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Nando Times

Findings cast doubt on suicide theory in EgyptAir crash, magazine reports

By RANDOLPH E. SCHMID, Associated Press

WASHINGTON (June 14, 2000 4:18 p.m. EDT http://www.nandotimes.com) - New findings from the flight data recorder of EgyptAir Flight 990 reportedly cast doubt on the theory that the crash, which killed all 217 aboard, was caused deliberately by a suicidal pilot.

An article on the magazine Aviation Week's Internet site says the new data is included in the accident's docket, a set of detailed reports prepared on every aspect of a crash. It is part of the public record and the docket on the EgyptAir case is expected to be released by the end of July.

The National Transportation Safety Board, which is investigating the crash and preparing the docket, has not reached any official conclusion about the cause of the disaster. NTSB officials declined to comment on the magazine report.

The Oct. 31 crash into the Atlantic Ocean occurred off the Massachusetts island of Nantucket. Among the dead were 101 Americans. The plane took off from New York's JFK International Airport, then went into a dive and plunged into the sea shortly after a co-pilot took the controls and disconnected the autopilot.

The suicide theory quickly surfaced with reports that the pilot in question had uttered a prayer just before the crash.

But the suicide theory has been hotly disputed by Egyptian authorities who continue to press for further investigation into the possibility of mechanical failure.

As recently as June 4, Egyptian officials sent a letter to the Federal Aviation Administration raising the possibility of problems with the elevator of the Boeing 767. The elevator is a pair of small wing-like surfaces at the tail of the plane which control the up-or-down angle of the nose.

"It is known that the maneuver preceding the crash began with an abrupt elevator deflection. Thus, the Egyptian Investigation Team is interested in pursuing the cause of the reported control system discrepancies," wrote A. V. M. Abdelfattah Kato, head of the Egyptian Civil Aviation Authority.

NTSB Chairman Jim Hall has testified before Congress that, while the cause of the crash remains undetermined, the movements of the plane were "consistent with a deliberate action on the part of one of the crew members." Hall said his agency is recommending that video recorders be installed in the cockpits of commercial airplanes to help answer such questions.

The flight data show the plane's elevators were uneven during the rapid descent, indicating a major problem. The elevators are designed to operate in unison. Investigators are trying to determine if the split was caused by the plane's breakup, a jamming problem in one of the elevators, crew panic, or even a struggle for control by two people in the cockpit.

The Aviation Week article says a follow-up analysis of the flight data recorder indicates that the split-elevator readings came when the 767 was traveling well beyond the aircraft's designed maximum operating speed - possibly close enough to the speed of sound to create a physical anomaly that could cause the elevators to split without any input from the cockpit.

It quoted experts as saying that the recorders are not designed to collect data at such speeds, meaning any readings during that part of Flight 990's descent could be unreliable.

The article said the information from the flight data recorders indicates either abnormal forces acting on the plane or abnormalities in the recorders themselves.

"The (flight data recorder) indicated abnormal flight control surface deflections at that instant, including movements of the 767's outboard ailerons," the article quotes experts as saying.

Ailerons are panels on the back side of each wing that move up and down and which are used to raise or lower the wings, tilting the plane left or right.

"Those ailerons ... should not have been movable at the speed that Flight 990 was traveling," the experts said in the article.

-- Rachel Gibson (rgibson@hotmail.com), June 14, 2000


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