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EgyptAir official: NTSB 'speculating' on cause of crash
CAIRO, Egypt (CNN) -- In advance of the release of a U.S. report examining the cause of the crash of EgyptAir Flight 990, an EgyptAir official said Thursday that it is based on speculation and protects the U.S. aircraft industry. The U.S. National Transportation Safety Board report concludes that mechanical failure did not cause the crash, CNN learned. "In my opinion those who wrote the report are still speculating, and if you speculate there are one hundred scenarios. You must be very careful," said the EgyptAir official, who had been close to the investigation but asked not to be named. The NTSB delivered a draft report to Egyptian authorities Thursday.
The finding that mechanical failure was not the cause of the crash may suggest that the pilot of the plane, Gamil al-Batouti, purposely brought the plane down. Al-Batouti was believed to be at the controls of the aircraft when it crashed into the Atlantic Ocean south of Nantucket, Massachusetts, on October 31, 1999. All 217 people on board the aircraft were killed. A source close to the investigation told CNN the NTSB draft report does not use the word "suicide." The source said investigators would not speculate on al-Batouti's possible motive because it would be impossible to prove. Egypt points to problems with 767sThe finding was expected to spark outrage from Egyptian authorities, who insist the NTSB has not adequately examined flight control problems with the Boeing 767. The EgyptAir official said the NTSB report uses "contradictory logic," focusing on the case of Flight 990 with very little, if any, reference to other incidents involving 767s, he said. The official said EgyptAir still has reason to believe the crash "could be the result of a technical failure in the tail region of the plane, especially due to recent discoveries that there were tail failures in other Boeing 767's, which is the same kind of plane as the doomed plane." "The latest failure was of the U.S. airplane that experienced trouble during its flight from Dallas Airport to France, and it is strange that the Boeing company contends there is no relation between the two incidents even before the end of the investigations," the official said. He claimed that 10 days before the draft report was completed, the NTSB conducted flight simulations at the Boeing facility in Seattle, Washington, but the NTSB investigators "did not wait for the results of the analysis of the simulations and went ahead with the report." Egypt: U.S. mistakenThe official said the NTSB is "reluctant, very careful where the (U.S. aircraft) industry is concerned." In a statement released Wednesday, EgyptAir -- which is owned by the Egyptian government -- said "this investigation and other Boeing 767 problems have raised questions about the integrity of the elevator control system, which makes the aircraft go up and down." He also said the NTSB has misinterpreted the final words of co-pilot al-Batouti, at the controls when the 767 began its precipitous dive, who was recorded as saying "I put my faith in God" (tawakalt a'ala Allah) repeatedly as the plane went down. EgyptAir has 60 days to review the draft report and offer comments before the NTSB votes on the probable cause of the accident and issues its final report. CNN Correspondent Patty Davis contributed to this report RELATED STORIES: NTSB wraps up EgyptAir crash report RELATED SITES: EgyptAir |
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