Thursday January 20 1:24 PM ET

Probers: EgyptAir Crash Deliberate

By DAVID RISING Associated Press Writer

NORTH KINGSTOWN, R.I. (AP) - Weeks after the last pile of debris from EgyptAir 990 was pulled from the sea, investigators say they are more convinced than ever of their original theory: The jet was crashed deliberately.

The examination of the shattered Boeing 767, some 70 percent of which was recovered from the ocean floor, has revealed no signs of a mechanical failure that would have caused the plane to plummet 40 minutes into its 11-hour flight, according to three officials close to the investigation who spoke on condition of anonymity.

``Everything leads everyone to believe that the plane was mechanically sound and it was doing what it was supposed to,'' one government official told The Associated Press. ``There's just no smoking gun'' to indicate mechanical failure.

The National Transportation Safety Board has said there are no plans to reconstruct the aircraft, which speaks volumes about the investigation, experts said.

``I think they're fairly convinced they know what happened based on the radar data, flight data and voice data,'' said Barry Schiff, a TWA pilot for 34 years who instructed trainees on the Boeing 767 and now serves as an aviation safety consultant.

Investigators have said the cockpit voice recorder contained some utterance, perhaps a prayer, before the plane went into its fatal plunge. But Schiff said the flight and radar data alone make it clear someone forced the aircraft down Oct. 31 off the Massachusetts island of Nantucket, killing all 217 aboard.

``My feelings and conclusions are based on the factual data made available through various sources, and to me it seems rather compelling that is what happened,'' Schiff said.

The NTSB's working theory remains the plane was sent into a nose dive by relief co-pilot Gamil El-Batouty, who took control of the aircraft shortly after takeoff from New York's Kennedy Airport, according to two officials close to the investigation.

The FBI has been involved from the start and has uncovered no evidence of terrorism or conspiracy, according to one of the federal officials.

EgyptAir and El-Batouty's family have angrily rejected the theory of an intentional crash.

``If the pilots were American would they dare to say the same things?'' El Batouty's nephew, Walid El-Batouty, told The Associated Press in an interview last week in Egypt. ``We've been shattered, humiliated and accused.''

EgyptAir chairman Mohamed Fahim Rayan said in Cairo that the plane's nearly sonic-speed descent was the result of ``something happening'' in the tail apparatus.

Jim Danaher, who retired as an NTSB supervisor in 1998 after 28 years, said recovering debris from the crash was important to rule out any other possibilities. But he said that reassembling the plane is unnecessary given the other evidence.

``You can take all sorts of oddball hypotheses to make the scenario different than the one that is pretty obvious,'' Danaher said. ``I think that is contributing to the board's lack of need to gather up and assemble every piece of the thing - the pieces won't tell you anything to counter that theory.''

The families of the victims have been told to expect an update from the NTSB in mid-February.

Capt. Walid Morad, chairman of the Egyptian Airline Pilots Association, said he would not reach any conclusions until U.S. investigators - aided by Egyptian experts - issue a final report.

``We will only consider documents like the final report of this accident,'' Morad said. ``Something that is proven. ... There should be evidence.''

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