Egyptian officials say U.S. steered outcome of Flight 990 investigation

CAIRO -- Egypt has sent another delegation to Washington to help in the U.S. investigation of EgyptAir Flight 990, sources said.

The sources said a senior Egyptian intelligence official and a top air force officer flew to the United States earlier this week. They said the delegation could involve a final effort to stop the U.S. investigation from blaming the crash of a Boeing 767 jet on a suicide crash by a copilot.

Most of the 33 Egyptian military officers on board were believed to be from the air force. They were training on Apache helicopters in the United States.

Egyptian officials have accused Washington of acting hastily and the media have asserted that the Boeing Co. is influencing the probe. They said that an investigation has raised the possibility of an explosion.

The political adviser Osama al-Baz said U.S. authorities should not have steered the investigation toward the suicide crash theory. "This case is complicated because there are many things which are not clear and we must study all the hypotheses and the possibilities before making a specific accusation hastily," Baz told the official MENA news agency.

On Thursday, the New York Times said copilot Gamil Batuti, suspected of downing the plane, insisted that he take over the flight earlier than scheduled. The newspaper, quoting U.S. officials, said Batuti pulled rank and sat alone at the controls five minutes before the plane plunged into the Atlantic.

But investigators said they said Batuti could have waited later in the flight before downing the plane.