the bathroom, his older copilot Gamil el-Batouti—
presumably alone in the cockpit—performed irra-
tional maneuvers such as disconnecting the autopi-
lot and thus putting the aircraft under manual
control, cutting back on the throttle and then shut-
ting down the engines altogether, and pushing the
control yoke forward to put the plane into a dive. As
he did so, he repeatedly intoned in Arabic the equiv-
alent of “I rely on Allah.” Apparently, when Habashi
returned to the cockpit as the plane was plummet-
ing, he asked why Batouti had shut off the engines.
Habashi sought his help to pull back the control
yoke to level the plane, but Batouti did the opposite.
At first, according to the instrument recorder, the
plane leveled off at 24,000 feet. It seemed to stall, but
then resumed its dive before hitting the water.
Because of the tense political context, the final
NTSB report avoided terms like “criminal act” or
“suicide,” settling for a more muted “pilot interven-
tion” as the cause of the crash. Still, Cairo insisted on
mechanical malfunction or a bomb on board or a
missile as a possible cause, stressing that devout Mus-
lims like the first officer would not commit suicide
for personal reasons any more than he had any ties
to terrorism. Rather, the Egyptians hinted at anti-
Arab and anti-Muslim bias.
Anecdotes and Unanswered Questions Some two
dozen interviews with many who knew Batouti
helped to form a composite but contradictory image
of the copilot. It seems that Batouti, once a highly re-
garded flight-training instructor in the Egyptian air
force who had attained the rank of major, had felt
humiliated at having to accept a secondary role as
copilot while younger men were already captains en-
joying much higher pay. Others, however, reported
that the copilot had been averse to applying for the
promotion he felt coming to him, given his reluc-
tance to accept greater responsibility and his uncer-
tain command of English, the international lan-
guage of air traffic.
Then there were stories about how Batouti, while
from an affluent family, nevertheless was experienc-
ing financial difficulties that led him to borrow
money from various sources. One reason proposed
was the expenses consequent on the care his ten-
year-old daughter was receiving at the Los Angeles
Medical Center for her lupus condition. Addi-
tionally, according to the testimony of an EgyptAir
pilot who had unsuccessfully sought political asylum
in Britain, Batouti had recently been reprimanded
for alleged sexual misconduct at New York’s Pennsyl-
vania Hotel, where a set of rooms was retained for
EgyptAir personnel. Reportedly, his boss had threat-
ened to delist the copilot from future flights to New
York, which, because of the long distance, came with
bonus pay for the crew. According to this informa-
tion, the crash involved revenge, since that particu-
lar chief pilot was also on board the doomed flight.
There were more questions about these allega-
tions than answers. For instance, the fifty-nine-year-
old Batouti was three months away from mandatory
retirement, which he had planned. On the other
hand, why did Batouti, scheduled as a member of
the relief crew, which customarily takes over mid-
flight while the primary crew performs the takeoff
and landing, insist on doing his stint early in the
flight rather than wait for his shift a few hours later?Impact The investigation and many tests at Egypt’s
insistence cost several million dollars. Besides the
political controversy, there was another dimension
to the crash and its investigation. EgyptAir had pur-
chased many American Boeing aircraft for its fleet,
and it would not have been good business to antago-
nize an American ally and major client. Still, U.S.-
Egyptian relations did not heal for quite some time.Further Reading
Langewiesche, William. “The Crash of EgyptAir
990.”The Atlantic Monthly, November, 2001, 41-52.
Thorough reportage by a former working pilot
discounting Egypt’s objections to the NTSB’s fi-
nal report.
Malnic, Eric, et al. “EgyptAir Co-Pilot Caused ’99
Crash, NTSB to Say.”Los Angeles Times, March 15,
2002, p. A1. Factual and anecdotal coverage of
the cause, leaning toward the NTSB’s account.
Pipes, Daniel. “EgyptAir Probe Uncovers Anti-Amer-
icanism.”The Wall Street Journal, November 24,
1999, p. A18. Inclined to believe conspiracy theo-
ries, the Egyptian airline, government, media,
and public are receptive to seeing the hand of
Israel, Jews, and their American allies behind the
“hit” of Flight 990.
Peter B. HellerSee also Airline industry; Terrorism; TWA Flight
800 crash; ValuJet Flight 592 crash.292 EgyptAir Flight 990 crash The Nineties in America