DATE=11/15/1999
TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT
TITLE=EGYPTAIR INVESTIGATION UPDATE (S&L)
NUMBER=2-256202
BYLINE=NICK SIMEONE
DATELINE=WASHINGTON
CONTENT=
VOICED AT:
INTRO: The chairman of the National Transportation
Safety Board says he is confident investigators will
find out what caused the crash of EgyptAir flight 990.
V-O-A's Nick Simeone reports the N-T-S-B is reviewing
the plane's cockpit voice recorder looking for clues
to the October 31st crash, which killed all 217 people
on board.
TEXT: Federal air safety investigators continue to
hope that flight 990's voice recorder containing
conversations between the pilot and his crew --
mostly in Arabic -- will help them determine why the
Cairo-bound Boeing 767 plunged into the cold waters
off the Massachusetts coast.
But sources close to the investigation say nothing
heard on the tape so far explains why the plane's
autopilot and two engines would shut down, or why the
jet went into a nosedive, climbed again, and then
crashed into the Atlantic.
Theories about the cockpit crew possibly struggling
with an intruder or perhaps some act of sabotage on
board do not appear to be supported by the evidence
seen so far. This means resolving the cause of the
crash might require an exhaustive examination of
wreckage from the ocean floor.
/// REST OPT FOR LONG ///
But National Transportation Safety Board Chairman Jim
Hall is not ruling out sabotage, in which case the
investigation would become criminal in nature and
would be turned over to the FBI.
/// HALL ACT ///
We are concentrating our efforts on determining
from the evidence, including the cockpit voice
recorder, whether or not this investigation is
to remain under the leadership of the National
Transportation Safety Board.
/// END ACT ///
Efforts to recover plane wreckage are on hold because
of rough seas off the coast of Nantucket Island. But
from the bits of the aircraft already dredged up,
nothing so far explains the mystery of EgyptAir flight
990. (Signed)
NEB/NJS/TVM/gm
15-Nov-1999 17:41 PM EDT (15-Nov-1999 2241 UTC)
NNNN
Source: Voice of America
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