EGYPTAIR 990: STILL NO ANSWERS

November 15, 1999
		National Transportation Safety Board investigators still have no clear answer as to what caused the crash of EgyptAir Flight 990. -- Posted 4:45pm ET

Nov. 10, 1999: The flight data recorder details the last moments of Egypt Air Flight 990. Nov. 2, 1999: The dangers of search and recovery in the EgyptAir crash Nov. 1, 1999: EgyptAir 990 crashes into the Atlantic   EgyptAir National Transportation Safety Board Aviation Safety Network Federal Aviation Administration

According to preliminary reports, a review of the flight's cockpit voice recorder, recovered from the wreckage off the coast of Massachusetts' Nantucket Island late Saturday, has yielded no explanation for why the airliner plunged out of the sky Oct. 31. In a press conference Monday afternoon, NTSB Chairman Jim Hall said investigators were working to combine information from the cockpit voice recorder and the flight data recorder for a more complete look at what happened to EgyptAir Flight 990. Though rumors circulated throughout the weekend that either a botched hijacking or an intentional pilot error could have downed the Boeing 767, investigators said neither theory had been proved conclusively. Hall said investigators were also working to decide whether a criminal act was the cause of the crash. "I'm well aware of the many rumors, theories and stories circulating in the last 72 hours…about potential causes of this tragedy," Hall said. "We are concentrating our efforts on determining from the evidence…whether or not this investigation is to remain under the leadership of the NTSB." The FBI has also reviewed the tapes and, according to an FBI official who talked with the AP, that agency would take the lead in the investigation if reviewers determine a crime occurred. Although they have not determined what did down the plane, after reviewing the nearly 32 minutes of tape over the weekend, the NTSB has reportedly started ruling on what did not cause the crash. According to a source quoted by the Associated Press, the pilot and co-pilot of the plane were fixing something and talking "like pals" before the crash. The source says the tape provides no apparent evidence of an intruder in the cockpit or of any fighting among the crew. EgyptAir Flight 990 was en route from New York to Cairo when it crashed into the Atlantic, killing all 217 people aboard. Hall said a Cockpit Voice Recorder Group, including representatives from Egypt, the Federal Aviation Administration, Boeing Aircraft and Pratt & Whitney Engines and directed by the NTSB, would meet today to begin an in-depth review of the tapes. The plane's flight data recorder, recovered five days earlier, showed that the plane's autopilot was switched off and the plane went into a nosedive so steep that passengers would have experienced weightlessness for 20 seconds. The data recorder showed no mechanical reason for why the plane fell from an altitude of 33,000 feet. "We're certainly hopeful that within the next two or three days we'll be able to answer a lot of the puzzling questions that information on the flight data recorder has raised in our minds," Hall said on NBC's "Meet the Press" Sunday.