Middle East

What caused EgyptAir flight MS804 to crash?

What caused EgyptAir flight MS804 to crash?

Aviation officials say the EgyptAir flight from Paris to Cairo with 66 passengers and crew on board has crashed.

It was last detected over the Mediterranean Sea. Search and rescue operations have been launched, and French prosecutors have opened an official investigation.

Egypt’s aviation minister has said the possibility that the crash was the result of a terror attack is “stronger” than the theory it was the result of technical failure.

An Egyptian search plane has located two orange items believed to be from the flight, 230 miles southeast of Crete within Egyptian airspace, according to Greek authorities.

President Francois Hollande has said “no hypothesis is ruled out or favoured,” including the possibility the plane was downed by a terrorist attack.

What we know about the journey of the plane so far:

  • Flight MS804 left Charles De Gaulle Airport at 11.09pm Paris time (10.09pm BST).It was 10 miles into Egyptian airspace when it disappeared at around 2:30 am Egypt time (1:30am BST), flying in clear skies.
  • Greek authorities have said it then fell 22,000 feet and “swerved sharply” in Egyptian airspace.
    “The plane carried out a 90-degree turn to the left and a 360-degree turn to the right, falling from 37,000 to 15,000 feet and the signal was lost at around 10,000 feet,” defence minister Panos Kammenos said.
  • The plane was carrying 56 passengers and 10 crew. Among them were 30 Egyptians, 15 French, two Iraqis, and one each from Algeria, Britain, Belgium, Canada, Chad, Kuwait, Portugal, Saudi Arabia and Sudan. The airline said two babies and one child were on board.
  • The Airbus A320 was built in 2003 and was on its fifth journey of the day. It had clocked 48,000 flight hours. The captain has 6,275 flying hours, including 2,101 on the A320, EgyptAir said. The copilot has 2,766.

Theories

  • So far no cause has been established, but aviation experts have suggested the crash could have been the result of terrorism.
  • Experts told AFP that the chances of a mechanical malfunction in the disappearance are slim.
    “A major technical fault – the explosion of a motor, for instance – seems improbable,” said aeronautics expert Gerard Feldzer, underlining that the A320 in question was “relatively new”, having entered service in 2003.
    “In addition, the A320 has an excellent safety record as the best-selling, medium-range airliner in the world. An A320 takes off or lands every 30 seconds around the world.”
  • “It’s a modern plane, the incident happened in mid-flight in extremely stable conditions. The quality of the maintenance and the quality of the plane are not in question in this incident,” Jean-Paul Troadec, former director of France’s aviation Bureau of Investigation and Analysis, told Europe 1 radio.
    Egyptair “is a company with authorisation to operate in Europe, so it is not on any blacklist,” he added.
  • It was also unlikely the plane was shot down, experts said, as the region is one of the most monitored in the world and it would be hard to conceal such an attack.
    “The first thing to do is to recover debris that will give us some indications on the accident… to see if there are any traces of explosives.” Gerard Feldzer said.

Timeline

Greece’s civil aviation authority has released a timeline of plane’s journey over Greece:

  1. 02:24 (00:24 BST) – EgyptAir flight 804 from Paris to Cairo enters Greek airspace, air traffic controller permissions it for the remainder of its course.
  2. 02:48 (00:28 BST) – The flight is transferred to the next air traffic control sector and is cleared for exit from Greek airspace. “The pilot was in good spirits and thanked the controller in Greek.”
  3. 03:27 (1:27 BST) – Athens air traffic control tries to contact the aircraft to convey information on the switch of communications and control from Athens to Cairo air traffic.
  4. In spite of repeated calls, the aircraft does not respond, whereupon the air traffic controller calls the distress frequency, without a response from the aircraft.
  5. 03:29 (1:29 BST) – It is above the exit point (from Greek airspace).
  6. 03:39:40 (1:39 BST) – The aircraft signal is lost.
  7. Immediately the assistance of radars of the Hellenic Air Force is requested to detect the target, without result.
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