November 17, 1999
Web posted at: 12:31 a.m. EST (0531 GMT)

In this story: No sign of mechanical or weather problem Linguistic subtleties slow probe NTSB praises Egypt for investigation help Egyptian diplomat warns against hasty conclusions Plane was pushed in opposite directions RELATED STORIES, SITES

VIDEO CNN's Ben Wedeman reports that many people in Egypt are convinced the cause of the crash was not mechanical Windows Media 28K 80K What do investigators hope to learn from the cockpit voice recorder? CNN's Carl Rochelle has the answer. (November 15) QuickTime Play Real 28K 80K Windows Media 28K 80K    CNN NEWSSTAND CNN NewsStand focuses on the crash of EgyptAir Flight 990 Investigators say they have found no sign of mechanical or weather related problems that could explain the crash of EgyptAir Flight 990 QuickTime Play Real 28K 80K Windows Media 28K 80K How airline safety measures are determined Real 28K 80K Windows Media 28K 80K CNN talks with a doctor who ensures that pilots are healthy enough to fly Real 28K 80K Windows Media 28K 80K Lessons learned from air disasters of the past Real 28K 80K Windows Media 28K 80K Safety standards of international airlines Real 28K 80K Windows Media 28K 80K How to check an airline's safety record Real 28K 80K Windows Media 28K 80K     ALSO Conspiracy theories abound in Cairo about EgyptAir Flight 990 Egyptians skeptical about theory that pilot may have caused EgyptAir crash     MESSAGE BOARD Plane crashes

From staff and wire reports

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- The National Transportation Safety Board plans to keep command of the probe of the crash of EgyptAir Flight 990 at least until the agency can consult with additional experts that Cairo is sending to Washington to review the flight data and cockpit voice recorders, the head of the NTSB said Tuesday evening.

"It is only prudent for the NTSB to consult with these experts and officials to fully evaluate this information prior to any final decision on whether the responsibility for this investigation should transfer to the Federal Bureau of Investigation," NTSB Chairman Jim Hall said.

Hall also said he met Tuesday "with FBI Director Louis Freeh, and he fully concurs in this course of action."

According to its charter, the NTSB serves as the lead investigative body for transportation accidents, unless there is evidence of a crime.

The FBI has jurisdiction over destruction of an aircraft and crimes committed aboard an aircraft.

One government source told CNN this development on the control of the investigation should be "viewed as a postponement, not a change in plans."

The NTSB chief said two possible causal factors had all but been eliminated.

"Based on the evidence we have seen thus far -- the flight data recorder, the cockpit voice recorder, radar data and the small bits of wreckage that have been recovered -- we have found, so far, no sign of a mechanical or weather-related event that could have caused this accident," Hall said.

But Hall said he and Freeh agreed that more evidence is needed before the investigation becomes a criminal probe.

Suspicions of a possible criminal element were raised by a religious utterance on the cockpit voice recorder shortly before the plane began its dive toward the ocean.

Different interpretations of what that utterance or prayer means may have led to the delay in the change of command of the investigation, sources said.

About 30 minutes after takeoff, when the plane was cruising normally at 33,000 feet (10,058 meters), one of the pilots may have left the cockpit, according to the cockpit voice recorder.

Someone in the cockpit, apparently in the co-pilot's seat, then spoke a prayer, a U.S. official said. The Boeing 767's autopilot was turned off moments later.

The aircraft went into a steep dive, and the engines were cut back and then shut off. At one point, a voice said to pull up the plane.

The conversations are in Arabic, and linguists, including some from the CIA, disagree on whether the religious utterance suggested a criminal intention or was benign in nature, a government official said.

Arabic speakers, particularly Egyptians, commonly make references to God in everyday statements.

The flight data recorder also showed the plane's elevators, the two horizontal flaps on the plane's tail that move down or up in unison to raise or lower the plane's nose, were at different angles during the descent

Cairo is sending teams of technical experts to the United States this week to "pool their knowledge and information (with the NTSB) to help get to the next steps" in the investigation, said State Department Spokesman James Rubin.

Those teams are due to arrive Wednesday and Thursday.

Rubin said the dispatching of the teams should not be characterized as an attempt by the Egyptian government to block the expected handover of the investigation from the NTSB to the FBI.

On Tuesday, Hall repeatedly expressed his thanks to Cairo for its aid in the investigation.

"The strong partnership between our countries in this investigation can only strengthen the possibility that the final cause of this tragic crash can be determined," he said.

Even if one or more of the pilots was to blame, U.S. officials stressed there is no evidence the crash was an act of terrorism.

But the officials said investigators are checking the backgrounds of the crew and passengers for any connections with terrorist or Islamic fundamentalist groups.

Egyptian Ambassador Nabil Fahmy says it would be incomplete to try to interpret a cryptic utterance heard on the cockpit voice recorder.

Fahmy, taking questions Tuesday at a policy forum on Mideast issues in Washington, confirmed he had been briefed by U.S. officials on the contents of the tape.

But he refused to analyze what was said, pending more information. "If you wait five more hours, you have a more complete picture, and it tells you, well you should rule out this one and move towards another," Fahmy said.

He added, "Whether I know what was said, yes. Whether I'm going to indulge you with this, I'm sorry, I am not."

In addition to the disconnected autopilot, the flight data recorder has shown that the plane's elevators -- the two horizontal flaps on the plane's tail that move down or up to raise or lower the plane's nose -- were at different angles during the descent, indicating a major problem.

The elevators are designed to operate in unison. Investigators are trying to determine if the elevator split was caused by two people struggling for control in the cockpit, the plane's breakup, a jamming problem in one of the elevators, or crew panic.

In addition to the efforts of the translators, other investigators are trying to match information from the cockpit voice recorder with the flight data recorder and radio transmissions between the plane and ground controllers.

Investigators are working to correlate all these sequences and others in a timeline.

During Tuesday's briefing, Hall said the government would hire a private salvage firm to retrieve human remains and the airplane wreckage from the ocean floor. He said officials were particularly interested in the cockpit.

Correspondents Pierre Thomas, Carl Rochelle , John King and The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.

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