CAIRO -- An EgyptAir captain said Tuesday it was understandable that American investigators were to hand over the probe of the EgyptAir Flight 990 crash to the FBI.
"It's not a surprise, there are many suspicions about what happened," Essam Ahmed, head of EgyptAir's pilot training institute, told Reuters. He said he would not be surprised if a criminal investigation followed.American federal law enforcement officers said Tuesday the Federal Bureau of Investigation would take charge of the inquiry. EgyptAir officials declined to comment.
The transfer means U.S. authorities believe the crash of the Cairo-bound Boeing 767 on Oct. 31, killing all 217 on board, was not an accident. Egypt has said that 33 military officers of varying ranks were on board the plane.
ABC News reported Monday that a tape retrieved from the cockpit voice recorder showed the pilot left the cockpit and the co-pilot was heard saying what appeared to be a prayer.
Tuesday, the New York Times reported that a senior law enforcement official had said the plane's autopilot was then disengaged and, seconds later, the aircraft went into a steep dive,
Ahmed said it was hard to gauge the significance of the prayer which the co-pilot is reported to have said.
If the co-pilot said the shihada, a short declaration of faith in Islam, it would suggest a looming crisis, he said.
"Someone would say say the shihada if there was a hopeless case, so he would ask God to help. But we need to know what was said just before and after it," said Ahmed, a pilot with 30 years' experience.
Ashraf Hussein, an EgyptAir pilot since 1985 who knew the pilots on Flight 990, said it was unusual for the captain, Ahmed al-Habashi, to have left the cockpit so early in the flight.
"I would leave my seat after two hours at least, not one hour...I would doubt he left his seat at that point, unless he went to the toilet," he said.
"They had only been airborne for around 55 minutes, the aircraft was only just over the ocean, and it was on cruise."
Hussein said the flight data recorder should have revealed why the autopilot was switched off.
"There are many things to make the autopilot disconnect. It could be an electricity failure, a hydraulic failure, somebody pushing the switch accidentally. The first black box should make this clear, but they (investigators) haven't said," he said.
Hussein ruled out the possibility that any of the pilots would have deliberately caused the crash.
He said co-pilot Adel Anwar was 37 and due to get married two days after the flight. "It had all been arranged. He had an apartment ready. So it's out of the question he would kill himself or sabotage (the plane)."
Anwar's family in Cairo refused to comment.
Hussein, speaking in English, described Habashi as a "very decent man."
"I know him and worked with him. He's already married to two women. Why should he commit suicide? He also made pilgrimage (to Mecca) last year. In Islam, if you kill yourself, you go to hell. This is very big, and beyond our thinking."