Cairo - An EgyptAir official denied yesterday that the co-pilot of Flight 990, which crashed off the US coast of Massachusetts on Sunday, had warned of a mechanical problem with the aircraft's thrust reversers.
"That is not correct," the official, who did not want to be named, told reporters who asked whether it was true that the co-pilot of the Boeing 767 had warned of a problem with the plane's thrust reversers before it took off from Los Angeles for New York. "The problem had to do with changing one of the plane's tyres," he said, adding that had caused the delay.
International media have said a crew member of the twin-engined EgyptAir 767-300, which plunged into the Atlantic Ocean less than an hour after takeoff from New York with 217 people on board, had warned of a problem with the plane's thrust reversers.
The clam-shell shaped thrust reversers are used to slow an aircraft during landing.