NTSB Advisory
National Transportation Safety Board
Washington, DC 20594
January 21, 2000

STATEMENT OF NTSB CHAIRMAN JIM HALL ON EGYPTAIR FLIGHT 990

National Transportation Safety Board Chairman Jim Hall released the following statement today on the crash of EgyptAir Flight 990:

The National Transportation Safety Board and the Egyptian Civil Aviation Authority agreed this week to a plan for further study of the EgyptAir Flight 990 accident. Both agencies believe that operational and aircraft system issues remain for consideration. Plans were drawn for further work in the correlation of voice and data recorders, and for flight simulation at Boeing facilities in Seattle. Additionally, investigators from Egypt and the United States will undertake a review of the Boeing 767 elevator system, examining hydraulic components, studying linkages and breakouts, and undertaking system modeling. Metallurgic examination of engine pylon components is also scheduled, as is additional work in the operational and human performance specialties. No decision has been reached at this point as to whether further wreckage recovery will ultimately be necessary, and both agencies agree that additional work needs to be accomplished before a final decision can be made.

NTSB is disturbed to see that again this week unidentified sources were used as the basis of a news report purporting to have informed knowledge of our work. As is often the case in these matters, the story was wrong. No hypothesis for the cause of this accident has been accepted, and the activities that I have outlined indicate that there is much that still needs to be done before a determination of cause can be reached.

NTSB Press Contact: Keith Holloway, (202)314-6100