DATE=11/12/1999
TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT
TITLE=EGYPTAIR-POSSIBLE CAUSES-UPDATE (L)
NUMBER=2-256118
BYLINE=NICK SIMEONE
DATELINE=WASHINGTON
CONTENT=
VOICED AT:
INTRO: Better weather off the coast of Massachusetts
is allowing the U-S Navy to resume the search for the
cockpit voice recorder from the crash of Egyptair
flight 990. Earlier this week, the plane's flight
data recorder was pulled from the wreckage off the
ocean floor. But Federal investigators say the
information it contains failed to solve the mystery
about what caused the Boeing 767 to plunge into the
Atlantic on a flight from New York to Cairo, killing
all 217 people on board. Correspondent Nick Simeone
brings us up to date on where the investigation
stands.
TEXT: Nearly two weeks after the crash, nothing
investigators have found explains why flight 990 lost
altitude at 33-thousand feet. Egyptair pilots radioed
no distress call to ground controllers and the bits of
wreckage recovered so far point to no sign of
sabotage.
The National Transportation Safety Board has now
reviewed most of the flight's cockpit data recorder.
It indicates the plane's two engines appeared to lose
oil pressure and then shut down. N-T-S-B Chairman Jim
Hall says the cockpit instrument panel also lit up
with a warning to the crew of a potentially major
problem with the aircraft.
/// HALL ACT ///
We, at this point in the investigation of course
are not ruling in or ruling out anything until
we continue the final analysis of the flight
data recorder information and hopefully are able
to compare that with the information we get off
the cockpit voice recorder.
/// END ACT ///
What is known at this stage is that for some reason,
the flight's autopilot was disconnected after the
plane reached cruising altitude, and the aircraft then
appeared to make a controlled descent. Learning why
the autopilot was switched off could go a long way
toward finding the cause of the crash. Jim McKenna is
transport and safety editor at Aviation Week Magazine.
/// MCKENNA ACT ///
With the autopilot disconnected, the two options
would seem to be some kind of system failure for
which they have no indication yet or an
intentional effort by the pilots to descend by
pushing the control column forward. Then the
question becomes, why would the pilots have done
that on what seems to be an otherwise perfectly
functioning airplane? And this is why it makes
it all the more critical now that the
investigators recover the cockpit voice recorder
and that it be functioning properly throughout
the remainder of that flight so that they can
hear the pilots' conversations and the
background noises in the cockpit to get a better
understanding of why.
/// END ACT ///
Aviation experts speculate that something may have
happened on board the plane to cause the pilot to
reduce altitude, perhaps in response to a sudden drop
in cabin pressure. What members of the cockpit crew
said to each other during the final moments of the
flight could tell investigators much about whether the
crash of flight 990 was caused by mechanical failure,
pilot error or an act of sabotage.
/// MCKENNA ACT ///
It's certainly possible that there could have
been something that caused the cabin
decompression, either a structural failure or
the detonation of a bomb someplace on the
airplane that punched a hole in the side of the
aircraft. But again, we're left with N-T-S-B
Chairman Jim Hall's comments of the other day in
which he said the flight appeared to be normal
up until the point that the autopilot
disconnected.
/// END ACT ///
If the flight's voice recorder is recovered in good
condition, investigators could have answer to these
questions within hours. If not, the search for what
caused the crash of EgyptAir flight 990 could go on
for months, if not years. (SIGNED)
NEB/NJS/JP
12-Nov-1999 18:25 PM EDT (12-Nov-1999 2325 UTC)
NNNN
Source: Voice of America
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