by his colleagues to the NTSB during the Flight 990 investigation, he did not want to be promoted because, as senior first officer, he could get his preferred flight schedules, which assisted with his family situation. Despite not being promoted to captain, he was often called by that title because of his previous experience at the Egypt Aviation Academy. Flight 990 While Al-Batouti was momentarily alone in the cockpit when Captain Ahmed El-Habashi went to the lavatory, the aircraft suddenly went into a rapid dive nose-first, resulting in weightlessness (zero-g) throughout the cabin. Despite this, Captain El-Habashi was able to fight the lack of gravity and re-enter the cockpit. The speed of the 767 was now dangerously close to breaking the sound barrier and entering mach speed, exceeding its design limits and beginning to weaken its airframe. The captain pulled back on his control column and applied full power to the engines, but neither action had any effect due to the aircraft's speed and the engines having been shut down. The captain then deployed the speedbrakes, which slowed the aircraft's dive, bringing it back to a safer speed. However, these abrupt maneuvers resulted in the aircraft entering a steep climb, causing g-forces to push the passengers and crew into their seats. Both engines then stopped completely, causing the aircraft to lose all electrical power and both flight recorders to stop at this point. The aircraft then fell into another steep dive and huge mechanical stress caused the left engine to separate from the wing. The aircraft began to break apart in midair at and debris crashed into the Atlantic Ocean at 1:52 am EST. All 217 people on board were killed. Some of Al-Batouti's final recorded words on the cockpit voice recorder (CVR) were "Tawkalt ala Allah" (), which can be translated as "I rely on God", 11 times. This phrase can also be interpreted as "I entrust myself unto God," hinting that he knew he was facing death, giving credence to the theory that he deliberately crashed the aircraft. Investigators learned from another pilot that Al-Batouti was supposedly reprimanded for repeated inappropriate behaviour with female guests at the Hotel Pennsylvania, a New York City hotel often used by EgyptAir crews. Hatem Roushdy, the EgyptAir official said to be responsible for the alleged reprimand, was a passenger on Flight 990. Investigators confirmed that shortly before the flight, Roushdy revoked Al-Batouti's