As the crash Catastrophe occurred Presence in international waters , it was investigated Criminal_investigation by the Ministry of Civil Aviation 's Egyptian Civil Aviation Agency ( ECAA ) under International Civil Aviation Organization rules .

As the ECAA lacked the resources of the much larger U.S. National Transportation Safety Board ( NTSB ) , the Egyptian government asked Request the NTSB to handle Hold the investigation Criminal_investigation .

The ECAA concluded Coming_to_believe that the incident Catastrophe was caused Causation by mechanical failure of the aircraft 's elevator control Control system .

The ECAA 's report Reporting suggested Statement several control Control failure scenarios as possible causes Causation of the crash Catastrophe , focusing Aiming on a possible failure of one of the right elevator 's power control Control units .