On May 19, 2016, an Egyptair plane crashed into the waters of the Mediterranean Sea. The liner flew from Paris to Cairo. There were 56 passengers and 10 crew members on board. They all died.
Incident
On the night of Wednesday to Thursday, May 19, 2016, a plane crashed over the Mediterranean Sea in Egypt. It was a flight from Paris to the capital of Egypt - the city of Cairo.
According to media reports, 66 people went on the flight, 56 of them are passengers, and 10 people are crew members. Among the persons making the flight are citizens of Egypt, Canada, Kuwait, Great Britain, France and other countries. There were no Russians on the plane.
By the end of Thursday, exact information about what happened was not provided. Initially, the Egyptian airline said that the plane disappeared from the radar at 4 am. Later, a representative of the Ministry of Civil Aviation of the country provided information that the plane gave distress signals at 6 o'clock in the morning. After some time, the Egyptian military denied the fact that anysignals from the missing liner.
Crash Site
The waters of the Mediterranean are that ill-fated place. Egypt plane crash happened there. According to the airline, the plane was refueled before the flight with fuel, which would be enough for it for about 10 hours of flight. No refueling landings were made. For this reason, the search for the aircraft and the victims was launched in the Mediterranean Sea.
In the afternoon, representatives of Greece announced that they had found the remains of parts of the aircraft. The find was made in the place where the aircraft was last seen by radar.
In the evening of the same day, representatives of the airline initially denied this information, but after a few hours they nevertheless confirmed that the information was correct. At 8 pm, an official announcement was made that the plane had been found.
According to the latest radar data, the vehicle was flying at an altitude of 11 km at a speed of about 980 km per hour at the time of the fall.
Pilot Information
Both pilots had sufficient experience and seniority. The chief pilot had 6.3 thousand flight hours behind him, and the second - 2.8. On Airbus A320 aircraft, the pilot made 2.1 thousand flight hours. This confirms that inexperienced pilots cannot be called.
Details of what happened
An Egyptian Airways plane took off from French territory at 0:10 am (Moscow time). He was expected on the spot at 4hours 15 minutes (Moscow time). However, the aircraft disappeared from the observation zone 30 minutes before the expected landing. According to representatives of Greece, the plane turned sharply, after which it went into a tailspin and disappeared from the radar. The plane crash in Egypt (pictured above) happened a couple of minutes after the liner left the borders of Greece.
According to the captain of a sea merchant ship that was nearby (240 km away), a flash of light similar to an explosion occurred in the sky. A video has even been published on the Internet, which was filmed from the ship. It shows a flash of light in the sky and its fall into the waters of the Mediterranean Sea. Details and footage are undergoing lengthy review.
Liner condition
Airbus planes are considered quite reliable. The manufacturer reported that Egyptian Airways purchased the vehicle in 2003. Prior to this, the liner managed to fly almost 50 thousand hours. The aircraft has not yet exhausted its technical resource.
The flight from Paris to the capital of Egypt was the fifth for the liner in a day. Three years ago, an Egyptian Airways Airbus A320 had engine problems, according to Egyptian news. The vehicle was flying from Cairo to Istanbul. However, due to a breakdown, the aircraft was forced to return to its point of departure. The reason was a malfunction of one of the engines.
Aircraft malfunctions
According to the French edition, on the Airbus A320 the day before the tragedy, problems with the smoke system were recorded three times. The information was obtained through the ACARS system, whichused to transmit messages between the aircraft and stations located on the ground. However, there were no complaints from aircraft personnel about malfunctions.
The malfunctions were recorded when the aircraft flew over Eritrea, Tunisia, Egypt and France. In the toilet room, as well as in the onboard compartment, smoke detectors turned on.
According to experts, the sensors could previously be triggered by smoke, some aerosols or steam. However, recently their design has been finalized, and therefore such incidents have not been repeated. If smoke detectors are triggered, some safety features may be disabled, including automatic flight control protection.
According to a well-known American publication, a similar incident occurred with a United States aircraft five years earlier. As a result of the operation of smoke detectors on board, some functions of the security system stopped working, including communication with the dispatcher. The reason for the plane crash in Egypt may be this.
The question of why the pilots of the Egyptian aircraft did not report problems remains open, under investigation.
The Airbus A320 has already been the victim of terrorist threats. A couple of years ago, an inscription appeared on the body of the aircraft: "This aircraft will be shot down." However, according to experts, the incident is not related to the tragedy. The reason could be the political situation in the country.
Versions of the causes of the tragedy
All parties are interested in the investigation of the tragedy, andeach of the countries offered to help Egypt in finding and establishing the causes. According to the media, among the passengers of the plane were: 30 citizens of Egypt, 15 - of France, as well as one person each of the citizens of Belgium, Algeria. UK, Canada, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Sudan, Chad and Portugal.
The weather that day was beautiful. There was not a cloud in the sky. The weather conditions were confirmed by images taken by NASA satellites, as well as by the pilot of the aircraft that flew that night.
The plane crash in Egypt (photo below) has formed several opinions about the causes of the incident. However, one of them is still the main one.
A plane crash in Egypt may well be a terrorist attack. Some French experts came to this conclusion. Jean-Paul Trouadek stated that he was almost certain that terrorist acts were the cause of the crash. Otherwise, the crash of the liner would not have been so unexpected and had some fixed reasons, the team could have had time to react. The Prime Minister of Egypt also did not rule out the version of the attack.
Director of the FSB of the Russian Federation A. Bortnikov is of the same opinion and regretfully announced the commission of the second terrorist attack in Egypt. This time, citizens of 12 states became victims of terrorists.
However, aviation expert Paul Charles has a different point of view. In his opinion, the unexpected turns that the plane made before disappearing may indicate some kind ofunplanned actions in the cockpit.
A possible cause of the plane crash in Egypt is a system malfunction. In connection with the data received about the operation of smoke sensors, a version is being considered that the pilots of the liner could unintentionally turn off some control systems.
Another catastrophe in the skies over Egypt
Earlier, tragedies have already occurred in Egypt, the cause of which was terrorist actions. If the main version is confirmed, then it will be possible to talk about a third terrorist attack. In October 2015, a Russian airline plane crashed in Egypt, and an aircraft was hijacked in March.
Last autumn, a plane of the Russian airline Kogalymavia exploded and crashed over Sinai. The vehicle was flying from the famous resort of Sharm El Sheikh back to St. Petersburg. On board were vacationers who were returning home. 224 people became victims of what happened (plane crash in Egypt). After a thorough check of all the circumstances of the tragedy, it was established that terrorist acts were the cause of the crash. It was decided to stop transport communication with Egypt for a while. A similar decision was made by the British authorities.
The incident caused serious damage to the economy of Egypt. According to media reports, the country's monthly losses amount to $273 million. Russian tour operators, for whom Egypt was one of the most sought after, also suffer large financial losses.tourist destinations.
All the time after the incident, the parties were negotiating the conditions and terms of the possible restoration of air traffic between the countries. However, already in March 2016, another event took place that had a negative impact on the negotiations - a terrorist hijacks the plane of an airline owned by the Egyptian side, forcing it to land on the island of Cyprus.
At the beginning of the year, the resumption of flights was seen as a very likely event. By the summer, the opening of the season and the start of sales of vouchers to resort towns were already expected. However, the incident showed that the precautionary measures of the Egyptian side and their updated security system do not bring results. Russia has become even more wary.
A plane crash over Egypt has raised many questions. Our side immediately expressed condolences in connection with what happened.
According to a French newspaper, the security and reliability of the Egyptian airport and its employees are being checked. Earlier, as a result of repeated inspections, Islamic radicals were found among the staff. They could have access to the baggage loading and unloading area.
At the same time, the plane crash in Egypt of a Russian airline in 2015 was committed with the help of airport workers. At the moment, this is the main version of the investigation.
Unexpected fire on the plane
The NY Times published information that the plane crash in Egypt could have been caused by a fire thathappened on board. According to the automatic message transmission system, there was a sharp increase in temperature near the cockpit. So far, the exact cause of the fire has not been determined. Whether it was caused by an aircraft malfunction or a terrorist act was the cause is unknown. The information was obtained from the found black boxes. Experts were able to decipher the word "fire" in the data. The commission investigating what happened did not dwell on any of the causes of the crash for a long time. Independent sources only made sure that there was a terrorist attack on board.
The wreckage of the plane. Egypt plane crash victims
From time to time, the media received information about the discovery of aircraft parts or belongings of the passengers of the crashed airliner. The first finds were made by the Egyptian side in the area where the radars last recorded the location of the Egyptian air vehicle. They found luggage, a seat and part of the passenger's body. A day earlier, a Greek TV channel reported the discovery of aircraft parts and luggage items 80 km from the Greek resort islands.
Some time after the crash of the liner over Egypt, signals were recorded coming from the bottom of the Mediterranean Sea. They came from black boxes. As a result, the search area was significantly reduced, and the wreckage was soon found.
Investigation
The investigation into the plane crash in Egypt is carried out by the forces of France and Egypt. Technical questions andthe establishment of the causes of the tragedy finds out the General Prosecutor's Office of France. The remains of the victims are examined and studied by Egyptian authorities. The Greek side is also interested in establishing the causes of the incident. In connection with their desire to participate in the investigation, it was decided to include a representative of Greece in the composition of the commission of inquiry involved in the reconstruction of events. He will have the right to inspect the scene, evidence, bodies of the dead, as well as perform other actions.
After the main parts of the liner were discovered, the remains began to be raised by the army, as well as with the help and under the supervision of the commission of inquiry.
An underwater vehicle was sent to the crash area, which could significantly help in search of the wreckage of the crashed plane in Egypt. The black box was also soon found. On June 16, 2016, the voice recorder was found, and the flight recorder the next day.
Identification of the dead. Egypt plane crash victims
To identify the bodies of the dead, relatives were asked to take DNA tests for the purpose of medical examination. The material was taken in Cairo, in one of the hotels located near the airport building. Here the Egyptian government was able to accommodate the relatives of the victims of the tragedy (plane crash in Egypt). The dead were removed gradually and piecemeal. The identity of the victims can only be determined by biological analysis.
More than 80 body fragments have already been delivered to the capital of Egypt. Identification is made andexamination of the remains. The Egyptian Prosecutor General's Office is studying the finds.
Main Version
As a result of the data received, one of the members of the investigation team claims that the version of the explosion that caused the plane crash in Egypt (for obvious reasons, we do not provide photos of the dead in the review) is currently the main one. Quite small parts of the bodies are also confirmation of this. No large parts or fully preserved corpses were found.
Traces of explosives have not yet been found, so the official cause of the plane crash in Egypt has not been named.
