Posted on 03/16/2002 2:46:45 AM PST by nickcarraway
March 16, 2002
EgyptAir Pilot Sought Revenge by Crashing, Co-Worker Said
By MATTHEW L. WALD
WASHINGTON, March 15 — A former EgyptAir pilot told American investigators two years ago that the co-pilot of EgyptAir 990 crashed the plane into the Atlantic Ocean to take revenge on a company executive who had just demoted him and was riding as a passenger, a person involved in the investigation said today.
American aviation investigators say they do not know whether the explanation given by the pilot, which was first reported today in The Los Angeles Times, is true. Since the crash of the Boeing 767, Egyptian officials have argued that there was no evidence that the co-pilot, Gamil al-Batouti, committed suicide.
For their part, American investigators have focused mainly on whether a mechanical flaw caused the crash. They concluded that it did not and now firmly believe that Mr. Batouti deliberately crashed the plane into the Atlantic about 60 miles south of Nantucket, killing himself and all 216 others on board.
The Los Angeles Times said it conducted nine hours of interviews with a former EgyptAir pilot, Hamdi Hanafi Taha, who laid out the revenge motive.
Mr. Taha said that EgyptAir's chief Boeing 767 pilot, Hatem Rushdy, had told Mr. Batouti that he would be taken off the United States route because of accusations of sexual misconduct.
Mr. Taha sought asylum in London a few months after the October 1999 crash, saying he feared persecution in Egypt because of his revelations about the state-owned airline. At that time, Egyptian officials said that Mr. Taha did not have any information about the crash.
American investigators did confirm that Mr. Batouti had been told he was being taken off the route and that Captain Rushdy was a passenger on the flight.
"The thing that was clear was, he did it," said an American official involved in the investigation.
"Why, I don't know that we'll ever know," the official said, "but this is what the defector's story was."
Egyptian investigators might have been able to establish a motive but did not seek to do so, the official said, with the Egyptians saying the cause might be a failure in the system that maintains the plane's nose-up and nose-down attitude.
Removal from the route from Cairo to Los Angeles with a stop in New York, would have been a financial blow for a pilot who was likely to supplement his modest salary by buying consumer goods in the United States and selling them in Egypt.
"That was how these guys made a living," said the American official.
The chairwoman of the National Transportation Safety Board, Marion C. Blakey, said on Thursday that her agency might issue its final report next week. But people at the board say although the report will say the co-pilot crashed the plane, it will not explore his motive.
The second part of your statement is factual. The first part...I cannot fathom, except something out of a UFO story.
The cockpit voice recorder has the murderous pilot saying in Arabic "I have made my decision....."
5 Seconds later, the nose pitches down 20 degress nose low (for a 767, this is a very agressive descent). The only cause for this would be a runaway pitch trim. If that were the case, there are procedure to deal with it.
15 seconds later, the Captain arrives and asks, "What is going on?!!!!" He takes the left seat, and pleads to the the mass murdering co-pilot "PULL WITH ME!!!"
The Mass Murderer Egypt Air pilot responds by turning off the fuel to both engines.
Yup -----bomb in the tail. Sure.
The easiest way is to pull the Fire T-Handle. That usually shuts off fuel, electrics, hydraulics, and bleed air to the engine. You WANT that when you have an engine fire.
You don't want that when you have a psychotic maniac in the right seat.
You have nothing to fear, the FAA has made the skies safe for all by confiscating the toenail clippers of every airline pilot.
To me, the highest probability of finding a motive would be to see if Batouty's familiy is now comfortably well off. A few $100k goes a long way in Egypt. This is within Al Quaida's budget for a project.
Yes, and this will backfire. Their toenails will grow long and can be filed into dangerous weapons. I can just see it now..."Nobody move or the flight attendant gets a big toe in her throat!"
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.