Gameel Al-Batouti
Gameel Al-Batouti | |
---|---|
Born | Kafr al-Dabusi, Dakahlia Governorate, Egypt | 2 February 1940
Died | 31 October 1999 | (aged 59)
Cause of death | Plane crash |
Nationality | Egyptian |
Other names | Gamil El Batouti, El Batouty |
Occupation(s) | Pilot and flight instructor |
Known for | First Officer of EgyptAir Flight 990 |
Motive | Unknown |
Details | |
Killed | 217 (including himself) |
Injured | 0 |
Gameel Al-Batouti (
Early life
Al-Batouti was born in the farming community of Kafr al-Dabusi, Dakahlia Governorate, Egypt. His father was a mayor and a landowner, and family members were well educated and affluent.[3]
Career
Al-Batouti had been conscripted into the Egyptian Air Force, where he was trained as a pilot and flight instructor. He then worked for a time as an instructor at the Egypt Aviation Academy. His position there was described by one colleague as "high profile."[3]
While in the Air Force, Al-Batouti served as a pilot in both the 1967 Six-Day War and the 1973 Yom Kippur War.[citation needed]
Al-Batouti was hired by EgyptAir on 8 September 1987. He held type ratings for the Boeing 737-200, Boeing 767-200 and the 767-300. At the time of the crash, he had logged 12,538 hours of flight time, with 5,755 as pilot in command and 5,191 in the 767.[3]
Al-Batouti was approaching mandatory retirement (aviation regulations prevented him from flying as a commercial airline pilot after age 60), and had planned to split his time between a 10-bedroom villa outside of Cairo and a beach house near El Alamein.[3][4]
At the time of his death, Al-Batouti was the most senior
Investigators learned from another EgyptAir pilot that Al-Batouti was supposedly reprimanded for repeated inappropriate behaviour with female guests at the Hotel Pennsylvania, a New York City hotel often used by EgyptAir crews. Hatem Roushdy, the EgyptAir official said to be responsible for the alleged reprimand, was a passenger on Flight 990. Investigators confirmed that shortly before the flight, Roushdy revoked Al-Batouti's privilege of flying to the United States and informed him that Flight 990 would be his last on the route.[5][6][7]
Flight 990
While Al-Batouti was momentarily alone in the cockpit when Captain Ahmed El-Habashi went to the lavatory, the aircraft suddenly went into a rapid dive nose-first, resulting in
Some of Al-Batouti's final recorded words on the
The
There was Western media speculation that Al-Batouti may have been a terrorist, although his family and friends indicated that he had no strong political beliefs.[4]
Personal life
Al-Batouti was married and had five children. The youngest, a daughter who was 10 at the time of the crash, suffered from lupus, and was undergoing medical treatment in Los Angeles. Efforts had been made at EgyptAir, both at a company level and at an employee level, to provide assistance to help defray the medical expenses.[3]
In popular culture
Season 3, episode 8 of the Canadian television series Mayday titled "Death and Denial", dramatizes the events and investigation of EgyptAir Flight 990. Gameel Al-Batouti was portrayed by Canadian actor Elias Zarou.
References
- ^ a b "NTSB Releases EgyptAir Flight 990 Final Report". National Transportation Safety Board. 21 March 2002. Archived from the original on October 10, 2012. Retrieved 21 March 2014.
- ^ a b c "Aircraft Accident Brief EgyptAir Flight 990 Boeing 767-366ER, SU-GAP 60 Miles South of Nantucket, Massachusetts October 31, 1999" (PDF). National Transportation Safety Board. March 2002. NTSB/AAB-02/01. Retrieved April 25, 2019.
- ^ a b c d e f "Operational Factors Group Chairman's Factual Report" (PDF). National Transportation Safety Board. 18 January 2000. Archived from the original on 4 June 2011. Retrieved 21 March 2014.
{{cite web}}
: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link) - ^ a b c "Batouty clan stands united". Cairo Times. November 1999. Archived from the original on June 7, 2004. Retrieved 29 April 2007.
- ^ "EgyptAir Co-Pilot Caused '99 Jet Crash, NTSB to Say". Los Angeles Times. 15 March 2002. Retrieved 29 March 2015.
- New York Times. 16 March 2002. Retrieved 30 March 2015.
- National Geographic Channel.
- ^ "MS990". planecrashinfo.com. Retrieved March 25, 2020.
- Aviation Safety Network. Retrieved March 16, 2018.
- )
External links
- Cairo Times: Suicide Speculation Under Fire at the Wayback Machine (archived March 3, 2000)
- Cairo Times: Batouti Family Defends Co-pilot at the Wayback Machine (archived June 7, 2004)