EgyptAir Jet Was ‘Perfect’ on Earlier Flight, Pilot Says

The EgyptAir jetliner that crashed Sunday “was completely perfect” when he flew it across country to Los Angeles on Saturday before it headed back to New York, a veteran pilot said.

Gamal Arram, who frequently piloted the Flight 990 aircraft between Cairo and Los Angeles, also said in an interview that the airline was not operating under any special security alert when the Boeing 767 departed Los Angeles on Saturday evening.

Weary and somber, Arram, who has flown for EgyptAir for 20 years, described arriving at a Santa Monica hotel Saturday night after the inbound flight from New York, suffering from jet lag and having difficulty getting to sleep.

About 2 a.m. Sunday, he turned on the television to learn the plane he’d just handed over to his colleagues had disappeared over the Atlantic.

“I opened up the TV. I saw this catastrophe,” said the 42-year-old resident of Egypt. “I thought it was a bad dream.”

Arram, speaking Sunday afternoon immediately after he was questioned by FBI investigators, said he was prohibited from discussing technical aspects of the flight, or to provide any details about crew members on Flight 990.

Federal agents were also interviewing other members of the EgyptAir crew at the Doubletree Guest Suites, where airline employees frequently stay.

Late Sunday, five members of the LAPD bomb squad, along with police dogs, arrived at the hotel and conferred with one FBI agent. It wasn’t clear why they were there.

With Arram at the hotel were his wife and son, who had been visiting in Los Angeles when he arrived.

Not having slept since before leaving New York, Arram was still struggling late Sunday to absorb what had happened. And the wait for some explanation, some clue as to what went wrong, was excruciating, he said.

“Why is it that it disappeared?” he asked. “That is the fear--why?”

His voice flat and his gaze fatigued, Arram said he knew all of the crew members who perished, and had worked with several for many years.

“I am unhappy, for all the passengers and the crew,” he said.

Arram said he had flown the Boeing 767 many times and saw no signs of trouble before the crash. “That’s one of the most sophisticated planes,” he said.

News reports noted that there had previously been a crash related to malfunctioning reverse thrusters on the same type of aircraft. But Arram said he knew of no such problem on the downed plane.

Arram said he expected to be ready to return to the pilot’s seat for a flight to Egypt within the next few days.

“Every pilot has a responsibility to say whether they can fly, if they are sick or ill,” he said. “I have no problem.”

Times staff writer Rich Connell contributed to this story.

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Worst Crashes

Major air disasters around the world:

Sept. 2, 1998: Swissair Flight 111, en route from New York’s Kennedy Airport to Geneva crashed in the water off Nova Scotia, killing 229 passengers and crew members.

Nov. 12, 1996: Saudi Flight 747 collided shortly after takeoff with a Kazak llyushin-76 making its landing approach near New Delhi, India, killing 349.

July 17, 1996: TWA Flight 800, en route to Paris, exploded shortly after takeoff Kebbedy and killed all 230 people on board.

Dec. 21, 1988: Pan Am 747 crashed at Lockerbie, Scotland, after the explosion of a terrorist bomb. It killed 270 people, including 11 on the ground.

July 3, 1998: Iran Air A300 Airbus shot down by U.S. Navy ship Vincennes over the Persian Gulf; 290 killed.

Aug. 12, 1985: Japan Air Lines 747 crashes into a mountain on a domestic flight; 520 killed.

June 23, 1985: Air India 747 crashes of the coast of Ireland; investigators conclude a bomb caused the crash; 329 killed.

Sept. 1, 1983: Korean Air Lines 747 shot down by a Soviet fighter after flying through Soviet airspace near Sakhalin Island; 269 killed.

Aug. 19, 1980: Fiery emergency landing of a Saudi Arabian Lockheed L-1011 at the Saudi capital of Riyadh; 301 killed.