But investigators say it was Batouti who flew the plane as it fell into its terrifying final dive. As a consequence, FBI agents are quietly looking into his life–and their interviews at the Hotel Pennsylvania have turned up some questionable episodes. NEWSWEEK’s sources say the FBI has heard allegations that Batouti sometimes had too much to drink and that one or more female employees of the hotel complained about unwanted sexual advances. Batouti’s relatives insist he was a good Muslim and a staunch family man. A hotel official said she didn’t know what the FBI had found, and an EgyptAir spokesman had no comment. Chef Wasef said some EgyptAir pilots drank beer in his restaurant, but that he had never seen Batouti drinking alcohol or chasing women. “Every Egyptian is a womanizer,” Wasef said. “It’s no big deal for us.”
Even if the stories are true, a senior U.S. investigator conceded, there is no suggestion that Batouti had any motive to kill himself. And that means FBI agents will continue to sift through the lives of Batouti and his fellow crew members, just as investigators for the National Transportation Safety Board plan to sift through the wreckage when it is recovered. Weather permitting, a salvage ship will begin pulling up debris this week, and the NTSB hopes to retrieve as much as 90 percent of the wreckage. Meanwhile, experts are nearly finished transcribing the voice-recorder tape that captured Batouti’s prayers as the plane began its dive. Though enigmatic, that tape still seems to be a key to deciphering the disaster.
