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| EgyptAir crash tape released
But ground-to-air conversations don't explain disaster mystery
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- An audio tape covering the last transmissions from EgyptAir Flight 990 was released Tuesday, but the conversations between the plane and air controllers were routine, shedding no new light on the cause of the airline crash that claimed 217 lives. The Federal Aviation Administration made public the 80-minute tape and a transcript.
The last transmission before the Boeing 767 crashed October 31 into the Atlantic Ocean off Nantucket Island, Massachusetts, was a routine "good morning" signoff. Just seven minutes later, a New York air traffic controller said she had lost radar contact with the plane. "I lost contact with the Boeing 767 in my airspace," the controller told a colleague at the control center in Boston. 560K/52 sec. AIFF or WAV sound She then began an agonizing effort to locate the missing plane, asking other flights in the vicinity if they can spot it or make radio contact. "We have a situation where we lost contact with a Boeing 767," the controller radioed to an Air France jet. "Requesting your assistance to overfly the area." A Lufthansa crew was asked to "try calling EgyptAir niner-niner-zero on this frequency and see if he checks on." Sabotage theory persistsEgyptAir 990 crashed in international waters about 40 minutes into its 11-hour flight from New York's Kennedy Airport to Cairo. Nothing in the tape provided anything that appeared to be immediately relevant to a theory that the crash was intentionally caused by its co-pilot, Gameel El-Batouty. It was not clear whether his voice, that of the pilot or another crew member was heard on the tape played for reporters at FAA headquarters in Washington. "Nine-nine-zero heavy, good morning," said the voice from the plane in signing off. "Heavy" is a term used to refer to the largest passenger planes, including the Boeing 767 involved in the crash. Just prior to that, the EgyptAir crew member had routinely confirmed his flight plans: "EgyptAir nine-nine-zero to Cairo Zulu track Zulu Santiago three-three-zero, eight-zero, mach track message identification three-zero-four." That was confirmation the plane would fly a preset route to Cairo at 33,000 feet at eight-tenths the speed of sound. The Egyptian government has objected to suggestions that El-Batouty may have deliberately caused the crash. Jim Hall, chairman of the National Transportation Safety Board, has told Congress the movements of the plane were "consistent with a deliberate action on the part of one of the crew members." But he also has said that no firm conclusion has been reached on the cause of the crash. The tape and transcript revealed no additional information on possible problems with the weather, mechanical malfunctions or a bomb -- all of which have been mentioned as possible causes for the crash. 'Radar contact lost'The "good morning" transmission came at 1:47 a.m. EST. The first indication that something was wrong came in a transmission from the New York air traffic controller at 1:54 a.m., when the controller said "EgyptAir 990, radar contact lost, recycle transponder, squawk 1712." The controller was instructing the EgyptAir pilot to send out a signal at a particular frequency. The FAA declined any comment on the transcript because the NTSB investigation is still ongoing. Any words uttered by the EgyptAir co-pilot within the cockpit would have been picked up by a cockpit recorder inside the plane, but U.S. law prohibits that transmission from being released. A transcript of the cockpit voice recorder conversation has been prepared, but it has not been made public. In the more than six months since the crash occurred, investigators have spent more than $13 million probing the cause. Correspondent Carl Rochelle contributed to this report. RELATED STORIES: FBI interviewing EgyptAir pilot seeking asylum in London RELATED SITES: National Transportation Safety Board |
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