In addition, pilots who flew the plane on flights shortly before the crash reported a flickering light on an air-conditioning system, and two tyres were replaced at a stop in Los Angeles. The three items were logged on a maintenance report. Investigators hope to gain vital clues by recovering the plane's flight data and cockpit voice recorders from the bottom of the ocean. All 217 people aboard the Cairo-bound flight were killed when the plane plummeted mysteriously into the sea half an hour after leaving New York early on Sunday. The thrust reversers are designed to slow a plane on landing by reversing engine air flow.
Federal regulations allow aircraft to fly with only one operating thrust reverser.
An accidental mid-flight thrust reverser deployment was blamed for the 1991 crash of another Boeing 767 that came off the assembly line in 1989 immediately after the EgyptAir jet. After the 1991 crash, Boeing redesigned the mechanism that controls the thrust reverser. EgyptAir said the plane used for Flight 990 underwent the modification in 1993. Investigators have interviewed the pilots who flew the plane on three flights before the fatal crash, Mr Hall said. The pilots had reported that all the flights were normal and there were no problems with the aircraft, he said.