News

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 .