NTSB to Blame Pilot in 1999 Crash

[Kalulu]

</font><blockquote><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica">quote:</font><hr /><font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica"> NTSB to Conclude That Pilot Downed EgyptAir 990 in October 1999 Crash, Sources Say. .. .The Associated Press. .. . . .. .W A S H I N G T O N, March 14 — The National Transportation Safety Board's final report on the crash of EgyptAir Flight 990 says the co-pilot was responsible, government sources said Thursday.. .. .The report is expected to be released soon.. .. .The sources, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the report points to actions by co-pilot Gameel El-Batouty as the probable cause of the accident, which killed 217 people. The NTSB report is silent on whether he deliberately crashed the plane, the sources said.. .. .There has been speculation that El-Batouty committed suicide, shutting off the autopilot and saying a prayer before the crash.. .. .EgyptAir has blamed mechanical problems for the October 1999 crash of the Boeing 767 into the Atlantic Ocean off the Massachusetts island of Nantucket.. .. .El-Batouty took the controls of the plane shortly after it took off from New York's Kennedy Airport. Over the ocean, the plane began to plummet. An NTSB transcript of the cockpit voice recorder showed the pilot, Mahmoud el-Habashy, crying, "Pull! Pull with me! Pull with me! Pull with me!" as he tried to bring the plane out of its fatal dive.. .. .NTSB Chairwoman Marion Blakey told a congressional hearing Thursday that some board members had asked for changes after reviewing the report. She declined to comment on its findings.. .. .Unlike other investigations of major accidents, the EgyptAir report is not expected to include any major safety recommendations, sources said. The board previously has recommended that video recorders be installed in the cockpit.. .. .EgyptAir officials have suggested the crash may have been caused by a mechanical problem in the tail. In November 2000 and March 2001, the Federal Aviation Administration ordered inspections of the Boeing 767's elevator flaps on the tail that bend down or up to lift the plane's nose.. .. .Former NTSB Chairman Jim Hall told the AP last June that investigators found no evidence of mechanical problems.. .. ."It was clear to me, based on the work of our investigators, that the events could not be described as a mechanical failure but by pilot action," Hall said at the time.. .. .On the Net:. .. .National Transportation Safety Board </font><hr /></blockquote><font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica">

[Airbubba]

Yep, suicide, plain and simple, suicide.. .. .And murder as well.. .. .These victims will never get the 911 payout, and Batouti will never be on a list of mass murderers. Political considerations prevent the NTSB from saying why Batouti turned off the hydraulics, cut off the engines and flew the plane into the water, only that he did. Of course, in most other "accidents" the NTSB speculates profusely on the motivations for actions and decisions in the cockpit.. .. .Here's some spirited earlier discussion on PPRuNe:. .. .<a href="http://www.pprune.org/ubb/NonCGI/ultimatebb.php?ubb=get_topic;f=1;t=013497" target="_blank">http://www.pprune.org/ubb/NonCGI/ultimatebb.php?ubb=get_topic;f=1;t=013497</a>

[Airbubba]

More from the LA Times:. .. .Report: EgyptAir Crash No Accident. .. .By ERIC MALNIC, WILLIAM C. REMPEL and RICARDO ALONSO-ZALDIVAR. .. .Times Staff Writers . .. .March 15 2002. .. .The final federal report on the crash of EgyptAir Flight 990 is expected to say that the jumbo jet was brought down by the methodical, determined acts of a veteran copilot, sources close to investigators have told The Times. . .. .The report by the National Transportation Safety Board, anticipated within a few days, will close the probe into an air disaster on Oct. 31, 1999, off the New England coast that killed 217 people and has strained relations between the United States and Egypt, its most important Arab ally. . .. .Central to the NTSB findings is incriminating evidence in the plane's two "black box" recording devices against copilot Gamil El Batouty, whose personal and professional life appears to have been crumbling in the months before the crash. . .. .But what the report omits may be more controversial--including implications of suicide and even murder. . .. ."What it won't do is talk about motivation," said one source familiar with the findings. "It won't use words like 'deliberate' or 'intentional.' And I can guarantee it won't use 'suicide.' " . .. .The NTSB report also will stop short of considering allegations by a former EgyptAir captain that one of El Batouty's motivations may have been murder and revenge. . .. .How the Boeing 767 crashed--plunging 33,000 feet through clear skies without so much as a distress call--was almost immediately clear. But investigators were increasingly frustrated as they tried to establish why El Batouty nosed the plane over into a dive, repeatedly intoning in Arabic, "I rely on God." . .. .Former EgyptAir captain Hanofy Taha Mahmoud Hamdy told The Times that the crash was a vengeful act against an EgyptAir executive. Taha said that Hatem Rushdy, chief of the Boeing 767 pilot group who was a passenger on the ill-fated New York-to-Cairo flight, had reprimanded the co-pilot for sexual misconduct that embarrassed the company. . .. .Taha said the chief pilot told El Batouty that he would not be allowed to fly the U.S. route again. The co-pilot's decision to crash the plane "was a matter of revenge," Taha said. . .. ."Rushdy had said [to him], 'This is your last flight,' " Taha said. "And Batouty's attitude was, 'This is the last flight for all of you, too.' " . .. .A high-ranking American official in the investigation, who asked not to be named, agreed. "It was more revenge against Rushdy than just a suicide," the official said. . .. .Federal investigators looking into the co-pilot's personal background said they have been frustrated by EgyptAir's refusal to cooperate. . .. ."It's because of politics," said Bernard Loeb, who recently retired as head of the NTSB's aviation safety office, after supervising much of the Flight 990 investigation. . .. .The importance of support from the regime of Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak in America's fight against Islamic terrorism has made the White House reluctant to press for more cooperation, investigative sources said. . .. .Egyptian officials have complained angrily about a rush to judgment. They argued determinedly, despite a lack of supporting evidence, that there must have been something wrong with the 767. The pilots, they said, were devout Muslims, and no devout Muslim would commit suicide. . .. .The upcoming report will take a "straight up" approach, a federal official said. "It will simply say the first officer did this and this and this. There is no indication that a [mechanical] condition on the airplane resulted in the crash." . .. .In one of its most chilling findings, the report will conclude that El Batouty and Capt. Ahmed El Habashi were working the controls in opposite directions during the final frantic seconds of the fatal dive. El Habashi tried to bring the plane's nose up. El Batouty pushed just as hard in the other direction. . .. .Egyptian authorities will withhold comment until the report is officially released, said a source representing Egyptian aviation interests. American aviation officials say the Egyptians may issue their own formal response, likely to allege problems with the Boeing 767. . .. .Investigators, however, say the emphasis should be not be on the plane, which apparently functioned perfectly, but instead on El Batouty, a co-pilot just three months short of the mandatory retirment age of 60. . .. .Once a highly regarded training officer with the Egyptian Air Force, he was humilated by the loss of respect that came with his acceptance of a secondary role as a copilot with the civilian airline, Taha said. . .. .Transcripts of interviews conducted by federal investigators said El Batouty's second-echelon position, unusual for a pilot his age, had restricted his income at a time when he was beset by increasing financial pressures stemming, in part, from a long-term illness of his daughter. . .. .His image as a faithful husband and devout Muslim were tarnished by continuing accusations of sexual improprities that included exposing himself to teenage girls, propositioning hotel maids and stalking female hotel guests, the transcripts and police reports show. . .. .A few hours before the crash, Rushdy, a senior EgyptAir supervisorial pilot, told El Batouty that because of his sexual misconduct, he would be banned on future trans-Atlantic flights to the United States, according to Taha. . .. .The U.S. flights carry prestige and additional pay because of their extra length. . .. .Outwardly, El Batouty still seemed an easygoing family man, Taha said. But Taha and other colleagues interviewed by investigators said that under a veneer of normality lurked a life of quiet desperation. . .. .Taha, who was interviewed in London where he sought asylum because he feared retribution from Egyptian authorities for speaking to U.S. authorities after the crash, made sweeping accusations of widespread immorality and corruption among those who run EgyptAir, which is owned by the Egyptian government. . .. .Egyptian aviation officials dismiss him as an anti-government, Muslim fanatic. . .. .U.S. officials, apparently reluctant to say anything on the record that might rupture relations with the Mubarak government, said they would not comment publicly. However, transripts of FBI interviews show that many of the questions agents asked Egyptian officials were based on what Taha had told them. . .. .During nine hours of interviews with the Times, Taha provided detailed acounts from inside EgyptAir during the early weeks of the Flight 990 investigation. He said he knew El Batouty well.

[N380UA]

From CNN. .. .....Batouti, who was believed to be at the controls when the aircraft went down..... .. .....said the report will not address Batouti's motives..... .. .Doesn’t sound too convincing to me. There’s no real prove and I wonder why no motives for such an act will be given. . .. ......Batouti, who was heard on the cockpit voice recorder saying, "I put my faith in God," (tawakalt a'ala Allah), repeatedly as the plane went down. ...... .. .I don’t know what I would be saying in such circumstance, a whole lot of cussing for sure but perhaps a prayer or something along the lines of “Oh my god” might be heard – that doesn’t mean I have suicidal tendencies!

[RiverCity]

I suggest a visit to the original thread. As professional and thorough an examination as I have seen anywhere.

[ijp]

The Egyptians will NEVER accept this!

[GlueBall]

N380UA: After all these years you still don't get it? . .. .Get this: It takes two human fingers to pull two (2) spring loaded, lever locked, Fuel & Ignition toggle switches UP and DOWN to shut off both engines! . .. .Got it?

[bugg smasher]

I think many intelligent Egyptians have accepted this already. To admit it publicly, however, would be an unacceptable admission of responsibility. Perhaps, it is hoped, especially in the aftermath of 911, they now begin to question the validity of their own heretofore unshakeable beliefs.

[ijp]

Bug Smasher. .I flew an Egypt Air Contract last year and it seemed the opinion of the "intelligent Egyptian". .that it was a cover up by Boeing and the US Govt.I don't think that this notion will change.

[UNCTUOUS]

Prior Egyptair Threads. .. .<a href="http://www.pprune.org/ubb/NonCGI/Forum1/HTML/009329.html" target="_blank">http://www.pprune.org/ubb/NonCGI/Forum1/HTML/009329.html</a>. .. .<a href="http://clubs.yahoo.com/clubs/aviationsafety" target="_blank">http://clubs.yahoo.com/clubs/aviationsafety</a>

[jetjackel]

What kind of a "rocket scientist" supervisory pilot goes to an outstation and tells an employee he is going to be repremanded and publicly humiliated for his actions, and then sits in the back of the same guys airplane. Sounds like the Supervisor Pilot got "Postaled"

[PAXboy]

It would seem that, if the co-pilot wanted to bring the machine down AND escape blame, he should have waited until the Captain took his NEXT toilet break. Then they would have been over deeper water and less chance of finding the data recorders.

[bugg smasher]

Point taken ijp, I suppose the Egyptair pilot group would be required to take the company line. Lest I be accused of stringing the words ‘pilot’ and ‘intelligence’ together in the same sentence, however, I suspect there exists a group of ‘heretics’ in Egypt that view these events in a somewhat more expansive way. As in any society that aggressively discourages freedom of speech, the enforced entrenchment of certain attitudes necessarily precludes expression of views contrary to popular opinion.. .. .I would be most interested to hear you elaborate on your experiences there. Any Egyptair pilots out there also most welcome to join in the discussion.

[Casper]

Silkair MI 185 Mk II. Pretty well identical.. .. .As for devout Muslims being against "suicide" (read murder), Sept 11 changed that theory forever.

[Shore Guy]

Posted this previously on one of the other EgyptAir threads, but it is worth repeating and worth the (long) read.. .. .<a href="http://www.theatlantic.com/issues/2001/11/langewiesche.htm" target="_blank">http://www.theatlantic.com/issues/2001/11/langewiesche.htm</a>. .. .Perhaps the best written piece on aviation I have seen in a non-avition publication. But then look who the author is - descendant of "Stick and Rudder" fame.