Video: 'Mayday - Death and Denial (FULL)'

(Sunday, October 31, 1999, 1:52 a.m. EST) — EgyptAir Flight 990, a regularly scheduled flight from Los Angeles International Airport to Cairo International Airport, Egypt, with a stop at John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York City, crashed into the Atlantic Ocean this morning about 60 miles south of Nantucket Island, Massachusetts, killing all 217 passengers and crew on board.

The NTSB found that the probable cause of the accident was the airplane’s departure from normal cruise flight and subsequent impact with the Atlantic Ocean as a result of the relief first officer’s flight control inputs. The reason for the relief first officer’s actions was not determined.

The Mayday dramatization of the crash concluded that First Officer Gameel Al-Batouti crashed the plane for personal reasons; that he had been severely reprimanded by his supervisor for sexual harassment after allegedly “exposing himself to teenage girls and propositioning hotel guests,” and the supervisor was in fact on board the plane when it was brought down.