A theory, based on some things I read about the "suicide pilot" of Egyptian Air Flight 900: What if a terrorist organization contacted an airline pilot and threatened to kill all of his family members unless he "suicides" on a certain flight that they name?
What if these terrorists show the airline pilot photographs they have taken of each of his family members - his wife, his children at their schools, his brothers, his sisters, his parents
And these terrorists tell him: "Even if you contact police, you will never find us, and we will still kill your family members. If you crash the plane, we will not harm your family."
I know it sounds like a Tom Clancy novel. But isn't life getting to be more and more like a Tom Clancy novel nowadays?
Egypt Air pilot was 59 years old, came from a socially prominent and wealthy family. He had a military background and had flown as a pilot in two wars. After that he taught aviation while in the military. Then went to work for Egypt Air. He had five children, two boys in college, one of whom was scheduled to be married in two months. He had a 10 yr. old daughter who suffered from lupus and was being treated in the U.S. He owned a villa outside of Cairo and a beach house. He was about to retire in about 6 mo. or so and was entitled to a generous retirement package from Egypt Air. He was known within his family as being the patriarch and helped many family members in terms of being supportive to them, including financially. His family members each said he was one of the last people they eve thought would commit suicide.
A rumor that went around, denied by Air Egypt, is that he had been involved in the sexual harassment of a maid at the hotel he stayed at while on layover in New York. As the rumor goes, he was told that he would not be allowed to fly into the U.S. ever again and/or he would be fired.
Quite frankly, I would find it hard to believe that Air Egypt would fire or even officially reprimand a senior male pilot for harassing a maid. And this was in 1999! I think it more likely that the members of the Air Egypt good-old-boys pilot club would laugh at him. It surely does not sound like something that would lead him to take a planeload of people down.
And this guy said a prayer prior to changing the controls of the plane, and again said the prayer another 9 times during the final descent into the ocean.
If this current crash turns out to be a pilot suicide, it needs to be looked at very, very carefully.
