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
.