRO, EGYPT (NOVEMBER 18, 1999) (REUTERS - ACCESS ALL) 1. GV/CU: EXTERIOR SIGN SAYING "EGYPTIAN PILOTS' FEDERATION" (2 SHOTS) 0.08 2. GV/CU: PICTURES OF PILOTS OF EGYPTAIR FLIGHT 990 ON WALL / GAMEEL AL BATTOUTI / AHMED AL HABASHI (3 SHOTS) 0.21 3. SV: CAPTAIN WALID MOURAD, PILOT AND HEAD OF EGYPTIAN PILOTS' FEDERATION 0.26 4. CAPTAIN WALID MOURAD SAYS (ARABIC) : "EgyptAir rejects these allegations and rejects this situation. Egyptian pilots are unsurpassed in their professionalism and carry certificates from international organizations specializing in commercial flying. They also recieve the best training and go through intense medical check-ups on an international levels, either physically or psychologically."/ REPORTERS/ APTAIN MOURAD, SAYING (ARABIC): "We as Egyptians or as religious people begin any action by uttering God's name. In this situation, the investigators that heard the religious phrases like "There is no God but Allah" or "In the name of Allah" or any religious phrase, this is the beginning of (someone) being faced with great danger. This is the Egyptian peoples' way. Just like Americans have the phrase "Oh Jesus" or "Oh My God Help me", we have the same phrases."/ REPORTERS/ PILOT MOURAD SAYING (ENGLISH): "Captain Battouti is a Haj, if you don't know what's the meaning of Haj you can ask your translator about Haj. It is the high level fr the Moslem people. I was with him in Mecca, the Haj knows very well that the bad thing he can do in life is to (commit) suicide." 2.27 5. MV: CAMERW-CREWS 2.30 Initials Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved
  • Embargoed: 4th December 1999 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: HELIOPOLIS, CAIRO, EGYPT
  • Country: Egypt
  • Reuters ID: LVADKSSCWJ64YFDBSG9L0YSQ6BF1
  • Story Text: Head of The Egyptian Pilots' Federation rejected
    suggestions
    that co-pilot of the doomed EgyptAir flight 990, Gameel
    El-Battouti might have sent the plane into the
    Atlantic Ocean in an attempt to commit suicide.

    Captain Walid Mourad, in a statement to the press on
    Thursday, said that The Egyptian Pilots' Federation refused to
    accept allegations that El-Battouti would commit suicide
    saying
    that he was a strong-willed man who loved his family.

    Captain Mourad suggested that the religious phrases made
    by some of the crew before the crash,
    were mixture of an expression of shock and prayer, rather than
    a suicide note.

    "We as Egyptians or religious people, begin any action by
    uttering God's name.In
    this situation, people that heard religious phrases like
    "There is no God but Allah" or "In the name of Allah" or any
    religious phrase, know that is the beginning of (someone)
    being faced with great danger.This is the Egyptian peoples'
    way.Just like Americans have the phrase "Oh Jesus" or "Oh My
    God", we have the same phrases."
    U.S.investigators working with flight data and the
    cockpit voice recorder believe that a crew member managed
    during the captain's absence from the cockpit to send the
    airliner into a
    steep dive.The aircraft crashed less than one hour after
    taking off from New York for Cairo.

    While no final determination has been made as to what
    brought down the Boeing 767, officials have released snippets
    of the cockpit conversation in the aircraft's final moments.


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