The FBI will take a leading role in the investigation of the crash of EgyptAir Flight 990, a source in the office of Rep. Henry Hyde said Monday.
The shift from an accident investigation to the possibility of a criminal case came as new details of the final moments of the flight emerged from a cockpit voice recorder.
Government officials familiar with the recorder tapes said that moments before the Boeing 767 began its plunge into the Atlantic on Oct. 31, the captain left the cabin and his co-pilot began what may have been a prayer. The pilot returned, and, as he opened the cabin door, asked, “What’s going on?”
Then the plane’s autopilot was disconnected. The aircraft began a steep descent, pulled back up and broke up in flight, killing all 217 aboard.
Hyde (R-Ill.), chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, was among congressional leaders informed of the FBI’s role in the investigation following a meeting between National Transportation Safety Board Chairman Jim Hall and FBI Director Louis Freeh.
“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,” Hall said in a news conference Monday.
“I am well-aware of the many rumors, theories and stories circulating in the last 72 hours–indeed, in the last two weeks–about potential causes of this tragedy . . . I am confident that many of the questions we have, you have and the individuals following this investigation around the world have, will be answered,” the chairman said.
A senior administration official, who asked not to be named, said, “It’s fair to say the investigation is looking at the actions of the flight crew.”
Officials stressed that further analysis of the tape and flight data recorder is needed. The tape, in Arabic, began before there were any signs of trouble on the flight.
Officials are moving cautiously, but it is clear that the pace of the investigation is quickening. On Sunday, Hall said no conclusions could be drawn from the cockpit voice tape. Then, less than 24 hours later, Hall hinted that the FBI would assume jurisdiction.
“There is still some question about the reliability of the translation and how one goes about putting this translation in the context of a particular culture,” said the senior administration official. “The body of evidence mandates a closer look at the flight crew.”
Officials are focusing on the plane’s first officer, identified by EgyptAir as Adel Anwar.
Reports from Cairo immediately after the Oct. 31 crash said Anwar had swapped shifts with a fellow pilot to be on that particular flight. He said he was eager to return home to prepare for his wedding.
Immediately after the crash, EgyptAir officials stressed that Anwar had passed routine physical and psychological examinations within the past five months, according to EgyptAir.
The switch to a possible criminal motive in the crash followed the initial playback of the cockpit voice recorder Sunday. After American and Egyptian officials listened to the tape and read a translation, authorities appeared to rule out the possibility that a fight broke out between the plane’s captain, Ahmed el-Habashy, and Anwar.
Safety board officials said the conversation between the two aviators–almost all of it in Arabic–appeared to be friendly during the first 28 minutes of the half-hour-long tape.
The 10-year-old plane was cruising at 33,000 feet half an hour after leaving Kennedy International Airport when the autopilot disengaged, either by itself or by intentional action. The plane soon went into a steep dive, during which the engines were turned off.
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After plunging 3 miles and reaching supersonic speeds, the plane pitched up, then turned downward again and broke up.
Safety board officials said Hall met Monday in Washington with Freeh to discuss the investigation.
Ted Lopatkiewicz, an NTSB spokesman, said the only time the board transferred primary responsibility in a transportation case to the FBI was 12 years ago, when a Pacific Southwest Airlines plane crashed near Los Angeles. The FBI and NTSB eventually concluded that a disgruntled airline worker shot the cockpit crew members, causing the plane to crash and kill all 43 people aboard.
Indonesian investigators are expected to complete their investigation soon into the mysterious crash of a SilkAir flight in Indonesia in 1997. A SilkAir Boeing 737 crashed en route to Jakarta, killing all 104 people on board, and a preliminary report said the jet’s controls had been put into a descent as a possible murder-suicide by the captain, who had been experiencing financial troubles and was disciplined by the airline in the months leading up to the crash.
After the explosion of TWA Flight 800 three years ago, the FBI took over the lead role because of suspicions that a bomb or missile was involved. That investigation, which is still pending, was returned to NTSB investigators, who are trying to pinpoint the ignition of fumes inside the 747’s center fuel tank.