Missing Flight ???

[Kip Powick]

11:15pm EDT...From CNN..

 

(CNN)An EgyptAir flight heading from Paris to Cairo has disappeared from radar, the airline tweeted.

 

 

An EgyptAir plane has disappeared from radar on a flight between France and Egypt, the airline has confirmed.

Flight MS804 took off from Paris at 11.09pm on Wednesday local time (7.09am AEDT), and was scheduled to land in Cairo at 3.15am on Thursday.

However EgyptAir said in a statement that it had "disappeared from radar". There are 59 passengers and 10 crew members on the flight, the airline said.

Edited May 19, 2016 by Kip Powick

[dagger]

It went off radar 80 miles from the Egyptian air space

 

 

Edited May 19, 2016 by dagger

[Kasey]

https://www.flightradar24.com/data/flights/ms804/#9c0b766

[Kasey]

http://avherald.com/h?article=4987fb09&opt=0

 

A320 0r B737 8 ? Conflicting reports??

 

[Moon The Loon]

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/world/flight-from-paris-to-cairo-missing-egyptair-says/article30089315/

They (Egyptian authority) are still in denial of the last one. Hopefully not a recurrence. Best wishes to all on board.

[Guest]

Quote

An EgyptAir flight reported missing between Paris and Cairo has crashed, French President Francois Hollande confirmed.

The Airbus A320 with 66 people on board disappeared from radar at 02:30 Cairo time (00:30 GMT), soon after leaving Greek airspace.

Greece's defence minister says Flight MS804 made "sharp turns" and plunged before dropping off the radar.

A major search is under way in seas south of the Greek island of Karpathos.

Greek and Egyptian armed forces are involved in the effort, and France has offered to send boats and planes.

Mr Hollande said he was keeping an open mind about the cause of the crash.

"We will draw conclusions when we have the truth about what happened," he said.

"Whether it was an accident, or whether it was - and it's something that is on our minds - terrorism."

There were 56 passengers - including three children - seven crew members and three security personnel on board. They included 30 Egyptians, 15 French citizens and a Briton.

Flight MS804 left Charles de Gaulle airport in Paris at 23:09 local time on Wednesday (21:09 GMT) and was scheduled to arrive in the Egyptian capital soon after 03:15 local time on Thursday.

EgyptAir said the plane had been flying at 11,300m (37,000ft) when it disappeared from radar shortly after entering Egyptian airspace.

Aviation officials in Greece said earlier that air traffic controllers had spoken to the pilot a few minutes earlier and everything had appeared normal.

But Greece's Defence Minister Panos Kammenos told a news conference that soon after entering Egyptian airspace, the plane had turned "90 degrees left and 360 degrees to the right" before plunging.

Image copyright AP Image caption ... and at Paris Charles de Gaulle airport

There was some earlier confusion over whether a distress signal had been sent by the plane.

Egypt's state-run newspaper al-Ahram quoted an EgyptAir statement as saying the Egyptian army's rescue and search had received a distress call from the plane at 04:26 local time - which would be around two hours after the flight disappeared.

But Egypt's military subsequently said that no such signal had been received.

 

EgyptAir flight MS804

Passengers' nationalities

66

people on board - 56 passengers, seven crew members and three security personnel

 

 

• 30 Egyptians

• 15 French citizens2 Iraqis

• 1 from Britain, Canada, Belgium, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Algeria, Sudan, Chad and Portugal

Source: EgyptAir

PA

---

Analysis by Frank Gardner, BBC security correspondent

The spectre of terrorism inevitably looms over this latest aviation tragedy.

While there is no evidence yet to indicate a malicious attack, it was only seven months ago that the Islamic State (IS) group planted a bomb that brought down a Russian passenger jet over the Sinai.

IS have vowed to continue targeting the Egyptian state and westerners who visit Egypt.

In a different but also malicious incident in 1999 a disturbed EgyptAir co-pilot put a Boeing passenger plane into a fatal dive off the US coast killing all 217 people onboard, though the Egyptian government continues to say it was a mechanical failure.

However at this stage investigators will be keeping an open mind about the cause of the plane's disappearance, including checking the maintenance record of the airframe.

---

Some of the relatives of those on board gathered at airports in Cairo and Paris to wait for news.

Mr Hollande had earlier spoken to his Egyptian counterpart and both leaders were holding emergency meetings with their top officials, according to reports from both countries.

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Media captionIan Petchenik from Flightradar24 explains how planes are tracked

Flightradar24 listed details of the plane's journey on Wednesday which showed it had flown from Asmara, in Eritrea, to Cairo, then on to Tunis, in Tunisia, before heading, via Cairo, to Paris.

Aviation analyst Alex Macheras told the BBC that Airbus A320s were regularly used for short-haul budget flights and had "an amazing safety record".

 

[Kip Powick]

Any 'arm-chair-quarterbacks' with opinions yet......?

Mine...... in no particular order but I do lean toward one of the scenarios below....

***terrorist attack in cockpit

***mechanical failure

***another pilot who wants to meet 70 virgins

***explosion

[Moon The Loon]

2 hours ago, Kip Powick said:

***another pilot who wants to meet 70 virgins...

I always thought it was one 70 year old virgin

[DEFCON]

[Kip Powick]

Wreckage Found...............

 

http://www.cnn.com/2016/05/18/middleeast/egyptair-flight-disappears/index.html

[conehead]

It's Malaysia 370!

[DEFCON]

Just speculation based on the media commentary currently available.

1. Explosive event causes aircraft to roll sharply left.

2. Right wing is shed.

3. Aircraft rolls sharply right while continuing to fall vertically in tight spiral.

 

.

[acsidestick]

In a level or climbing turn, the high wing stalls first and drops, the aircraft spins down rapidly in the opposite direction of the initial turnand accompany huge altitude loss, but high speed turning stalls are pretty rare on an Airbus.

[Guest]

Quote

Debris from the missing EgyptAir flight has been found floating in the Mediterranean, Egyptian officials say.

Flight MS804 was en route from Paris to Cairo with 66 passengers and crew when it vanished early on Thursday.

Egypt's army spokesman said wreckage and passenger belongings were found 290km (180 miles) from Alexandria.

Greek Defence Minister Panos Kammenos said a body part, two seats and at least one suitcase had been found.

The items were found slightly to the south of the area where the plane disappeared from radars on Thursday, Mr Kammenos said.

The search is now focused on finding the plane's flight recorders, the Associated Press news agency reports.

In a statement, President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi spoke of his "utmost sadness and regret" at the crash.

• Live: Latest updates
• Who were the victims?
• Crash fuels fears and theories
• EgyptAir's troubled recent history

Greek, Egyptian, French and UK military units have been taking part in a search operation near Greece's Karpathos island.

Greece said radar showed the Airbus A320 had made two sharp turns and dropped more than 25,000ft (7,620m) before plunging into the sea.

---

The focus of the investigation

Egypt says the plane was more likely to have been brought down by a terrorist act than a technical fault.

However, there has been "absolutely no indication" so far as to why the plane came down, French Foreign Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault said on Friday morning.

Three investigators from the French air accident investigation bureau, along with a technical adviser from Airbus, have joined the Egyptian inquiry.

In France, the focus is on whether a possible breach of security happened at Paris Charles de Gaulle airport.

After last November's Paris attacks, some airport staff had their security clearance revoked over fears of links to Islamic extremists.

Eric Moutet, a lawyer for some of those employees, told the BBC that there had been attempts by Islamists to recruit airport staff.

"That is clear. There are people who are being radicalised in some of the trade unions, etc. The authorities have their work cut out with this problem," he said.

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-36339821

Media captionAviation experts give their views on what may have happened to EgyptAir flight MS804

In October, an Airbus A321 operated by Russia's Metrojet blew up over Egypt's Sinai Peninsula, killing all 224 people on board. Sinai Province, a local affiliate of the Islamic State jihadist group, said it had smuggled a bomb on board.

French President Francois Hollande said: "We will draw conclusions when we have the truth about what happened.

"Whether it was an accident, or whether it was - and it's something that is on our minds - terrorism."

---

What do we know about what happened?

Flight MS804 left Paris at 23:09 local time on Wednesday (21:09 GMT) and was scheduled to arrive in the Egyptian capital soon after 03:15 local time (01:15 GMT) on Thursday.

On the plane were 56 passengers, seven crew members and three security personnel.

Greek aviation officials say air traffic controllers spoke to the pilot when he entered Greek airspace and everything appeared normal.

They tried to contact him again at 02:27 Cairo time, as the plane was set to enter Egyptian airspace, but "despite repeated calls, the aircraft did not respond". Two minutes later it vanished from radar.

 

Media captionWhat happened to flight MS804? Richard Westcott examines the evidence so far

Mr Kammenos, the Greek defence minister, told reporters on Thursday: "The picture we have at the moment of the accident as it emerges from the Greek air force operations centre is that the aircraft was approximately 10-15 miles inside the Egyptian FIR [flight information region] and at an altitude of 37,000 feet.

"It turned 90 degrees left and then a 360-degree turn toward the right, dropping from 37,000 to 15,000 feet and then it was lost at about 10,000 feet."

Egyptian Aviation Minister Sherif Fathi said: "Let's not try to jump to the side that is trying to identify this as a technical failure - on the contrary.

"If you analyse the situation properly, the possibility of having a different action, or having a terror attack, is higher than the possibility of having a technical [fault]."

The BBC's transport correspondent Richard Westcott said much remains uncertain - the fact the plane swerved and dropped height could indicate a fight in the cockpit, or a struggle to control the plane. But each theory presents its own problems, he said.

One troubling aspect, he said, is an apparent 12-minute gap between the crew no longer speaking to air traffic control and the aircraft dropping from the radar.

---

Who were the victims?

 

Quote

 

EgyptAir flight MS804

Passengers' nationalities

66

people on board - 56 passengers, seven crew members and three security personnel

 

 

• 30 Egyptians

• 15 French citizens

• 2 Iraqis

• 1 from Britain, Canada, Belgium, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Algeria, Sudan, Chad and Portugal

Source: EgyptAir

 

[Kip Powick]

Interesting info over here..ACARS etc.

http://www.avherald.com/h?article=4987fb09&opt=4096

 

[dagger]

Smoke in the nose is interesting. And warnings over a near three minute span. No theorizing on my part.

[Moon The Loon]

What kind of batteries are on the A320? NiCad or gel-cel lead acid?

A thermal runaway of a NiCad would initially produce smoke followed by an explosion if unattended to. Smoke SHOULD have been detected in EE bay first but maybe lav detector was more sensitive.

Still, a mystery at this point in time.

I'm hoping it is not terrorist related but the sudden turn followed by a reverse spiral to oblivion may be too much to sustain that hope.

[mo32a]

^I'm thinking batteries as well. Fire in the avionics bay rendering controls useless?

[Moon The Loon]

Had a friend who had an inverter fry up on a 767 about 10 years ago. "D'ya smell something?" was the only indication of the fire. By the time they got their masks on and an accompanying AME from the flight deck climbed into the EE bay (~5 minutes), the fire had burnt itself out. The AME's facial expression hasn't changed to this day. Pretty scary stuff...

[conehead]

I've spent a lot of time in the E/E Bay of the A320.  It's hard to imagine a raging fire developing down there.  Sure, boxes occasionally overheat and die, but... Hmmm....

[Guest]

BBC Update

EgyptAir: Submarine searches for missing flight data recorders

• 2 hours ago
• From the section Middle East

EgyptAir disaster

• EgyptAir flight MS804: What we know

  21 May 2016
• EgyptAir crash fuels fears and theories

  20 May 2016
• Who were the victims of MS804?

  21 May 2016
• MS804 passenger 'almost missed flight'

  20 May 2016

Egypt has deployed a submarine to search for the flight data recorders of the missing EgyptAir plane.

"We are moving hard to retrieve the two boxes," President Abdul Fattah al-Sisi said in his first public comments on the crash.

The Airbus A320 was en route from Paris to Cairo with 66 people aboard when it vanished from radar early on Thursday.

Mr Sisi said there was "no particular theory we can affirm right now" for what caused flight MS804 to crash.

Investigators say smoke was detected in various parts of the cabin three minutes before it disappeared.

Egypt's civil aviation minister has said the possibility of a terror attack was stronger than technical failure, but Mr Sisi said establishing the cause could take a long time, adding "all scenarios are possible".

The Egyptian military released images on Saturday of life vests, personal items and debris showing the EgyptAir logo which were found during the search in the Mediterranean Sea.

• Who were the victims?
• The problem with fires on planes
• The passenger who almost missed the flight
• The internet fakes and rumours

 

The search has also reportedly found body parts and luggage.

The main body of the plane and the two "black boxes" which record flight data and cockpit transmissions have not yet been located.

The Aviation Herald said that smoke detectors had gone off in the toilet and the aircraft's electronics before the signal was lost.

It said it had received flight data filed through the Aircraft Communications Addressing and Reporting System (ACARS) from three independent channels.

It said the system showed that at 02:26 local time on Thursday (00:26 GMT) smoke was detected in the jet's toilet.

A minute later - at 00:27 GMT - there was an avionics alert indicating smoke in the bay below the cockpit that contains aircraft electronics and computers.

The last ACARS message was at 00:29 GMT, the air industry website said, and the contact with the plane was lost four minutes later at 02:33 local time.

ACARS is used to routinely download flight data to the airline operating the aircraft.

Agency spokesman Sebastien Barthe said the messages "generally mean the start of a fire" but added: "We are drawing no conclusions from this. Everything else is pure conjecture."

Philip Baum, the editor of Aviation Security International Magazine, told the BBC that technical failure could not be ruled out.

"There was smoke reported in the aircraft lavatory, then smoke in the avionics bay, and over a period of three minutes the aircraft's systems shut down, so you know, that's starting to indicate that it probably wasn't a hijack, it probably wasn't a struggle in the cockpit, it's more likely a fire on board."

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-36353489  contains also come videos

Media captionRichard Westcott reports from a 'black box' investigation centre in the UK

Greece says radar shows the Airbus A320 making two sharp turns and dropping more than 25,000ft (7,620m) before plunging into the sea.

The search is now focused on finding the plane's flight recorders, in waters between 2,500m-3,000m deep.

In October, an Airbus A321 operated by Russia's Metrojet blew up over Egypt's Sinai Peninsula, killing all 224 people on board.

Sinai Province, a local affiliate of the Islamic State jihadist group, said it had smuggled a bomb on board.

If anyone is concerned about relatives or friends following the disappearance of the flight, they can call this free number provided by EgyptAir: +202 259 89320

[Moon The Loon]

This, from today's Globe, sounds ominous:

"At 3:12 a.m., the plane passed over the Greek island of Kasos before heading into the eastern Mediterranean, according to flight data maintained by FlightRadar24.

Less than 15 minutes later, about midway between Greece and Egypt, a sensor detected smoke in a lavatory and a fault in two of the plane’s cockpit windows, according to leaked flight data published by The Aviation Herald." (Highlight mine)

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/world/egyptair-jet-sent-smoke-alarm-warnings-before-crash/article30114691/

 

[DEFCON]

With all the emphasis on security I am amazed that aircraft tracking sights like 'Flight Aware' are allowed at all. Someone could wait until the aircraft is appropriately positioned over deep water and then make a phone call ... boom!

FOX News is reporting that a message had been previously spray painted on this aircraft by person(s) unknown in Arabic, which advised that this particular aircraft  would be taken down.

 

  

[J.O.]

34 minutes ago, DEFCON said:

FOX News is reporting that a message had been previously spray painted on this aircraft by person(s) unknown in Arabic, which advised that this particular aircraft  would be taken down.

Providing more fodder for Trump's insane ramblings.

[flyinghigh]

5 minutes ago, J.O. said:

Providing more fodder for Trump's insane ramblings.

But isn't it amazing how much fodder there is. New fodder almost every day from the religion of peace.

Here is some fodder: "Last December around 70 red badges were withdrawn from staff at Charles de Gaulle who were found to have praised the attacks in Paris, prayed at mosques linked to radicalism or showing signs of growing religiosity like refusing to shake hands with women."

I'm sorry, did you say something about insanity?