|
EgyptAir
Co-Pilot's Family Rejects U.S. Crash Report
 |
| Egyptair's
co-pilot, late Gameel el-Batouty |
CAIRO,
March 21 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) - A spokesman for the
family of EgyptAir Flight 990 co-pilot Gamil el-Batouty rejected
Thursday the report of U.S. investigators blaming him for the
October 1999 crash that killed all 217 people aboard.
"The
report is not based on any scientific evidence ... We do not accept
the report," Walid el-Batouty, nephew of the co-pilot, told
Agence France-Presse (AFP).
The
report, released Thursday by the National Transportation Safety
Board (NTSB), claimed the Boeing 767 crashed "as a result of
the relief first officer's flight control inputs." It said the
reason for his action "was not determined."
The
NTSB stopped short of endorsing the theory that Batouty deliberately
crashed the plane after taking off from New York's John F. Kennedy
Airport, leaving open the possibility that he tried to evade some
type of danger.
"They
left the word 'suicide' out of the report as a way of pleasing the
Egyptians, but we are not so naive," Walid el-Batouty said.
"What
the Americans have done is to release to the media (the results of
the investigation) before letting the report out. They let the media
eat Batouty alive," the co-pilot's nephew said.
Egyptian
aviation officials, as well as public opinion, reacted strongly
against reports in the U.S. press that investigators were planning
to release a report claiming that Batouty crashed the plane
deliberately.
Some
observers believe the issue of the report was used, among other
issues, as a political card of pressure on the Egyptian government,
especially as far as the Iraqi question is involved.
The
Egyptian government, the Civil Aviation Authority and EgyptAir
vehemently rejected the allegations, saying the co-pilot was a
well-balanced family man and an experienced pilot who could not have
committed suicide.
An
Egyptian aviation official stated in February that Cairo would
contest the results of the report if it determined that Batouty
downed the plane intentionally.
Walid
el-Batouty said U.S. investigators refused to allow their Egyptian
counterparts to examine crucial physical evidence. He suggested that
they acted to protect the reputation of Boeing, maker of the plane,
and U.S. airport security.
He
suggested that other "parties" may have downed the plane
to eliminate Egyptian military officers who were on board.
“The
Americans are trying to divert attention from the fact that this
plane had 33 military officers on board. There are many reasons to
down this plane, not by the pilot, but by other interests,"
Batouty said.
The
NTSB's final report on the incident claimed there was no evidence of
mechanical problems on the Boeing 767.
But
Egypt immediately challenged the report, saying U.S. officials
failed to consider evidence supporting multiple failures in the
elevator control system, which controls the movement of the
aircraft's nose.
"We
believe we owe it to the families of those aboard and to the flying
public to find out what caused this tragic accident," said
Nabil Fahmy, the Egyptian ambassador in Washington.
NTSB
claimed el-Batouty was alone in the cockpit when EgyptAir Flight 990
started its plunge, and made no attempt to stop it.
However,
it did not offer any explanation for the co-pilot's actions.
EgyptAir
last year called on investigators to consider the possibility of an
inherent flaw in design or maintenance procedures of the Boeing 767
flight control system.
But
U.S. investigators discounted problems with the elevator or any
other part of the plane.
"There
was no evidence of any airplane system malfunction, conflicting air
traffic or other event that would have prompted these actions,"
the report claimed.
|
