The US National Transportation Safety Board remains convinced that the crash of Egypt Air 990 on 31 Oct 99 was the direct result of a successful suicide attempt by reserve co-pilot Gamil al-Batouti. While Egyptian officials continue to reject this theory of the crash, the National Security Agency has overheard conversations between Egyptian investigators and their government in which the investigators agree with the US finding and were told by their government to publicly insist that the crash was caused by an unknown mechanical problem. There is little doubt among investigators. The crash was definitely caused by input from the controls worked by Batouti, who repeated an Islamic prayer as the plane crashed. He had sent presents to his family (which he bought on every trip to New York) on a different flight. There are reports that Egypt Air was in the process of firing him (or at least keeping him off of flights to the US) because of a series of embarrassing sexual escapades.--Stephen V Cole
