The EgyptAir Flight 990 cockpit voice recorder

December 8, 1999
Web posted at: 9:14 a.m. EST (1414 GMT)

In this story: Phrase uttered 'multiple times' Transcript might not be released RELATED STORIES, SITES

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Two sources familiar with the investigation into the crash of EgyptAir Flight 990 tell CNN that a recently completed transcript of remarks made on the cockpit voice recorder does not alter the National Transportation Safety Board's theory that the plane could have been deliberately crashed.

U.S. and Egyptian investigators have been working with the tape to transcribe it from Arabic to English and establish what was said in the moments before the Boeing 767 crashed into the Atlantic, killing all 217 people aboard.

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Relief copilot Gameel el-Batouty is allegedly heard requesting or offering to take the cockpit controls about a half-hour after the flight departed from New York, the sources told CNN.

The salvage ship Smit Pioneer arrived in Rhode Island and is preparing to begin recovery of debris from the crash site

Phrase uttered 'multiple times'

El-Batouty is allegedly heard uttering a religious phrase before a series of unexplained cockpit maneuvers: The airplane's autopilot is turned off, the plane heads downward, the elevators go in different directions and the engines are allegedly turned off.

The sources spoke on condition of anonymity. They said that the phrase "I put my faith in God's hands" was uttered "multiple times." They emphasize that the voice recorder information, by itself, is not conclusive, and they acknowledge that there has been considerable debate about whether the phrase is benign.

The sources said the NTSB thesis that the plane was deliberately crashed is built primarily on analysis of the flight data recorder, which provided a portrait of what was happening at the controls. The voice recorder was useful in terms of helping establish who might have been at the helm.

U.S. officials told the New York Times last month that they believe el-Batouty, 59, "pull(ed) rank" on copilot Adel Anwar, 36, in order to take the copilot out of his seat shortly before the crash.

Transcript might not be released

MESSAGE BOARD EgyptAir crash    VIDEO Correspondent Carl Rochelle reports on the completion of the official transcript of the EgyptAir Flight 990 cockpit voice recordings (December 7) Real 28K 80K Windows Media 28K 80K

Egyptian sources said Tuesday that data from the flight data recorder had been synchronized with the sounds made on the voice recorder. That allows investigators to know what was happening to the plane when the remarks were being made.

National Transportation Safety Board Chairman James Hall has said he will likely characterize the information on the voice recorder, but may not release the transcript to the public.

In other developments:

• Two pilots and two engineers from EgyptAir left Washington for Seattle, where data from the flight recorder will be used in a Boeing simulator to re-create the final moments of the flight.

• A deep-water salvage ship, which will recover crash wreckage, has arrived in Newport, Rhode Island. The Smit Pioneer, usually used in the construction of off-shore oil rigs, will be loaded with special equipment to help in the recovery effort. By Thursday, the vessel is expected to be in position at the crash site, approximately 60 miles south of Nantucket Island, Massachusetts.

Correspondent Carl Rochelle contributed to this report.

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