Ed Dames called it on the Art Bell show last week...

Now from Drudge:

NY TIMES WORLD EXCLUSIVE: CREW MEMBER, POSSIBLY A RELIEF PILOT, SEIZED FLIGHT #990 CONTROLS AND FORCED PLANE INTO STEEP DIVE

A detailed analysis of the voice and data recorders aboard Flight #990 indicates that a crew member, possibly a relief pilot, seized the controls of the passenger jet and forced the plane into a steep dive toward the Atlantic, the NEW YORK TIMES is planning to report in a Page One Scream on Wednesday.

FBI sources tell the TIMES that a veteran captain of the Boeing 767, Ahmed el-Habashy, who had briefly left the cockpit and returned, "struggled in vain to regain control of the aircraft after the other pilot calmly uttered an Arabic expression about putting his trust in God, switched off the autopilot and pitched the aircraft into the high-speed plunge."

The expression uttered by the relief pilot was, "Tawakilt ala Allah," which is a common phrase that can mean, "I put my faith in God," or "I entrust myself to God," reports the paper.

According to publishing sources, TIMES reporters DAVID JOHNSTON and MATTHEW WALD received a detailed briefing from government sources about new information developed by investigators.

USA TOO QUICK TO JUDGE?

With the hand-off to the FBI imminent, Egyptian officials complained bitterly about the direction of the probe. It became a matter of serious diplomatic concern as the Egyptian ambassador met with Undersecretary Thomas Pickering at the State Department.

The Egyptians asserted that "American authorities might have misread the evidence and too quickly dismissed the possibility that the plane crashed as a result of a mechanical failure or some other problem," reports the TIMES.

Developing in all media late Tuesday...

-- Hawk (flyin@high.again), November 17, 1999

Answers

From the New York Times:

Crew Member Suspected of Crashing Jet

By DAVID JOHNSTON and MATTHEW L. WALD

WASHINGTON -- A detailed analysis of the voice and data recorders aboard EgyptAir Flight 990 indicates that a crew member, possibly a relief pilot, seized the controls of the passenger jet and forced the plane into a steep dive toward the Atlantic Ocean, government officials said Tuesday.

Based on the new information, investigators also theorize that the veteran captain of the Boeing 767, Ahmed al-Habashi, who had briefly left the cockpit and returned, struggled in vain to regain control of the aircraft after the other pilot calmly uttered an Arabic expression about putting his trust in God, switched off the autopilot and pitched the Boeing 767 into the high-speed plunge.

The officials said the relief pilot at the center of the inquiry was Gamil al-Batouti, a 59-year-old veteran EgyptAir employee and former Air Force aviator. Batouti was not assigned to fly the plane at the time of the crash, but the officials said they believe he is the man in the co-pilot's seat whose remark about God can be heard seconds before the plane began its fatal descent.

The scheduled co-pilot was aboard the flight but was apparently not in the cockpit at time of the crash and his whereabouts on the plane are unknown. EgyptAir representatives familiar with the voice of the airline's crews listened to the cockpit voice recorder and identified the voice of Batouti, the officials said.

But the officials cautioned that they had no other verification of Batouti's voice, and that there were four pilots assigned to the flight, including another relief pilot. The officials also warned that further analysis of the information might lead them to different conclusions.

The increasing likelihood that the relief pilot, or another EgyptAir crew member, deliberately brought down the aircraft led the authorities today to prepare to transfer the inquiry to the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

But the National Transportation Safety Board, which has had authority over the inquiry, decided today to keep its jurisdiction, in response to Egyptian complaints that the American authorities were moving too quickly to blame a crew member for the crash.

As Federal authorities reconstructed the final horrifying seconds of the flight, air safety and law enforcement officials provided a clearer account of what might have happened on the Oct. 31 flight, which seemed routine as the big jet left Kennedy International Airport bound for Cairo and reached its 33,000-foot cruising altitude.

Then, just after 1:49 a.m., something went wrong.

The unusual events began seconds after the pilot, Captain Habashi, briefly left the cockpit, the officials said. The departure was inferred by authorities from the sound of the cockpit door opening and closing. They believe that Captain Habashi left Mr. Batouti alone in the cockpit because they have picked up no other voices.

When he was alone, the other pilot repeated quietly and calmly, "Tawakilt ala Allah," the officials said.

At about this time someone shut off the autopilot. The officials said that the voice recorder's cockpit microphones picked up Captain Habashi saying in Arabic, "What's going on?" or, "Let's fix this."

Seconds later the plane began its steep descent, from 33,000 feet to less than 17,000 feet. It is unclear at exactly what point in the flight that the two men spoke, but the flight data recorder showed that eight seconds after the autopilot was disconnected, the plane began its plunge toward the sea.

During the dive, the two parts of the tail that control whether the plane dives or climbs moved in an unusual fashion. Although in normal flight operations the two parts move in tandem, investigators said they were initially baffled by the movement of the left and right parts of the tail in opposite directions.

The officials now hypothesize that one pilot may have been desperately trying to pull out of the dive while the other pilot was forcing the plane's controls down. There is no indication that the two men in the cockpit engaged in a physical struggle with each other.

Near the bottom of the dive, someone turned the engine control levers to the cutoff position -- a possible but not definitive clue that a struggle for control of the plane ended when one man shut down the engines.

Subsequently, the plane regained altitude, climbing several thousand feet, but slowing to the point it could no longer remain airborne. The aircraft apparently broke apart and fell into the Atlantic, killing all 217 people on board.

Tuesday, it was unclear whether investigators had gleaned most of what they expected to extract from the voice and data recorders. They initially said there was nothing on the tape to indicate a criminal act. But in more thorough analyses and evaluations by Arabic speakers, their conclusions have changed significantly. And some officials cautioned that further analysis might lead them to still different theories about the cause of the crash.

Aviation safety officials said that with many questions unanswered, recovery operations will continue at the site of the crash, 60 miles south of Nantucket, as American and Egyptian investigators compile highly detailed biographical accounts of the EgyptAir crew members, all of whom had recently undergone routine medical and psychological evaluations.

The American theories about the crash led to protests from Egyptian officials who complained bitterly about the plan to turn the investigation over to the F.B.I., the officials said. The discussions became a matter of serious diplomatic concern with the Egyptian ambassador, Nabil Fahmy, meeting today with Under Secretary Thomas Pickering at the State Department.

The officials said that the Egyptians had asserted that the American authorities might have misread the evidence and too quickly dismissed the possibility that the plane crashed as a result of a mechanical failure or some other problem.

The expression apparently uttered by the relief pilot was, "Tawakilt ala Allah," which is a common phrase that can mean, "I put my faith in God," or, "I entrust myself to God."

In the Arab world, the phrase is used often, especially at the start of a journey or a task. It can be used by someone about to begin something as simple as cooking a meal.

Intelligence officials said that the phrase had no known connection to any political or terrorist groups.

In the Egyptian scenario, the co-pilot's comment could have been a worried response to some as-yet-undetermined mechanical breakdown that a few seconds later caused him to disengage the autopilot.

The Egyptians said that the pilot's urgent words to his co-pilot, "What's going on?" could have referred to his concern over that undetermined problem.

But the chairman of the safety board, James E. Hall, said this evening that "we have so far found no sign of a mechanical or weather-related event that could have caused this accident" in the otherwise routine flight.

Nevertheless, Hall Tuesday stopped short of turning the case over to the F.B.I.

Hall said that in the next few days, Egyptian investigators and senior EgyptAir representatives familiar with the Arabic used in the cockpit would evaluate the tape from the voice recorder. Other administration officials emphasized that they did not view the Egyptian concerns as an effort to slow the inquiry.

Hall said that in crashes involving American crews, safety board experts often cannot agree about what the pilots were saying. "It is made slightly more difficult in this situation because the expressions and conversations are in Arabic," Hall said.

He said that the inquiry into the crash would continue and that the authorities would soon bring a large vessel to the scene that could continue the search, even in rough winter weather, for human remains and wreckage of the plane. Aviation experts said that no matter who was in charge, the authorities must still recover more sections of the aircraft from the sea floor.

Hall said that retrieval of the cockpit area would be a priority. In some previous crashes, information stored in on-board computer chips yielded valuable data about the condition of the aircraft in the seconds before the impact. Unlike older planes, most cockpit instruments in the 767 are displayed on video screens, which preserve no information after a crash.

-- Hawk (flyin@high.again), November 17, 1999.

For any of those who are skeptical of Remote Viewing, listen to Ed Dames' analysis of this event. On the evening of November 11, several days before the voice recorder was recovered, he described the cause of this crash exactly as they are now discovering to be true.

Remote Viewer Ed Dames interviewed by Art Bell on November 11, 1999

When using Real Player you can scroll the play button forward using the clock at the bottom right corner to the point in the broadcast when this was discussed, beginning at around 2:35

-- Hawk (flyin@high.again), November 17, 1999.

Nice work, Hawk....man, this forum is gettin' better than DRUDGE anymore, eh wot?

-- Jay Urban (Jayho99@aol.com), November 17, 1999.

Hawk,

Can you summarize what Ed Dames said?

Thanks!

R.

-- Roland (nottelling@nowhere.com), November 17, 1999.

Just as an alternate possibility...

Ed Dames is a CIA disinformation shill... promoting the "party line".. that's how he can "predict" what the outcome will be. He did it with TWA 800 too. (if you bought the official "party line" on TWA 800, do some research).

Check on some of his early appearances on Art Bell. He repeatedly proclaimed he could predict earthquakes and other earth changes - in fact it was so easy it was one of the first things they taught newbies in his training school (so he said). Did you catch his accurate prediction of the string of 7+ quakes lately? That's cause it didn't happen. His "predictions" fall into one of 2 catagories:

1) The sun will come up tomorrow (things for which there is already an established trend)

2) Gov't disinformation

or maybe a third catagory:

3) total BS!

Now... for a POSSIBLE alternate explanation (admittedly wild) for Flight 990's crash see:

Flt 990 - What WE Know But Gov't And Media Won't Say

CyberSpace ORBIT

-- Linda (lwmb@psln.com), November 17, 1999.

Linda, you're not alone is suspecting some of those Art Bell guests are assets for the purpose of disinformation. I suspect a number are military intelligence assets.

Art Bell himself is pondered about.

-- Paula (chowbabe@pacbell.net), November 17, 1999.

Ed Dames is also predicting that increasing solar activity will cause much more damage than y2k. We will know in a few months if he is correct.

-- Dave (dannco@hotmail.com), November 17, 1999.

Hawk, you said:

"For any of those who are skeptical of Remote Viewing, listen to Ed Dames' analysis of this event. On the evening of November 11, several days before the voice recorder was recovered, he described the cause of this crash exactly as they are now discovering to be true."

Before you put too much faith in this guy's "remote viewing" abilities, look at what had already been publicly revealed from the flight data recorder and radar information before November 11:

- The auto pilot had been manually (read: deliberately) switched off.

- The control yoke was then manually (read: deliberately) pushed sharply forward seconds after the auto-pilot was disengaged.

- There were no clear and obvious mechanical failures that would have accounted for a sudden loss of control. Hydraulics, computers, and mechanics all appeared to be working normally (read: as they were directed by a pilot to operate) until approximately the time the plane broke up.

- There was no rapid decompression that might have caused hypoxia in the crew or mechanical problems in the aircraft.

- There was a steep descent, then a steep climb, then anther steep descent, indicating that someone had at least partial control over the aircraft and was trying to regain control.

Now, there are many things in this world that cannot be explained easily, and while I don't beleive in it myself I will not discount the (remote) possibility that some people have "remote viewing" capability. HOWEVER, it doesn't take psychic ability to go from the publicly disclosed facts that were available at the time to the conclusion that either the pilot or the co-pilot deliberately brought down that flight. It certainly appeared obvious that *somebody* did, and they were the only two people who had both the easy access and the skill set to do so. (I suppose the navigator could have as well, although I would suspect it would involve at least some struggle with the captain and co-pilot to do so, so make it three people.)

As soon as the preliminary data from the flight data recorder was released, somewhere between 50% and 90% of the news reporters on the planet began to crow about the possibility of one of the flight crew deliberately tanking that plane. Believe me, few if any reporters have remote viewing capability and some of the ones I have met over the years are not exactly the sharpest tools in the shed, so if they picked up on it, anybody could.

As for the details? Well, given the assumption that either the pilot or co-pilot did it, you have a 50-50 shot at being right. Why assume the flight crew? Well, it is unlikely that anything short of severe violence would have incapacitated the crew so quickly that someone wouldn't have gotten off a signal or physically resisted the deliberate ditching of the plane, and that level of violence would likely cause systems' damage that would show up on the data recorder. Why assume that it was a deliberate act at all? Well, the flight crew was Egyptian and therefore probably Islamic, and there is a strong bigotry in this country (brought on no doubt by small bands like HezB'Allah) that allows people here to assume that all Muslims are willing and eager to die at a moments notice *and take others with them* all to the glory of Allah. So you see how it could be very short trip from what was already disclosed before Art Bell's show that night to a description of the co-pilot deliberately sending the plane down, no psychic powers required.

-- Paul Neuhardt (neuhardt@ultranet.com), November 17, 1999.

Dave - re Ed's "prediction" about solar activity. He isn't the only one. That falls under catagory (1) The sun will come up tomorrow. He accurately "remotely" viewed (like from 2 ft. away) his computer screen after doing a web search. Same with deformed frogs and jet streams. All of those were written about before Ed Dames "predicted" them. I did a few hundred hours research on the guy... he's NO psychic. Listen to him to find out what the gov't WANTS you to hear.. (esp. interesting about viruses in this regard) but don't mistake his message for anything like divine knowledge.

-- Linda (lwmb@psln.com), November 17, 1999.

Does it seem strange to anyone in this time of mass comunication that these "investagators" are soo slowed down by a foreign language? I read a good article about it in sightings last night... makes sense too seems to me like they keep changing the story till they come up with a lie we all will believe. If it was suiside I go with dean Koontz version...Anyone read Sole Survivor?

-- sandy (rstyree@overland.net), November 17, 1999.

Terrorist, no. Religious wacko, yes. Fundamentalist Muslims and fundamentalist Christians are all the same: Wackos. The more deeply religious a person is, the more they are "into" their particular "book" or "prophet" of "truth", the more wacked out they are.

Fourtunately, most people just pay lip service to their religion and so can function fairly well and aren't likely to "go postal" (How about a new term for the wackos "going off" -- "going religious"! ?) But the more religious they are, the more likely they are to be moral fascists and walking time-bombs.

-- A (A@AisA.com), November 17, 1999.

Paul,

Yes, I can definitely see what you are saying as a possibility. Just a very educated guess. I must admit I was blown away by how accurate he was! I still think remote viewing is possible, just not nearly as easy as Ed Dames makes it sound.

-- Hawk (flyin@high.again), November 17, 1999.

Why be judged almost immediately as "GUILTY?" because of a Religious Prayer? Today, something went bad on my car as I was driving home (rural area). Radio/tape?signals/horn all gone. Speedometer reading ranged from 0 to 75 mph, while I maintained a steady 45 mph. I had visions of car stopping dead, and I would have to "hoof" it (almost dark). So I started "Praying" feverently. "Please God, home and safe, inside the gate". For three miles I Prayed this while car did weird things. Well guess what? the car continued to run for those three miles, and I did make it "home and inside the gate"! Car sputtered dead, and wouldn't start! Had to call tow and several hundred dollars later, it ran fine again. What if the car had plunged in the ditch, would the local police have said that I did it on purpose because someone saw/heard me saying a Prayer before?!?! Sheesh! Enough Already!!!

-- Out Much Mula (Prayeranswered@myhouse.com), November 17, 1999.

Ed Dames?

Please...

Let's not forget his association with John Alexander -- and, Al Gore, Janet Reno, and the infamous "Non-Lethal Weapons" conference a few years ago. Can you say "shill"? I knew you could.

Say, how's that "kill shot" of his coming? Aren't we all supposed to be dead by now?

-- Ron Schwarz (rs@clubvb.com.delete.this), November 17, 1999.

In light of latest revelations, what I said above is right on. "I kill for Allah, I die for Allah, I go directly to heaven. Even if I do not collect $200, I have plenty concubines and milk and honey."

But let not Christians feel smug -- remember the Crusades, Inquistion, witch hunts, pogroms, Comstock laws, KKK ...

-- A (A@AisA.com), November 18, 1999.

Paul, nice to hear from you again. Do you remember the first 2 days after the Oklahoma bombing- it was blammed on Muslim terrorists? I agree-bigotry

-- Jan czarnecki (janczar@air.on.ca), November 18, 1999.