The crash of a Boeing 767 of the Egyptian company Egypt Air en route from New York to Cairo on October 31, 1999, killing all 217 people on board, still lacks a clear explanation.
Because the accident happened over international waters less than 400 kilometers east of New York’s JF Kennedy Airport, it was investigated by both the US and Egyptian authorities. While the Egyptians concluded their investigation by saying that the plane’s elevator control system malfunctioned, the US National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) says the accident was caused by the co-pilot who shut down the engines and steered the plane into the ocean waves.
In the final report on the accident, American investigators concluded that when co-pilot Gamál Batúti found himself alone in the cockpit, he turned off the autopilot, pointed the plane down and calmly repeated the phrase “I rely on God” – a total of eleven times. Although the NTSB concluded that the co-pilot’s actions caused the crash, it did not use the word “suicide” once in the 160-page report. Instead, he stated that the reason for his action “has not been ascertained”. They also relied on the flight trajectory, the voice recording from the cockpit and other data indicating that the plane’s captain and co-pilot were fighting for control of the plane during the last minutes before the accident.
Source: www.tyden.cz
