Word: egyptair
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...plane about to plunge headlong into the ocean. But given the history - amplified, and sometimes simplified, by the media and the movies - of terrorists claiming to be inspired by Islam, it could also signal a motive for what is now suspected of having been the criminal downing of EgyptAir Flight 990. The NTSB Tuesday was set to hand over the investigation of the crash to the FBI, believing that the final cockpit conversations on the Boeing 767's voice-data recorder indicate that a crew member may have been responsible for the flight's demise. Handing the case over...
...stopping a plane during an aborted takeoff--they can be deadly if accidentally deployed in flight. In 1991 a thrust reverser on a Lauda Air Boeing 767 deployed in midair, sending the plane into a death plunge over Thailand. That jet was No. 283 on Boeing's assembly line. EgyptAir Flight 990 was jet No. 282. In the two months before the crash, the FAA took steps to require airlines to make two fixes in the thrust reversers used on 767 engines, including one to prevent the accidental deployment of a disabled reverser. One of Flight 990's thrust reversers...
Disasters such as TWA Flight 800 have exposed the folly of assuming the worst: terrorism. Still, EgyptAir has a track record: in 1985 Palestinian terrorists hijacked one of its planes to Malta, resulting in 60 deaths, and just three weeks ago, a hijacker forced another plane to fly to Germany. To enhance security, two armed guards usually fly aboard EgyptAir flights. There were no such guards on Flight 990. Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak hastened to dismiss sabotage, but the Egyptian government's war against Islamic militants cannot be discounted...
There will probably be no clear verdict for months on what caused the demise of EgyptAir 990. That uncomfortable reality left many seeking explanations that sometimes bordered on the absurd. EgyptAir chairman Mohammed Fahim Rayan seemed ready to subscribe to a "new Bermuda Triangle theory"--namely that there is a curse on aircraft traveling up the Eastern seaboard of the U.S., a graveyard that now contains the remains not only of John F. Kennedy Jr. but also of some of the passengers and crew aboard TWA Flight 800. No less than Mubarak himself seemed taken with the theory, urging...
...EgyptAir 990 is showing signs of going the way of TWA 800 - a mysterious disaster whose investigation produces no answers, only forensically guided hypotheses. Hopes that the cockpit voice recorder would unlock the mystery appear to have been dashed Monday, as sources close to the investigation indicated that the tape provided no answers. Evidence from the first "black box" had established that the Boeing 767's engines were turned off at 33,000 feet, precipitating a plunge of 16,000 feet in just 40 seconds before the plane steeply climbed for a mile and a half and then finally plunged...