Egyptair crash - conflicting reports raise doubts about final moments

BTN News
Wednesday, 25 May 2016

Egyptair flight MS804 'was in the same area as a UFO when it disappeared', it 'turned 90 degrees and then 360 degrees before it dropped from the sky', it 'did not swerve or lose altitude before it disappeared', there could have been 'a struggle in the cockpit - or a bomb blast' and pilots did or did not make a mayday call ahead of the crash - take your pick of the above, because it seems that until the flight recorder boxes are found, the whole disaster will remain a mystery for all involved, including for those trying to report it.


In the latest of a long line of contradictions, the head of Egypt's state-run provider of air navigation services Ehab Azmy says that based on radar readings, in the minutes before the EgyptAir plane disappeared with 66 passengers and crew on board last Thursday, it was flying at its normal altitude of 37,000 feet.


Azmy said: "That fact degrades what the Greeks are saying about the aircraft suddenly losing altitude before it vanished from radar.


"There was no turning to the right or left and it was fine when it entered Egypt's FIR (flight information region) a minute or two before it disappeared."


According to Greece's Defence minister Panos Kammenos, the plane had swerved wildly and dropped to 10,000 feet before it disappeared from radar. Greek civil aviation authorities also said all appeared fine with the flight until air traffic controllers were about to hand it over to their Egyptian counterparts.


At that point, the pilot stopped responding to their calls and then the plane vanished from radar.  

Fire reported

The mystery deepened on the weekend with reports the pilot spoke about 'an emergency descent' aimed at putting out a fire on board.


Those reports were denied by EgyptAir, however, flight data transmitted by the plane in its final minutes before it plunged into the Med do indicate a fire. The data shows smoke alarms in the lavatory behind the cockpit sounded three minutes before the plane lost contact, roughly half way between Egypt's coastal city of Alexandria and the Greek island of Crete, where the water is 8,000 to 10,000 feet deep.


Originally, it had been claimed all radio contact was lost, but aviation sources in Paris now claim the pilot contacted Egyptian air traffic controllers to say he was going to make an emergency landing because there was smoke filling the plane.


There was a 'conversation several minutes long' between Captain Shoukair and the controllers, which amounted to 'a distress call', according to a French tv station.


Meanwhile, remains of the first victims recovered from the sea have been described as 'unrecognisable'. The have been taken to Cairo to start the process of identification. An un-named forensic source said: "There are no complete bodies. There are only body parts."


Ships and planes from Britain, Cyprus, France, Greece and the United States are taking part in the search for debris from the aircraft, including the flight recorder 'black boxes'.

Egyptair crash - conflicting reports raise doubts about final moments

BTN News
Wednesday, 25 May 2016

Egyptair flight MS804 'was in the same area as a UFO when it disappeared', it 'turned 90 degrees and then 360 degrees before it dropped from the sky', it 'did not swerve or lose altitude before it disappeared', there could have been 'a struggle in the cockpit - or a bomb blast' and pilots did or did not make a mayday call ahead of the crash - take your pick of the above, because it seems that until the flight recorder boxes are found, the whole disaster will remain a mystery for all involved, including for those trying to report it.


In the latest of a long line of contradictions, the head of Egypt's state-run provider of air navigation services Ehab Azmy says that based on radar readings, in the minutes before the EgyptAir plane disappeared with 66 passengers and crew on board last Thursday, it was flying at its normal altitude of 37,000 feet.


Azmy said: "That fact degrades what the Greeks are saying about the aircraft suddenly losing altitude before it vanished from radar.


"There was no turning to the right or left and it was fine when it entered Egypt's FIR (flight information region) a minute or two before it disappeared."


According to Greece's Defence minister Panos Kammenos, the plane had swerved wildly and dropped to 10,000 feet before it disappeared from radar. Greek civil aviation authorities also said all appeared fine with the flight until air traffic controllers were about to hand it over to their Egyptian counterparts.


At that point, the pilot stopped responding to their calls and then the plane vanished from radar.  

Fire reported

The mystery deepened on the weekend with reports the pilot spoke about 'an emergency descent' aimed at putting out a fire on board.


Those reports were denied by EgyptAir, however, flight data transmitted by the plane in its final minutes before it plunged into the Med do indicate a fire. The data shows smoke alarms in the lavatory behind the cockpit sounded three minutes before the plane lost contact, roughly half way between Egypt's coastal city of Alexandria and the Greek island of Crete, where the water is 8,000 to 10,000 feet deep.


Originally, it had been claimed all radio contact was lost, but aviation sources in Paris now claim the pilot contacted Egyptian air traffic controllers to say he was going to make an emergency landing because there was smoke filling the plane.


There was a 'conversation several minutes long' between Captain Shoukair and the controllers, which amounted to 'a distress call', according to a French tv station.


Meanwhile, remains of the first victims recovered from the sea have been described as 'unrecognisable'. The have been taken to Cairo to start the process of identification. An un-named forensic source said: "There are no complete bodies. There are only body parts."


Ships and planes from Britain, Cyprus, France, Greece and the United States are taking part in the search for debris from the aircraft, including the flight recorder 'black boxes'.