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Al-Ahram Weekly 4 - 10 November 1999 Issue No. 454 
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Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Al-Ahram Weekly 4 - 10 November 1999 Issue No. 454
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| Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Egypt Region International Economy Opinion Culture Features Profile Travel Living Sports People Time Out Chronicles Cartoons Letters On course for tragedy
EGYPTAIR flight 990 originated in Los Angeles and was scheduled to fly from New York to Cairo. It departed Los Angeles 90 minutes late because a tyre was changed and arrived at John F. Kennedy airport just before 5.00 GMT on Sunday. At 6.20 GMT it took off for Cairo carrying 167 passengers who boarded at Kennedy, 32 passengers from Los Angeles and 15 crew.Robert Kelly, aviation director of the port authority of New York/New Jersey, said the plane was loaded with "no disruption" in New York.
"Visibility was over half a mile on the runway at the time, more than enough for an aircraft of that kind," Kelly said.
Thirty minutes later the Boeing 767 vanished from radar screens and crashed into the Atlantic. Preliminary radar data showed the flight was at 10,000 metres at 8.50 GMT. 36 seconds later the it was recorded at 5,800 metres, having plunged at a rate of 7,100 metres per minute.
The plane reportedly crashed into the sea 96 kilometres (60 miles) south of Nantucket Island in water 82 metres deep.
