We’ll never know for sure why it happened at JFK. There are more questions than answers.

But we do know the Famous But Incompetent will dismiss any suggestion it could be due to Islamic terrorism. Ain’t no such thing.

And our skies aren’t safer!

NormanF on June 22, 2011 at 2:37 pm

Debbie, I totally agree with you. I just heard about this, and it’s the first thing I thought of, too. It was no accident, pilots, in general, are too well trained to make such dumb mistakes right on the ground, in broad daylight, with clear views of the runways, at well below “cruising speed.” I am shocked that the Egyptian crew was not detained by the FAA and the pilot questioned or given a full exam to make sure that he was not under the influence of “something.” But, then again, just like you mentioned, “Muslims” given special preference once again, doesn’t make the skies so friendly anymore, especially since 9/11. Thank Goodness the Lufthansa plane and its passengers were OK and made it back to Germany safely.

D'vorah on June 22, 2011 at 2:40 pm

There is no way this is an accident. And there is going to be a lot more of these type of “accidents” in the future with all the young Muslims training to be pilots.

JM on June 22, 2011 at 4:01 pm

It is only a matter of time before one of these madmen, adherents of the “religion of peace” succeeds in pulling off a stunt like this and causing an epic catastrophe. And yet, when this does happen, there will be calls to not jump to conclusions and that we are not at war with Islam and maybe some Judeo-Christian air traffic controller is responsible in some way. The lack of outcry over the homicidal crash of the flight in 1999 illustrates this point.

Troubling times we live in, and I wonder how many people will have to die before the scales of P.C. are removed from our eyes and we finally get to call a spade a spade, and protect our people the way we should.

A matter of time on June 22, 2011 at 5:07 pm

Our government is to concerned with profiling GI’s coming back from the middle east as potential terrorists.

It would be interesting to know how many times this particular EgyptAir pilot has taken off and landed at JFK.

ebayer on June 22, 2011 at 5:40 pm

Sherlock Holmes

“Once is happenstance
Twice coincidence
Three times is enemy action.”

Jack on June 22, 2011 at 5:46 pm

People also fly Emirate Air, too.

Myself, not being a moron, I would always check if El Al could get me there (no one but an idiot would fly Egypt Air to Athens instaed of El Al, for instance).

Occam's Tool on June 22, 2011 at 6:24 pm

Debbie I bet someone high up decided to let this one go. If they had stormed the cockpit and hogtied the pilot it would have just offended the terrorist community. At least we got the guy with the saggy pants. My main concern is that Murder City kapo rabbi you had a run-in with. What ever happened?

A1 on June 22, 2011 at 9:19 pm

It was an accident. Had the Egyptian pilot wanted to commit mass murder, he would have insured success.

We can always find out for sure by stretching the Egyptian pilot on the rack until he confesses. :+)

In the mean time, when they tell you to buckle your seat belts before takeoff….

There is NO Santa Claus on June 22, 2011 at 10:11 pm

Think I’d have gotten off that Egyptian plane asap…

GC on June 23, 2011 at 10:17 am

The pilot was probably another “student” ice couldn’t find but made it through flight school anyway.

I agree…this was NO ACCIDENT! Too bad, so sad you bleeding hearts. Professional pilots who have the time, hours, experience, and tenure to get the international flights don’t make “mistakes” like this.

IceNoMore on June 23, 2011 at 11:47 am

Was 9/11 an accident? Something tell me it wasn’t.
Jews will inevitably be blamed for this…….just wait and see.

American Sabrah on June 23, 2011 at 12:16 pm

I wonder how many middle eastern muslims the FAA hires as air traffic controllers because of diversity.

Jarhead on June 23, 2011 at 2:00 pm

I hate to be the wet blanket here, and I am as wary of ANYTHING by Muslims as anyone else, don’t trust them, etc, but in this case it most likely was nothing more than a wrong turn. I worked for 30 years as an Air Traffic Controller and have seen too many of these wrong turns or other stupid things done by pilots not paying attention (remember Tenerife?). Many disasters have been avoided by quick acting controllers, as in this case. And all the ones I’ve personally stopped, seen or read about never had any Muslim pilots.

Glenn E. Chatfield on June 23, 2011 at 2:45 pm

Hmmm….reminds me of al qaida dry run training flight egyptair flight 990. The next two years would be telling……

Gino on June 23, 2011 at 8:35 pm

Until the day we outlaw Muslims from all Western jobs (consequent upon deporting all Muslims from the West), we get what we deserve.

Hesperado on June 24, 2011 at 12:45 am

Why is everyone getting so excited merely because an Egyptian pilot nearly caused an airline catastrophe? There is no reason to panic. Clearly the near crisis did not require an investigation because none took place. Airline security could not be better. I know this because I mistakenly packed a standard size tube of toothpaste in my carry-on bag on a recent trip to San Francisco, and the extremely diligent TSA personnel immediately identified the potentially dangerous spearmint toothpaste and proceeded to investigate the circumstances of the toothpaste; why I squeezed it in the middle of the tube and did not roll it up neatly; questioned me regarding my intentions about the toothpaste tube; and after a careful security review, they confiscated the potentially lethal toothpaste tube. I certainly felt a lot safer, knowing how great our nation airlines are secured, and besides, this is wonderful for the economy, as this event forces me to buy a new tube of toothpaste.

Ralph Adamo on June 24, 2011 at 3:09 am

This was no accident. It was an attemtpted terrorist attack by a muslim!

FRED on June 24, 2011 at 11:07 am

Hi Debbie,

I was thinking the same thing you were; and this story didn’t even receive much media attention. The news people spoke more about the pilot who talked about his co-workers.

Carol on June 24, 2011 at 7:30 pm

Why this hate to each other & jumping to conclusions…. there are million of answers, hating specific countries, specific religions, some are true & most are not… I am not here to comment about this, but couldn’t resist – I am half Egyptian & Muslim so, now you have a reason to hate me….

I just wanted to say, we all make mistakes, Egyptian and not Egyptian & I totally agree with the terrible thing happened before by the crazy pilot who suicide and yes, defiantly there is couple of wrong things in Egypt, but there are also lots of wrong things in US… we sometimes just prefer to see things from one side only (I used to be one day)

For all respectable people commented above, I just wanted comment that in US, this year, couple of times US, French planes were in near crash. even Michelle Obama’s Plane Has Near Miss At Andrews Air Force Base!!

Alex on June 26, 2011 at 6:27 pm

Dear All, apparently from my name i am a muslim and egyptian what i would like to say are few things i wish we could have a fair conversation over here

1)the accident back in 1999 Gamil Al-Batouti crash, well NTSB have opened the investigation once again due to incomplete evidence and another Lufthansa pilot flying nearby Gamil Al-Batouti said there was a foreign object accelerating towards the Gamil Al-Batouti’s plane. and for info the plane had 33 great egyptian air force officers and all were well known

2)CNN said later on that a mistake have been made by the ATC but also the pilot should have been more aware and recognize the mistake rather than depending 100% on ATC so at the end it was concluded that it was a dual mistake

3)regarding the world trade center, thanks for American Sabrah for his extended vision regarding 9/11

4)i am a muslim so here comments come, who said that Muslim religion is violent , just take some time and read about it and u will know it isnt at all and regarding terrorism they are just a group of people who are actually Muslims but what u dont get is all over the middle east we are banning them
as a conclusion not every Muslim is a qada member, but every qada member is a Muslim so u just guys cant just say ALL Muslims did it

5)why Muslims hate the USA ?? this is one big wrong question to ask. by the way a lot of Muslims have no problem with USA and these who have problems are few who u call terrorists so again u cant just keep saying ALL Muslims.

6)if Americans are terrified as u say of terrorists, why are more of Americans come to middle east and specially Egypt, i will tell u why as Egypt is one safe place and our police force knows how to protect them and maybe we have issues in the country now and still tourism is getting better !! see that’s only a personal opinion

7)thanks to Alex for stating the idea of all human beings do mistakes , thanks so much for pointing this out and if we don’t do mistakes then we are all Gods by then, Egyptians do , Americans do, every one do and their mistakes could be really dump.

thanks for having the time to read and trying to get my point

Mohamed Ahmed on July 1, 2011 at 1:47 am

anyway glenn that is your opinion and you have the right to listen or not to listen and i have the right to write and readers have the right to read or not to read so this is not a propaganda as u claim anyway i guess the USA teaches democracy so feel free to not read my comments and you can search somewhere else then. 😉

Mohamed Ahmed on July 1, 2011 at 2:37 pm

anyway if u think u r right then no need to read all this but if you are ready for a logic decent debate continue reading

what is most important of all u never ever say False Prophet as this is really childish of you and very disrespectful of you
i could start swearing but this ain’t respect at all and i guess anyone over this post will not accept such a reply

u know what i cant blame you , u need to start reading about religion and from your words i guess you have issues with islam and for god’s sake don’t say all America and by the way i only blame the media for this non-sense info
hey glenn, we are humans and we all do mistakes,and for sure there are good muslims out there and there are terrorists and forget this word it is not even related to islam it is a bunch of people who think they are right and they have nothing to do with islam altough they think they are part of it but actually they are not welcome anywhere and they are getting lesser everyday and by the way what happened in 9/11 was a tragedy where the whole world stood a moment of grief for this and we here in Egypt wont be happy if that happened to us and if u read islam i think u will find what is meant by we have no right to kill innocent people for something wrong they do —- and terrorists give themselves the right to kill and this is totally unaccepted and one question for you “why do u think i am writing all this i could simply ignore what u wrote,right?” actually i do this cause i am trying just to clear a point about islam
and by the way at the end you have the full right to accept or reject the idea
N.B: sword and stuff was a way of fighting long long long time ago like ur cowboys they had weapons no longer used same for all old nations and search history of weapons.

Mohamed Ahmed on July 2, 2011 at 1:58 pm

It is not disrespectful to state the facts and the truth. Mohammed was NOT a prophet of God. And that is why he was rejected by the Jews, which in turn set him against the Jews from then on.

I have studied Islam not from the media, but from history, from the Qur’an and other Islamic writings. The media will not tell the truth about the demonic nature of Islam.
Your story about Islam and terrorism is just that – a story.

Most of the world’s Muslims are secular Muslims – they don’t know what their faith teaches and are Muslims because they were either raised that way or forced to be Muslims or die. Those who are true Muslims, those who follow the teaching of Islam, are indeed those who are terrorists and who spread death and destruction in their wake. You preach nothing but politically-correct lies used to deceive the world. You are a propaganda tool for Islam.

Glenn E. Chatfield on July 3, 2011 at 7:59 pm

well what i can conclude that if i kept writing i will not go anywhere with you, so someday you will wake up and know the reality but at the moment all i can say is believe what you want to believe and read what you want to read and regarding propaganda well you have to check your government that keeps on claiming stuff and fighting terrorists and by the way if talking about terrorism, well the USA was the reason behind this long time ago the CIA and FBI were training Bin Laden and then things flipped over and the whole world felt sympathy about the 9/11 but now what happened with Bin Laden was a big move that maybe one day your country will regret as USA only added gas on fire and by the way all the Muslim nation is against this and against killing innocent people and so you have to divert your idea of combing Muslims to terrorists as they are really two different people and if you cant believe such a fact then suit yourself but if you came to any Middle East country i think people will treat you fair and for god’s sake stop thinking that Arabs are after Americans anyway just an advice if you want to state your opinion try not to rephrase it as a fact and if you get a website emphasizing your opinion i can also get a load of websites to emphasize my opinion anyway was nice debating you and if you are ready to listen without your disrespect well i can continue with you till judgment day BUT NEVER COME NEAR OUR PROPHET or you will not mind people insulting the USA and if you asked yourself why don’t muslim insult Jesus and the answer will be that Jesus is mentioned in the Qur’an and we have to respect him as he was also a messenger as our prophet and again for your notice
Not every Muslim is a Terrorist, but Every Terrorist is a muslim
thanks for reading

Mohamed Ahmed on July 4, 2011 at 3:43 am

yeah yeah what so ever , you are disrespectful and i told you before to show some respect and yet you cant express your opinion in a mannerly way so suit yourself with your self-believed ideas you know what i show respect for every religion but actually i cant respect your disrespect so enjoy your blogging with your ideas

Mohamed Ahmed on July 5, 2011 at 2:36 am

glenn, calm yourself down, you truly are disrespectful. i’m an american just like you, we gained their disrespect, we made them hate us, by supporting israel. the american government just keeps saying rumors and lies to the american people like : israel has the right to defend itself, and israel is attacked…….
the europeans kicked them out in the first place and the arabs were like a shelter for them, then to make it up to them, and to make great britain look better in the world, they said they’ll support them. they were on palestinian territory, and they kept attacking since 1948. your problem is that you don’t want to admit that you have nothing to say. you said the stuff mohamed ahmad just told u are “stories”. did you ask yourself if the things you hear aren’t “stories” too? why? it’s because you think you’re the good guy, and they’re the bad guys.
the Christ said that there will be a prophet called Mohamed, and so did Moises .

O.R.A.G on July 5, 2011 at 2:13 pm

OH MY GOD , i am really thankful for such a great guy like u O.R.A.G i really appreciate you standing up for the right words to be spoken cause of people like you the world is civilized.
thanks and really would love to see more of your replies.

Mohamed Ahmed on July 5, 2011 at 3:02 pm

FYI (=For your information) i am a jew
muslims don’t hate jews, but they hate israelis

O.R.A.G on July 5, 2011 at 9:05 pm

and this was definitely an accident, since ATC in 1999, delayed on purpose egyptair 990’s takeoff, so the name of this flight wasn’t listed in the US Air Defence, so it will be on purpose considered as an enemy aircraft. that’s why they hit it and they disturbed the aircraft’s navigation systems and black box, so that the missile doesn’t appear in the black box recordings. and a german pilot in the air close to the flight, saw an object flying towards the plane (the missile). this was a planned murder by the US government to eliminate the egyptian nuclear scientists who have just finished training with other officers and air force pilots . and since Hosny Mubarak’s system was obedient to the US, they hid the facts.

O.R.A.G on July 5, 2011 at 9:15 pm

thanks for pointing out the info that Muslims don’t hate the Jewish religion we only have issues with Israel as they are Zionist and the Qur’an stated that we should respect every other religion and Jew is one of them
you know what you are the one of few people out there who are really blessed with the gift of talking.

well a question for other people “i am a muslim and talking to a jew right now, why i am not insulting him or trying to attack him why ?”
because he is a respectful guy and deserves to be respected and knows what to say and what not to say and knows the facts

thanks O.R.A.G

Mohamed Ahmed on July 6, 2011 at 12:50 am

and one more thing Glenn saying that our prophet is a Satan, this means one thing that you are really disrespectful and u have no manners at all and feel free to say more of that nonsense i will come over here and will completely ignore your claimed facts and specially that very funny fact of yours that there was no palestine and from the start it was only Israel, LMAO that is truly one hell of a funny hilarious fact i think you should right a book man, and even O.R.A.G who is already a Jew said you are wrong , hey man i really enjoy talking to you man and what with the cucumber ?!?

Mohamed Ahmed on July 6, 2011 at 1:45 am

Hey debie. first i would like to tell u that the plane that was BOMBED by the US military under previous orders from israel crash on the 31st of october 1999 and not in november so check your sources first!

second.. you’ve always accused us of being mass murderers whilst your are killing people all over the world.. like in iraq for example. No one will EVER crash a plane for JIHAD.. and for the recorders.. our religion DOES NOT say this AT ALL! so before accusing the muslims and accusing islam of something that COULD happen even if it is 1 in a million.. i suggest you dig deep and start reading about islam a bit.. and also.. for you info.. the plane bombed back in 1999 had 31 military pilots that took training with the us airforce and were NOT meant to come back to EGYPT at ANY COST! and you can confirm what i am saying with the lufthansa pilots that saw the plane being bombed and the missile was aimed at the tail as this is the part responsible for the life and decent, and the turning! so basically by shooting this part the pilots had NO chance of gaining control on the plane.. and thats why they started to say prayers because they knew there was no hope.. and the FBI and the NTSB refused to get the tail out of the ocean and CLAIMED that the ocean currents drifted it away and they cant find it.

Finally, you have MANY ATC errors that occur in JFK airport and you can check Air crash investigation to confirm this.

If you have any question am glade to answer you. tc

Ahmed Adel on July 6, 2011 at 9:50 pm

Thanks Ahmed Adel for a great interference like this and i really appreciate your presence and i really wish all people whether they are Muslims, Christians or Jewish to stand up for the right and not to be blinded by the false facts and media i think you have replied at Glenn more than enough
anyway nice meeting you

Mohamed Ahmed on July 7, 2011 at 8:33 am

WOW,WOW,WOW….guys, cool down a bit….you are all taking this way too far than it already is, what the hell does this issue has to do with religion or politics or anything for that matter…
i want you all to ask yourselves a simple question….if this pilot was deliberate in his act, why did he take the turn then on the runway and stop??….if he was deliberate and mindset on suicide then he should have turned on the runway and applied full power with his plane in the direction of lufthansa plane to insure and maximize his success chances in a crash????right???……..or even better, he could have waited till they were air born – and beyond anyone’s reach – then flew the plane smack into the middle of any building!!!!
but this is not the case….simply it is a mistake, they missed the left turn on the taxiway and turned on the runway by mistake.
In the aviation business, it is well known that 95% of accidents take place on or around airports especially on runways and few miles out of airports….NOW THATS A FACT….
There is a well known incident that takes place hundreds of times every year all around the world(especially in large and comlex international airports like JFK), this incident is called “Runway Incursion”, and by definition, “it is the entry of aircraft or vehicle into a runway intended for use by another aircraft for takeoff or landing”.
The reasons for this “runway incursion” may vary, but they can be due to pilot error, ATC controller error, lack of guidance markings that identify the runway, miss communication, taxi procedures that might be too complex or difficult, ETC….
Now, according to Internatinal Law of aviation, if this runway incursion did not result in loss of life or injuries or damage of equipment or airport facilities, then the flights in question are allowed to continue at their discretion, and the ATC has no right to cancel their flight plans or detain them (if in fact the it was a pilot error)…..however, a report should be filed by all parts involved, each to his designated authorities (in that case Lufthansa pilots to the German civil aviation authority(DGCA), Egyptair pilots to the Egyptian civil aviation authority(ECAA), and JFK ATC controllers to the national transport safety board(NTSB)…….An investigation then is initiated by all authorities and they compare notes to reach the reason of this mistake, and then they come up with some directives to avoid these kind of incidents in the future…..these directives can be anything starting from issuance of directives (notices to pilots) on how to avoid this type of incident, subscribe special training to pilots,all the way to changing the layout of the airport (literally performing construction works on the airport to close intersections or add lighting and marking, etc.)…it all depends on the findings of this investigation.
But they dont just apprehend the pilot and go saying “OFF WITH HIS HEAD!!!!)
We are all HUMANS(even pilots), and its in our nature to err, otherwise there would be no accidents, and you cannot say that all aviation accidents were because of muslim terrorists, this would be stupid and ignorant!!!!
And also you cannot be so intolerant that you regard any mishap involving americans or europians as a mistake, and any mishap involving a muslim pilot as terrorist act….thats just DUMB!!!!
If you need to see the statistics on runway incursion go to this link which is – by the way – on “FAA” website (its a US government – non muslim – website ;)…..)

GEGO on July 8, 2011 at 10:03 am

OH,i got one more thing to say….if you detain or apprehend each and every pilot that makes a mistake, then you should prepare yourself to going back to the days of the chu chu train……CAUSE THERE WILL BE NO PILOTS LEFT IN THE WORLD!!!!….PEACE OUT

GEGO on July 8, 2011 at 10:11 am

The air traffic controller at JFK should have been monitoring the flight’s ground movement keeping a continuous watch on, he should have warned Egypt Air pilot once he veered at a wrong direction correcting his taxi route. This is expected to happen when pilots are not familiar with the airport taxi routing.

Mohamed Desouky on July 8, 2011 at 3:25 pm

the link that shows the number of runway incursions each year in the US alone

http://www.faa.gov/airports/runway_safety/statistics/

GEGO on July 8, 2011 at 6:25 pm

Debbie, first of all I`d like to say that this is the most ridiculous thing I`ve ever read in my life. It is so obvious that you have no idea what you are talking about. You are just blinded by your own hate.

First let me introduce myself, I am a Christian Egyptian Pilot. That`s right, there happens to be christian pilots in Egypt, I know this must be a surprise to you. It is however, not a surprise to many of my educated american friends. I was wondering how you knew the relgious beliefs of the pilot that made the wrong turn?? just a question?? Anyway moving on.

Like many normal human beings, I am devistated by the events of 9/11, I have no words to describe how inhumane and indescent these acts were, or any acts of terroism for that matter.

It is a fact that there are people in the middle east that hate America, I am not one of them. I consider America to be my home, not the bureaucratic goverment but the wonderful country and the amazing people. Like any country in the world there are people that are blinded by hate towards the other. In Egypt, there are people who hate America for many different reasons, and in America there exists that same type of people just like yourself.

You are referring to the Egyptair 990 accident and using it as eveidence that this incident was supposedly an act of Jihad. I dont know where to begin to point out the flaw in your logic if i may actually call it that. But If you would review the 990 evidence correctly you would find that there was no conclusive evidence to prove that El Batooti has committed suicide. The report claimed that this was the cause of the accident because there was no evidence of any other cause. It may have been what we call an elevator hard over, this was not proved because the salvage operations “failed” to find the last of three elevator hydraulic servos. Two of those proved that they were jammed. Had they found the third one jammed, this would prove that this accident was caused by an elevator hard over. So i suggest you do your homework and research more thoroughly and without bias. I am not saying that El Batooti didnt do it. In my country there are many people that are screwed up in the head, uneducated, driven by hate just like yourself. What I`m saying is that there was no conclusive evidence to prove that he did or didnt do it. The odds of that “lost” third elevator jack being also jammed are pretty big given the other two were jammed.

But anyway for argument`s sake, let`s say that El Batooti was a muslim terrorist that killed hundreds of peole.

As a Christian living in a muslim country, I can tell you that I had my fair share of mistreatment. I hate Islamic terrorism more than any american ever will, because over the years we have bled and lost lives more than you ever did in 9/11, afghanistan and Iraq.

But what I also hate, is to see someone like yourself, supposedly educated in the greatest country in the world, that is writing an article like that one, that shows how ignorant you are.

I do not know, how you knew that the pilot that made the wrong turn was muslim. That statement alone shows how ignorant you are. There are many christian pilots at EgyptAir.

But let`s assume that this was a muslim pilot that hates America and is dreaming of the 72 virgins every night. In what illogical part of your thinking, do you think that this pilot will commit suicide on the ground. I mean, this is a pilot, that flies almost every other week to New York and can do more than crash a plane into another plane on the ground were survivability of passengers is possible. Why wouldnt he do it in the air, in another aircraft?, why wouldnt he crash in a building and have 9/11 all over again?. As a pilot, let me tell you that crossing the atlantic, traffic is so close to each other that a collsion is very possible if pilots and ATCs are not careful?..and this guy is crossing the atlantic twice every flight. So why didnt he do it then, where survivability is almost impossible.

Your claims and accusations are nothing but ridiculous and here`s also why, I fly among many american jets all over the world, and I can tell you with great honesty and confidence that they make mistakes more than you would think and mistakes far more serious than a wrong turn. I do symapthize with them though. English in some parts of the world is hard to understand. But the bottomline is piltos make mistakes all around the world all nationalities. Simply, because we are human beings. We go through hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of training throuout our career to make sure mistakes dont happen, but mistakes do happen.

What happened in New York that day was in my professional opinion a minor incident and a mistake. Like the many mistakes that Delta, American, British Airways pilots make. This is just the nature of our profession.

I dont suppose you heard about the American pilot on the Fedex flight 705, that wanted to commit suicide. I urge you to go read about it. I think you will find that suicide pilots can also be American. So does this mean that any American pilot that does a mistake can be thinking of suicide, or is your logic not applicable here? How about the Northwest pilots that fell asleep and overshot the runway?? Kinf of serious and funny mistake isnt it??

You speak of “other” accidents of EgyptAir follwoing 990 that have terroist fingers all over them. Excuse me but you re only illogical and biased but you are also a liar.There has been only one accident after 990, that was caused by a poorly executed VOR approach in bad weather at a challenging airport. Suicide was not even considered as a possibility according to american investigations but you dont do you Debbie?

I am sorry to say that your article lacks professionalism and is a perfect example of an ignorant uneducated individual that is just out to cast her hatred on all her readers.

I love America very much, and I am truly sorry that you are an American. You are no different than the muslim terrorists.

GoodBye.

Tamer on November 27, 2011 at 9:24 am