26 April - 2 May 2001
Issue No.531
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Al-Ahram Weekly On-line 26 April - 2 May 2001 Issue No.531 |
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Sticking to their guns
Egyptian aviation authorities have spurned the draft final report on the October 1999 EgyptAir crash, saying that the US National Transportation Safety Board has ignored credible theories to hold onto an unsubstantiated claim, writes Amira Ibrahim
Egyptian authorities were dismayed by the recent release of the draft final report on the crash of an EgyptAir Boeing 767 off the eastern coast of the United States in October 1999. A year and a half after the crash, and despite overwhelming efforts on the Egyptian side, the US National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) is insisting on a conclusion deemed spurious by Egyptian authorities: that the plane's co-pilot, Gamil El-Batouti, deliberately downed the plane and carried out the mass murder of all 217 people on board. The absence of a motive was not considered a sufficient cause for questioning the theory.
Minister of Transportation Ibrahim El-Demeiri rejected the American report, saying that its findings were "nothing more than unacceptable speculation." Throughout the week, civil aviation and Ministry of Transportation officials have met extensively with EgyptAir executives to draft the Egyptian response to the report. El-Demeiri said that the NTSB had failed to address questions about other possible causes and was simply eager to get out a report. "We raised questions with the Americans, but they never answered, and we wonder why?" El-Demeiri said.
"We had hoped that the National Transportation Safety Board would not rush issuing the investigation's preliminary results, and provide technical answers to what was previously requested from the Egyptian side, such as information about, and investigation of, the tail unit, radar data and analysis of voice prints from inside the cockpit at the time of the accident," he said. He added that he had ordered the Egyptian investigative team to prepare a technical response to what is in the draft.
In a statement released a few hours before the Egyptians received the draft report, Egyptian investigators raised questions about the integrity of the elevator control system, which allows the aircraft to go up and down. They also asked the NTSB to consider the results of their investigation into an incident last month with another Boeing 767, belonging to American Airlines, which reportedly had technical difficulties and was forced into an emergency landing near Paris.
An EgyptAir official told Al-Ahram Weekly that the Egyptian statement was made to show that the Americans were working on their own and had not cooperated with the Egyptians positively in the course of their investigation. Egyptian authorities have 60 days to respond to the NTSB with their comments. The Egyptian analysis can either be accepted or rejected by the NTSB, and will either be incorporated into the final report or attached separately.
Chairman of EgyptAir Fahim Rayan told the press that the company is considering asking a third party to reopen the investigation of the crash. "Legal procedures will be taken to guarantee the rights of EgyptAir. We will seek third party arbitration," he said. Rayan argued that the Americans had speculated that El-Batouti deliberately downed the plane despite a paucity of evidence supporting this theory. "All the evidence indicates that things progressed in a natural way in the cockpit. The steps El-Batouti took during the incident were a reaction to an emergency situation and do not point to an intention to commit suicide," he explained.
Leaks ahead of the report's release had indicated that El-Batouti would be held solely responsible for the crash. Early this week, more leaks revealed that the American theory claims El-Batouti shut off the autopilot, perhaps to handle an unknown emergency situation, or to intentionally down the plane, though his motives are unknown. A top EgyptAir official, who was a member of the investigative team and spoke on condition of anonymity, told the Weekly that the Egyptian reply would demand NTSB officials to continue investigations into the crash. "If the Americans do not have proof that a human factor is responsible for the accident, then they are speculating, and that will never help us reach the truth," he said.
"We urged the NTSB, the Federal Aviation Authority [FAA], and Boeing to continue to press their inquiry into what caused the crash and to consider the possibility that there might be an inherent flaw in the design and maintenance procedures of the Boeing 767 flight control system," he added. The source disclosed that the Egyptian team carried out some tests at Boeing laboratories in Seattle during the last 10 days of March. The tests explored the Egyptian theory of a mechanical failure in the tail unit's control system, but the results of the tests have not yet been released.
"Why don't the Boeing officials reveal the results of these tests?" the source asked. "Why don't the NTSB investigators urge Boeing, or force it, to disclose all the facts?" He added that the Egyptian reply will ask the NTSB to defer the final report until the investigation of the American Airlines incident is complete. On 27 March, an American Airlines Boeing 767 was reported to have difficulty in controlling the tail unit's elevators. The flight was en route from Dallas to Paris when the pilot reported he could not control the plane while descending at 6,000 feet and used horizontal elevators for an emergency landing.
"We are certain that discovering what caused the pilot to lose control over the plane would help to solve the mystery of the EgyptAir Boeing 767 crash. We cannot understand why the NTSB investigators would not wait for these results." the source said.
French authorities turned the investigation over to the NTSB, but the agency announced that there is no connection between the American Airlines incident and the crash of the EgyptAir plane. "How could they know whether there is a link or not when they have not finished investigating the incident? I would say that these statements only show that the Americans are in a real deep crisis. They are searching for a way to cover up whatever is responsible, and this bodes ill for the aviation industry," the source noted.
El-Batouti's nephew, the spokesman for the families of the Egyptian victims, also rejected the draft report and described the NTSB leaks as irresponsible. "This is black propaganda, sponsored by Boeing, to cover up whatever happened to this plane," El-Batouti said. "We know that Boeing is powerful and possesses greater resources than El-Batouti's family."
"We are certain that Boeing is cornered by the series of accidents and mechanical problems its planes have suffered over the last 10 months. But Boeing officials do not have answers to the questions and demands made by Egyptian investigators," added El-Batouti.
"El-Batouti's family will not accept any responsibility for him downing the plane without a clear motive. I demand that the American authorities release the facts instead of covering up whatever is responsible for this tragic crash," he added.
For their part, families of the crash victims rejected the draft report and criticised both the NTSB and EgyptAir for controlling the investigations without taking their interests into consideration. "EgyptAir does not represent us. We want to be represented in the investigation on the same level as EgyptAir," stated a young woman who lost her father in the crash. "They are concerned with defending their interests and reputation, and so are we," she added.
Lawyer Atef El-Nigmi announced that he will take the NTSB to court in order to reopen the investigation. "We have the right to accept or reject the conclusion reached by the Americans and we are not obligated to agree with whatever the Egyptian authorities accept. If EgyptAir accepts blame or responsibility, we will sue the company here in Egypt. If they reach a formula that does not pinpoint responsibility, then we will sue the American authorities," he added.
Earlier this year, EgyptAir acknowledged liability for the crash, agreeing to pay damages to families that are eligible to sue in US courts. Eligibility is determined by a complicated set of circumstances, including where the passenger's ticket was purchased. The airline did not accept full blame for the crash.
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