Information from the flight data recorder showed that when the plane reached 21,000 feet, the two elevators that help direct the plane were set in different positions. Nance said that one possible explanation for this is that the pilot may have been trying to bring the plane back up while the co-pilot wanted to force it down. The plane s engines were cut off moments later and when the plane reached 16,000 feet, it began to rise again. Radar data indicated that the plane rose back to about 22,000 feet before it turned and dropped into the ocean. Nance said that the crash was now looking like a SilkAir incident.
Investigators suspect the pilot crashed the plane on purpose.
Weather Hinders Search Crews trying to recover clues in Flight 990 s wreckage were thwarted today because of weather a common problem in the crash site efforts in the two weeks since the plane went down, said Navy Chief Petty Officer Jack O Neill. All the ships have been moved from the area because the sea state is so terrible out there, he said. Navy crews had completed preliminary mapping of the ocean floor, O Neill said, and started looking more closely at areas that look like they could be something. But there have been no major finds so far, O Neill said. It s usually just clam beds, he said.