New EgyptAir theory is for the birds Sunday, 7 May 2000 19:23 (ET)

http://www.vny.com/cf/News/upidetail.cfm?QID=84520

New EgyptAir theory is for the birds By ELIZABETH BRYANT

CAIRO, MAY 7 (UPI) -- Contrary to popular opinion, the October 31 crash of EgyptAir flight 990 was not the result of the CIA, or the Israeli Mossad or even a suicidal pilot. Instead -- according to a report in Sunday's leading Al Ahram newspaper -- "mammoth Canadian birds" caused the Boeing 767 to plunge into the Atlantic waters off New England, killing all 217 people on board. The birds did it.

"The Federal Aviation Agency and a number of experts and institutions are deliberating....on the possibility that the Egyptian aircraft...might have fallen in consequence of the onrush of mammoth Canadian birds," the Egyptian newspaper reported, citing an unnamed "French newspaper" as its source.

According to the Al Ahram report, the birds in question weigh about 10 pounds, fly at speeds exceeding 60 mph, and at altitudes of 33,000 feet. The suspect species -- possibly Canadian geese? -- was not identified.

The newspaper diplomatically avoided describing a birds-meets-engine experience.

The report comes as U.S. investigators continue to suspect that flight 990 was deliberately brought down by EgyptAir copilot Gameel Batouty. Those suspicions, reported in the U.S. press soon after the incident, sparked an outcry in staunchly Islamic Egypt. Most Egyptians say it is impossible for a devout Muslim to even contemplate suicide.

Instead, Egyptians have floated a rash of crash conspiracy theories. The speculation in the newspapers and on the street has ranged from sabotage by the Israeli Mossad -- and a subsequent covered up by the CIA -- to a missile or a mechanical error in the aircraft's tail unit.

An asylum bid by an EgyptAir pilot, claiming information into the crash, has further complicated the matter. Earlier this year, Capt. Hamdy Taha flew a planeload of passengers to London, then turned himself over to the police. In a statement faxed to United Press International, he blamed the crash on EgyptAir Chairman Mohammed Fahim Rayyan "and his devils."

The British government has rejected Taha's asylum claim, but the pilot has the right to appeal, a process which could take months.

For now, Taha's claims may be upstaged by a flock of birds. -- Copyright 2000 by United Press International. All rights reserved. --