Egypt's aviation minister dismissed the theory that a mechanical problem might have caused EgyptAir Boeing 737 to crash in Tunisia. Amira Ibrahim reports Two weeks after the tragic crash of EgyptAir flight 843 in Tunis, which left 14 people dead, investigators finally concluded that the probable cause of the accident were "the rough weather conditions and the pilot's inability to deal with the situation." Egypt dispatched a team of aviation experts and officials to Paris last week to join the Tunisian investigating team. In a press conference on Monday, Minister of Civil Aviation Ahmed Shafiq announced that an examination into the plane's crash and an analysis of its two black boxes provided incontestable proof that the plane did not suffer any mechanical problems from the time it departed Cairo Airport until it crashed six kilometres away from Tunis' Carthage Airport. "The plane's record showed that it was in perfect condition before taking off from Cairo. There were no indications during the trip that there was trouble of any kind. No distress signals were sent until just a minute before the crash," Shafiq stated at the press conference. He added that the plane did not run out of fuel nor did its pilot discharge fuel to avoid an explosion. Asked if there was a possibility that the plane might have been incorrectly directed by the Carthage Airport tower to the mountainous Al-Nahli area in which it crashed, Shafiq dismissed the idea. "No, I do not think so," he replied. "From the findings of our first analysis, I do not favour that theory," he added. Shafiq, a former Air Force commander who took office as minister for the newly established Civil Aviation Ministry two months ago, has appeared determined to conduct an honest investigation. Two days after the 7 May crash, he went on record with two possible explanations for the plane's crash: "Either the plane had a mechanical problem or the pilot could not deal with the bad weather." He added, "I am certain that a professional pilot would have been capable of dealing with the unstable weather conditions." Excluding the possibility of a mechanical failure raised many questions over the dead pilot's and co-pilot's performance. "We are in no rush to make judgements. We only finished about 50 per cent of the investigation process which means we have half of the truth and have to wait until it [the investigation] is completed," Shafiq replied when asked whether human error was the most probable cause for the Boeing 737 crashing. He added: "We have to contend with the fact that there was strong turbulence as well as taking into consideration the pilot's performance, the fact that he was flying at low altitude and other factors that we are still uncertain about. We must allow the investigators to finish their work." Shafiq, addressing criticisms that have been levelled at EgyptAir, indicated that wide-ranging reforms were taking place in the Egyptian aviation sector. Earlier on Monday, Shafiq met with the Egyptian team of aviation experts who returned from Paris with a copy of the data taken from the plane's cockpit voice and data recorders. The team consisted of two committees, representing EgyptAir and the Civil Aviation Ministry. According to Shafiq, each committee will work on separate parts of the investigations. Speaking to Al-Ahram Weekly, the head of the EgyptAir investigation team, Captain Shaker Qilada, explained that investigators would compare the data provided by both the voice and data recorders as well as looking into the instructions the Tunisian control tower gave. "The process will take some time until it's completed. We will begin a separate analysis of the data and prepare our technical report over the accident's probable cause. On the other hand, we expect to cooperate with the Tunisian authorities in the investigations when they inform us," said Qilada. He added that an American team of investigators that participated in the Paris mission also obtained a copy of the recordings in the black boxes and will be conducting a separate investigation. A statement by the US National Transportation Safety Board noted that the team was comprised of four NTSB investigators as well Federal Aviation Association and Boeing representatives.
