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Al-Ahram Weekly 27 Jan. - 2 Feb. 2000 Issue No. 466 
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Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Al-Ahram Weekly 27 Jan. - 2 Feb. 2000 Issue No. 466
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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 Crash theories still open
By Amira IbrahimReports have quoted three US government officials, said to be close to the investigation, as saying that the remains of the Boeing 767, which crashed into the Atlantic Ocean off Nantucket on 31 October, revealed no signs of a mechanical failure.
The examination of the shattered jet, some 70 per cent of which was recovered from the ocean floor, has revealed no signs of a mechanical failure that would have caused the plane to plummet 40 minutes into its 11-hour flight, the officials were quoted as having said.
The reports, leaked by unidentified US sources, repeated suggestions that someone had turned off the auto pilot, pointed the plane in a nose-down position and then cut off the engines.
James Hall, chairman of the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB), rejected this scenario and rebuffed media reports that suggested that investigators had dismissed mechanical problems as a possible cause of the accident, which killed all 217 people on board. He cautioned that more work needs to be done to determine the cause of the crash.
"No hypothesis for the cause of this accident has been accepted. There is much that still needs to be done before a determination of the cause can be reached," he said, adding that the investigation of potential mechanical issues would continue on several other fronts.
Some US experts, however, went as far as to say that were it not for political pressure on the NTSB, the investigation would essentially be finished. "The release of a final report on the cause of the crash may depend on diplomatic negotiations with Egypt as much as on the investigators' workload," an aviation expert was quoted as having said.
Such statements promote theories that had previously been rejected by the Egyptian side. Several days after the crash, unidentified sources began leaking reports that the flight data information appeared to show a co-pilot had shut down the auto pilot and pointed the plane into a dive. The data then appeared to show another pilot had tried to pull the jetliner out of its dive and failed. An alleged prayer or religious statement, thought to have been made by the co-pilot before the crash, was taken as the basis for a suicide theory.
The suggestion that a Muslim pilot would kill himself and so many others in this fashion was angrily rejected in Egypt by both the government and public opinion.
EgyptAir Chairman Mohamed Fahim Rayan expressed satisfaction with Hall's rejection of the leaked reports. "I cannot comment on statements made by unidentified sources. For my part, I would only consider the final report made by the American and Egyptian investigators," Rayan told Al-Ahram Weekly. According to Rayan, more EgyptAir officials are to be sent to Washington soon to assist with the investigation.
NTSB officials are conducting the investigation along with representatives from EgyptAir and Boeing. The investigators are divided into groups, each focusing on parts of the problem, such as the flight data recorder, human performance and radar data. Each group is expected to submit a report on its findings.
According to Rayan, NTSB and Egyptian investigators continue to examine the voice and data recorders, the plane's hydraulic components and engine pylons. "A flight simulation is to be conducted at Boeing facilities in Seattle as soon as the simulator is programmed with the crash data," Rayan said.
A transcript of conversations picked up by the flight cockpit recorder may be released later. Secrecy of the audio tapes was imposed by law in the US some 20 years ago at the demand of American pilots.
Inspection of the wreckage last week yielded no new findings or physical evidence to explain what caused the crash. Meanwhile, remains of passengers and crew are being examined thoroughly with the purpose of identification.
According to a top EgyptAir source following-up on the investigation, investigators are weighing the need to dredge the ocean floor again for more debris. "We have not decided yet whether further wreckage recovery will be necessary," he said.
The source added that the retrieved debris, sorted into piles of its various components, is due to be documented by next week and that reassembling the plane will later be the subject of study.
A similar measure was undertaken following two other recent crashes in the ocean, TWA Flight 800 off Long Island and Swissair Flight 111 off Nova Scotia.
Earlier this week, Rayan said that families of victims will receive LE300 to 400 million in insurance.
According to Ahmed Shawki, manager of Misr Insurance Aviation Sector, the families of the 217 victims could receive their insurance money immediately without having to wait for the investigation to be concluded. He said 24 families had already received insurance payments from his company, but refused to disclose how much each family got. He also refused to give maximum or minimum estimates of the total insurance costs for all the 217 victims.
Shawki declared that his company will sue whoever is responsible for the crash. "If it were established that the crash was a result of a criminal act by a suicidal pilot, the airliner should pay the insurance to the victims' families." But he added in the same breath that "in the case of Flight 990, the pilot was a professional pilot, in an excellent psychological condition. Thus we cannot accuse the airliner of hiring an unprofessional pilot".
According to Shawki, EgyptAir has received insurance for the 18 crew members, in addition to $53 million in jet insurance.
