INVESTIGATE,  INVESTIGATE – AT 9:28 A.M. ET:  A tragedy of substantial proportions has been narrowly averted at JFK International Airport in New York, and it cries out for an intense, politically incorrect investigation.  Read the story and hear the recording:

Air traffic control tower audio conveys the frightening exchange between the tower at John F. Kennedy International Airport and a Lufthansa flight as the airbus came dangerously close to colliding with another jet.

The incident happened at about 6:30 p.m. Monday when an EgyptAir pilot apparently did not follow air traffic control instructions to hold short of its taxiway and veered into the path of the other plane, according to the Federal Aviation Administration.

"Egypt Air 986, a B777, did not follow ATC instructions to hold short of Taxiway D. As a result, air traffic canceled the takeoff clearance for Lufthansa 411, an A346 on Runway 22R," FAA spokesman spokesman Jay Blackman said.

The Lufthansa flight had been cleared for take-off moments before the EgyptAir plane veered into its path, and the pilots had to slam on the brakes to avoid a crash, reports The New York Post.

"Cancel take off! Cancel take-off plans!" shouted an air controller who saw the Munich-bound Lufthansa plane barreling toward the EgyptAir flight.

COMMENT:  Urgent Agenda is not a red-meat site.  We don't scream here.  At the same time, may we cautiously suggest that one factor that must be examined is whether EgyptAir 986 intentionally rolled into the path of the onrushing Lufthansa jet.  The story plainly reports that the EgyptAir crew "did not follow" instructions to stop.  Why didn't it follow those instructions? 

I refer to the strange case of EgyptAir 990, which plunged into the Atlantic Ocean on October 31, 1999, killing all 217 people on board.  Our own National Transportation Safety Board found, based on clear and convincing evidence, that the crash was intentional, the suicidal actions of the first officer, who was flying the plane while the pilot was out of the cockpit.  Both the voice and data recorders were recovered, and NTSB could come to no other conclusion but that intentional action by the first officer caused the crash.  He could be heard on the voice recorder muttering a Muslim prayer.

Egypt, of course, disagreed, blaming the crash on mechanical problems.  But NTSB countered that no mechanical problems showed up on any of the retrieved data, and the mechanical issues theorized by Egyptian "investigators" could easily be overcome.  The American press, to its politically correct disgrace, did not pursue the story very far.

Could this be a repeat?  Could it be a "martyrdom operation"?  I raise the questions but make no charges.  I don't have the facts.  But let's get them, starting with an investigation of the backgrounds of the EgyptAir crew.  And no political correctness. 

June 22, 2011