Crash thrust theory rejected
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.THE HEAD of the US National Transportation Safety Board, leading the investigation into the EgyptAir disaster on 31 October, said there was no evidence an engine thrust reverser had malfunctioned.
But he advanced no new theory about what had caused the crash. Jim Hall was releasing preliminary information from the flight data recorder, recovered from the ocean bed 36 hours before.
He said data from this first "black box" showed the flight proceeding normally, with the plane at an altitude of 33,000 ft, when the autopilot was disconnected. Eight seconds later the plane began what appeared to be a controlled descent.
It was tracked as far down as 19,000 ft, which was consistent with available radar data. Mr Hall said that, contrary to some reports, it did not appear to have reached supersonic speed.
Mr Hall said there remained another 5-10 seconds on the tape still to be analysed. But he went a long way towards ruling out a faulty thrust reverser as the cause of the crash, saying: "There is no evidence of thrust- reverser deployment in the data we have." Faulty deployment of the mechanism was blamed for the crash of an Air Lauda Boeing 767 over Thailand in 1991 and was an early theory in the EgyptAir crash. Mr Hall declined to draw any conclusions, but expressed confidence that the second black box, the cockpit voice recorder, would be found.
t A DC-9 jet crashed in central Mexico on Tuesday, killing all 18 people on board.
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments