# EgyptAir Flight 990 October 31, 1999 - practice run? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [September 17, 2001, 3:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/egyptair-flight-990-october-31-1999-practice-run/82084 "2001-09-17T03:50:46Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Yuck](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/50afbb/32.png) [@Yuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yuck)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2001, 3:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/egyptair-flight-990-october-31-1999-practice-run/82084/1 "2001-09-17T03:50:46Z")
I don’t believe the book on this tragedy is closed yet. Could it have been a practice run of some sort? ---
**Author:** ![Yuck](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/50afbb/32.png) [@Yuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yuck)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2001, 10:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/egyptair-flight-990-october-31-1999-practice-run/82084/2 "2001-09-17T10:13:11Z")
A related thread is [http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=8526](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=8526) (hope this works!) One of the reasons this attracted my attention was the argument that the copilot of 990, who some think crashed the plane on purpose, had too much to live for and was a devoted muslim for whom suicide is sin. One of those implicated in the crash of flight 11 was a devoted muslim with much to live for including a family that was with him in Fla until just a few weeks ago. Also, flight 990 was a 767. ---
**Author:** ![bordelond](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bordelond/32/150_2.png) [@bordelond](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bordelond)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2001, 11:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/egyptair-flight-990-october-31-1999-practice-run/82084/3 "2001-09-17T11:20:14Z")
Hey, Yuck, I thought of the 1999 tragedy, too, soon after the WTC/Pentagon disasters went on. There is some food for thought in your OP. ---
**Author:** ![Wendell\_Wagner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8491ac/32.png) [@Wendell\_Wagner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wendell_Wagner)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2001, 12:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/egyptair-flight-990-october-31-1999-practice-run/82084/4 "2001-09-17T12:58:10Z")
In what possible sense could Flight 990 be a practice run? What would be learned from it that would apply in any sense to the hijackings and crashings of the past week? ---
**Author:** ![tracer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tracer/32/20578_2.png) [@tracer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tracer)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2001, 1:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/egyptair-flight-990-october-31-1999-practice-run/82084/5 "2001-09-18T01:06:02Z")
Wendell Wagner wrote: > [@](#): > > In what possible sense could Flight 990 be a practice run? Perhaps the co-pilot – the one suspected of deliberately crashing the plane – was trying to crash it into a building, but the pilot threw off his aim with his own control yoke. ---
**Author:** ![Hail\_Ants](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/dc4da7/32.png) [@Hail\_Ants](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hail_Ants)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2001, 1:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/egyptair-flight-990-october-31-1999-practice-run/82084/6 "2001-09-18T01:12:21Z")
Don’t think so. It was hundreds of miles off the coast when it happened. [http://www.ntsb.gov/speeches/former/hall/jhc991103c/egypt1.gif](http://www.ntsb.gov/speeches/former/hall/jhc991103c/egypt1.gif) ---
**Author:** ![Morbo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/morbo/32/389_2.png) [@Morbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morbo)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2001, 1:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/egyptair-flight-990-october-31-1999-practice-run/82084/7 "2001-09-18T01:48:31Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Wendell Wagner \* > \*\*In what possible sense could Flight 990 be a practice run? What would be learned from it that would apply in any sense to the hijackings and crashings of the past week? \*\* My theories on how it could have been practice: \<1\> A practice run for the bosses - could they actually influence a young recruit that outwardly had no indication of being a terrorist - rather, a devoted muslim - to do such a thing? \<2\> A practice run on getting one of their guys through security and onto the plane… ---
**Author:** ![Wendell\_Wagner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8491ac/32.png) [@Wendell\_Wagner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wendell_Wagner)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2001, 3:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/egyptair-flight-990-october-31-1999-practice-run/82084/8 "2001-09-18T03:35:17Z")
Dooku writes: \> \<1\> A practice run for the bosses - could they actually influence a young recruit that outwardly had no indication of being a terrorist - rather, a devoted muslim - to do such a thing? Have you any serious reading of the news stories about Flight 990 at all? The reserve co-pilot who is suspected of having deliberately crashed the plane was 59 years old, certainly not a “young recruit.” \<2\> A practice run on getting one of their guys through security and onto the plane… Again, what are you talking about? He was assigned to be flying the plane as one of several crew members who would take shifts in the cockpit during the flight. He didn’t have to be smuggled onto the plane. There’s not the slightest evidence that anyone else was involved in the crash. ---
**Author:** ![Wendell\_Wagner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8491ac/32.png) [@Wendell\_Wagner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wendell_Wagner)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2001, 3:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/egyptair-flight-990-october-31-1999-practice-run/82084/9 "2001-09-18T03:41:27Z")
Instead of “Have you any serious reading . . . ,” insert "Have you done any serious reading . . . ". ---
**Author:** ![Ace\_Face](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/858c86/32.png) [@Ace\_Face](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ace_Face)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2001, 3:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/egyptair-flight-990-october-31-1999-practice-run/82084/10 "2001-09-18T03:41:40Z")
I doubt it was a practice run, but it was probably an inspiration. That and the incident in 1994 where a guy literally crashed his small prop plane into the White House. (I was actually at the White House for a ceremony when the pulled the wreckage out.) Many people say “no one could have dreamed this would happen,” but I think the precedents are there, on a much smaller scale of course. ---
**Author:** ![kniz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/c37758/32.png) [@kniz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kniz)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2001, 3:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/egyptair-flight-990-october-31-1999-practice-run/82084/11 "2001-09-18T03:48:35Z")
They say that the people that hijacked the four flights were here for a year. The crash of 990 happened in 1999, so before this plan was launched. One reason our experts didn’t think this would happen is that they thought that suicide missions had to be done close by, so that you could control the person doing the job. So it was imperative that they know that they could get someone (in the end 19) that had reasons not to commit suicide and not close at hand to actually commit suicide. 990 seems to fit that profile. I know I didn’t say that well…any questions? ---
**Author:** ![Yuck](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/50afbb/32.png) [@Yuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yuck)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2001, 4:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/egyptair-flight-990-october-31-1999-practice-run/82084/12 "2001-09-18T04:06:45Z")
I understood, Kniz! I think that’s credible, even if the following is not true… Does anyone know that they verified that the copilot of 990 in the accident was, in fact, the guy he said he was? Like fingerprints, dna or something? Maybe they wasted the original guy and forged ID and stuff for a substitute? Apparently these devoutly religious people have no qualms about lieing, cheating, stealing, killing and committing suicide. I guess I’m headed to at least somebody’s heaven!!! P.s. perhaps Dooku meant a “recent” recruit. ---
**Author:** ![Qwertyasdfg](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/ecc23a/32.png) [@Qwertyasdfg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qwertyasdfg)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2001, 3:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/egyptair-flight-990-october-31-1999-practice-run/82084/13 "2001-09-18T15:18:52Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Yuck \* > **Apparently these devoutly religious people have no qualms about lieing, cheating, stealing, killing and committing suicide. I guess I’m headed to at least somebody’s heaven!!!** In fact, before some of the 9/11 terrorists did it, they apparently went to a strip club. Devout indeed… Were there any official conclusions made that said the EgyptAir was intentional? I haven’t heard anything since they said there was gonna be an investigation.