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DATE=10/31/1999 TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT TITLE=CRASH INVESTIGATION (L) NUMBER=2-255662 BYLINE=JIM RANDLE DATELINE=WASHINGTON CONTENT= VOICED AT: INTRO: U-S officials are quickly organizing an investigation into the fate of Egypt Air flight 990 and the more than 200-people on board the plane. V-O- A's Jim Randle reports rescuers, aviation experts, and a salvage ship are expected to converge on the site off the U-S East Coast where the plane was last reported on radar. TEXT: The U-S Coast Guard says it is sending its planes, helicopters, and small ships to the area in the hope of rescuing possible survivors. The lifesaving service says all available units are at sea near the Island of Nantucket, where the aircraft disappeared from radar screens. An additional long- range search plane has been dispatched from a distant base (in North Carolina) and should join the search soon. Coast Guard officers say they routinely press all available military, police, and nearby civilian ships and planes into the effort to find and rescue survivors. Finding out what happened to the Egypt Air flight is the responsibility of the U-S National Transportation Safety Board. The agency dispatches a team of specialists who are expert in aircraft structures, weather, engines, and other matters. The team generally searches first for the two recording devices carried aboard commercial airliners. One preserves cockpit conversations and the other keeps a record of flight data -- things like course, speed and engine settings. These and other clues often help investigators reconstruct the last few moments of the plane's flight and help determine what happened. When planes crash into the sea, investigators face the additional challenge of recovering wreckage from deep water. In past accidents, the U-S Navy has sent salvage ships and large groups of divers to locate debris and help haul it to the surface. Experts then do what they can to fit the pieces back together, as they try to determine whether the plane was lost to mechanical problems, pilot error, or an act of violence. Pentagon officials say they have not been asked to send a salvage ship in this case, but they anticipate such a request and say they will do whatever they can to help. (SIGNED). NEB/JR/RAE 31-Oct-1999 09:32 AM EDT (31-Oct-1999 1432 UTC) NNNN Source: Voice of America .