STATEMENT OF NTSB CHAIRMAN JIM HALL
ON EGYPTAIR FLIGHT 990 COCKPIT VOICE RECORDER

National Transportation Safety Board Chairman Jim Hall released the following statement this evening:

The cockpit voice recorder from EgyptAir flight 990, which crashed into the Atlantic Ocean on October 31, arrived at the National Transportation Safety Board's headquarters building in Washington, D.C. at approximately 1:00 this afternoon.  It had been retrieved from the ocean's bottom by the United States Navy at about 10:30 yesterday evening, and flown to Andrews Air Force Base in suburban Maryland by Navy helicopter.

The device is a Fairchild A-100 cockpit voice recorder.  The recording medium - a magnetic tape - was cleaned and checked for damage that may have been incurred as a result of impact forces and its two-week immersion in the ocean.  The tape was found to be in good condition and it provided approximately 31 ½ minutes of data.

The tape was reviewed by American and Egyptian officials, including representatives from the Federal Bureau of Investigation.  No conclusions could be drawn from their initial reviews.

A Cockpit Voice Recorder Group, directed by the National Transportation Safety Board and including representatives from Egypt, the Federal Aviation Administration, Boeing Aircraft and Pratt & Whitney Engines, will convene tomorrow to begin a thorough review.  One key task of the CVR Group will be the correlation of CVR and FDR timing.

Further information will be released later as it becomes available.

NTSB Public Affairs Office: (202) 314-6100