/ 1 November 1999

BOEING’S ASSEMBLERS WERE ‘FATIGUED’

THE EgyptAir 767 that plunged into the Atlantic Ocean off the US coast on Sunday rolled off Boeing Co.’s assembly line immediately before another 767 jetliner that crashed eight years ago in a Thailand jungle. Both planes were completed just days before Boeing’s aircraft assemblers went on strike, complaining of fatigue because they were forced to work too much overtime. The 1991 Lauda Air crash was caused when a mechanism designed to brake the plane on the ground deployed in the air. The EgyptAir model 767-300ER, was assembled at Boeing’s Everett plane factory in September 1989, the 282nd 767 to be built. The 767-300ER for Austria’s Lauda Air left the factory about two weeks later. Boeing Commercial Airplane Group spokesman Doug Webb said the company has no reason to think anything was wrong with aircraft assembled at that time. However, the planes were built during one of the most turbulent times in the company’s history. Distraught relatives are still waiting at Cairo airport for news of the 217 EgyptAir passengers feared dead. American police have begun an emergency investigation into possible links between Sunday’s crash and a warning two months ago that a bomb would “soon be used” on a flight out of Los Angeles or New York.