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
.