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Thursday, ^ovEivmER 18,1999___Page 2
Investigation turns to co-pilot
WASHINGTON (AP) - A relief
co-pilot alone in the EgyptAir cockpit
said, “I made my decision now. I put
my faith in God’s hands” just before
the jetliner began its fatal plunge, offi
cials close to the investigation said
Wednesday.
Moments after the plane began to
dive, the pilot returned to struggle -
futilely - to pull out.
As Egyptian officials won time to
send their own experts to review the
cockpit voice recorder tape, a federal
law enforcement official and other
sources close to the investigation
described the evidence on Wednesday
that led the United States to the verge
of putting the FBI in charge of the
inquiry as a potential criminal matter.
The current theory of the fate of
EgyptAir 990, the Boeing 767 that
plunged into the Atlantic Ocean off
Massachusetts killing 217 people, is
both tentative and incomplete, the law
enforcement official stressed. Further
electronic enhancement of the tape
recording and input from the Egyptian
experts could alter the sketchy under
standing of what went on.
The law enforcement official,
commenting only on condition of
anonymity, and other sources close to
the case gave this account of what
those recorders show:
Relief co-pilot Capt. Gameel el
Batouty, scheduled to take over much
later in the 11-hour New York-to
Cairo flight, enters the cockpit and
asks to fly. His request is accepted.
The cockpit door is opened later,
after which there is no conversation,
leading investigators to conclude el
Batouty is alone.
He says in Arabic: “I made my
decision now. I put my faith in God’s
hands.”
Shortly thereafter, the autopilot is
turned off, and the jet begins to
descend steeply from 33,000 feet.
The cockpit door opens again.
Investigators believe the pilot, Capt.
Ahmed Mahmoud el-Habashy, has
returned because he is heard to ask
what’s going on. They believe he tries
to regain control because he is heard
to say, “Pull with me. Help me. Pull
with me.” There is no sound of strug
gle, but some investigators believe
that phrase is said in an aigumentative
tone.
The National Transportation
Safety Board reported Wednesday
that 35 seconds after the autopilot was
turned off at 33,000 feet, there was an
unusual split in the plane’s elevators:
The pilot’s side elevator moved down,
which would push the nose up, but the
co-pilot’s side elevator was in the
nose-down position. These flaps on
either side of the tail usually move up
«
I made my decision now. I put my faith in
Gods hands .”
Gameel el-Batouty
EgyptAir 998 co-pilot
or down in unison to lower or raise the
plane’s nose.
Boeing has told investigators crew
members must apply 50 pounds of
pressure in opposite directions on the
pilot’s and co-pilot’s control yokes to
achieve this split outcome.
Investigators surmise this may be evi
dence of a struggle between two crew
members over how to respond to the
steep dive.
Also, 35 seconds after the autopi
lot was turned off, the jet’s two
engines were turned off, the NTSB
said Wednesday. The plane then
regained some altitude, stalled and
dropped into the sea 50 seconds after
the autopilot was turned off.
In Egypt, relatives angrily rejected
any notion that el-Batouty planned to
commit suicide, described him as a
loving father of five and denied the
family had financial problems.
Family members said el-Batouty had
just bought two automobile tires in the
United States for his son’s car, and
they believed the tires were on Flight
990.
Married for 27 years, el-Batouty
joined EgyptAir in 1987 after training
pilots at Egypt’s Civil Aviation
Authority and the air force. The 59
year-old aviator had more than 5,000
flight hours in a Boeing 767 and was
to have retired in March.
His 10-year-old daughter, Aya,
suffers from the immune disorder
lupus erythematosis and had been
treated in the United States.
“She was everything to him,” his
brother-in-law Essam Dahi said.
Dahi said el-Batouty was “a man
of experience, honor and, most impor
tantly, faith.” He was Muslim, and it is
strictly against his faith to commit sui
cide, something relatives referred to
amid suggestions el-Batouty might be
responsible for the crash.
■ The storm’s late
appearance mystifies
meteorologists, as it
reaches a Category 4 level.
CHRISTIANSTED, US. Virgin
Islands (AP) - Hurricane Lenny’s
winds climbed to 150 mph
Wednesday after its leading gusts and
rains ripped off roofs, hurled boats
onto shore and flooded homes in
Caribbean islands as it roared toward
the Virgin Islands.
St. Croix and the Virgin Islands
were expected to bear the brunt of the
storm’s fury. Officials warned that the
storm could spawn tornadoes and
drench the islands with up to 15 inch
es of rain.
Hundreds of tourists in the region
were stranded as airlines canceled
flights and airports closed.
Feeding off the warm Caribbean
waters, Lenny’s winds strengthened to
150 mph Wednesday, making it a
Category 4 hurricane capable of
extreme damage. That is 5 mph short
of a Category 5 - the top category.
The storm was about 35 miles
southeast of St. Croix late Wednesday
afternoon, heading northeast at 9
mph. Hurricane winds extended 70
miles from its center and tropical
storm-force winds extended another
205 miles.
Lenny’s lateness in the season and
easterly path left even experienced
observers agape. “It’s unheard of,”
said veteran meteorologist John
Toohey on San Juan’s WOSO-AM
radio. “This is a once-in-a-lifetime
event.”
The storm’s first winds cut power
and telephone service to many St.
Croix homes. It ripped up trees and
debris that blocked roads, kicked up
dangerous waves that battered the
shore and carried a steady rain that
flooded extensive areas hours before
the main impact was expected.
“All through the night the police
were busy helping evacuate a number
of individuals who sought assistance
after their mobile homes and homes in
low-lying areas became threatened by
flood waters,” said Police Chief
Novell Francis.
Battering waves smashed over the
8-foot sea wall at Frederiksted, tore
away the wooden fishermen’s pier and
a small part of the concrete Ann
Abramson Pier where cruise ships
dock. . v :
A curious tourist who went out to
experience the force of the storm was
trapped by battering waves and clung
to a rock outside a beach resort for
more than an hour before divers res
cued him, authorities said.
A half dozen people suffered frac
tures and other injuries when they
were hit by waves on St. Kitts’ con
crete pier. Storm surges in Grenada
swept away four houses, washed away
asphalt roads, damaged runway lights
at the airport and flooded roads and
the business district.
U.S. Virgin Islands Gov. Charles
Turnbull declared a state of emer
gency Tuesday night, installed a cur
few to prevent looting and deployed
the National Guard. He also asked
President Clinton to declare St. Croix
a disaster area, making it eligible for
federal emergency funds.
Officials urged people to be vigi
lant, because most hurricane deaths
occur after a storm passes.
There was one fatality: a man who
fell off a ladder he was using to board
up windows against the storm.
On Tuesday, Lenny passed south
of Haiti and the Dominican Republic,
staying on an unusual west-to-east
course. It then veered northeast,
sparking a last-minute rush at grocery
stores and gas stations throughout the
islands in its path.
Lenny was blamed for damage as
far off as South America.
I :-1
Pakistan
curbing
corruption
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan (AP) -
The military government rounded up
hundreds of Pakistan’s most powerful
and wealthy people Wednesday, mak
ing good on its promise to try and rid
the country’s political ranks of rampant
corruption.
The raids - which brought in
landowners, industrialists, athletes and
politicians from all parties - began
hours after a deadline expired for
debtors to repay loans or face charges.
According to Pakistan television,
$ 138 million had been recovered when
the deadline expired - just 3 percent of
the estimated $4 billion outstanding.
Soldiers in green army Jeeps roared
up to the palatial home of Nawaz
Kokhar, a member of former Prime
Minister Benazir Bhutto’s party, on the
outskirts of Islamabad to arrest him.
He was just one of hundreds taken
in during army Chief Gen. Pervez
Musharraf’s crackdown on corruption,
which he promised to carry out last
month after seizing power in a blood
less coup.
There were conflicting reports on
the exact number of arrests, birt pofice
and intelligence officials said the
nationwide raids brought in as many as
450 people. An official statement
named 21 people who were arrested.
Deposed Prime Minister Nawaz
Sharif and his brother, Shahbaz Sharif,
were among those charged, though the
family reportedly repaid nearly $6 mil
lion in loans by die Tuesday deadline.
The former prime minister, who has
been in army custody since his Oct 12
ouster, had earlier been accused of trea
son and hijacking. He was handed over
to police late Wednesday, and within 24
hours was due in court to be formally
qharged. If convicted of either charge,
he £$uld face the death penalty or life
■ Washington
Clinton agrees to cut
agency spending
WASHINGTON (AP) -
President Clinton has agreed to a
small across-the-board cut in
agency spending, House Speaker
Dennis Hastert said Wednesday,
and Republicans hope to quickly
complete bargaining on a near
$400 billion budget package.
Hastert, R-Ill., had two late
night telephone calls with Clinton,
who is in Turkey, finally agreeing
with him on a 0.38 percent reduc
tion in agency spending planned
for this year. A fight over the pro
posal has been a hindrance to com
pleting a budget deal.
Hastert said Clinton told him
that before he could finalize the
agreement, he would first have to
speak to House Minority Leader
Dick Gephardt, D-Mo.
■ Turkey
Survivor found in Turkey
four days after quake
DUZCE, Turkey (AP) - Four
days after being buried in rubble
by a devastating earthquake, a
woman was pulled barely con
scious from the remains of her
apartment house Wednesday, even
as rescuers prepared to end their
search for survivors.
Sefa Cebeci, 42, was buried
105 hours in a mountain of crum
bled concrete that was once a six
story building. Discovered by
Israeli rescuers and ferried by heli
copter to Istanbul, 130 miles to the
west, she faced amputation of her
crushed right arm and was fighting
for her life.
■ Netherlands
Rwanda urged to resume
cooperation with U.N.
- THE HAGUE, Netherlands
(AP) - A U.N. prosecutor urged
Rwanda to resume cooperation
with a U.N. international tribunal
on Wednesday, calling the recent
release of a genocide suspect “a
hiccup” in the judicial process.
Rwanda suspended coopera
tion in protest after an appeals
chamber in The Hague ordered
Jean-Bosco Barayagwiza, a top
Hutu official accused in the 1994
Rwandan genocide, to be released
on procedural grounds.
Nevertheless, Deputy
Prosecutor Graham Blewitt said he
expected “a working relationship”
to emerge during the two-week
visit to Rwanda and Tanzania by
chief prosecutor, Carla del Ponte.
■ Washington
t Government says Y2K
could cost country billions
WASHINGTON (AP) - The
government pinned a $100 billion
price tag Wednesday on the
nation’s repair bills for the Year
2000 technology problem, or $365
for each man, woman and child.
For all that, the Commerce
Department predicted the impact
of Y2K computer failures on the
economy would be merely “some
thing like a tangled shoelace for a
world-class marathon runner.”
In a new report, the govern
ment said America’s booming
economy was sufficiently/’stable,
large and resilient” that failures
will not seriously affect the
nation’s gross domestic product.