Posted on 11/02/2015 4:27:35 AM PST by WhiskeyX
“What is the altitude of Sinai?”
Geography_of_Egypt
The Sinai Peninsula is a triangular-shaped peninsula, about 61,100 km2 in area (slightly smaller than the U.S. state of West Virginia). Similar to the desert, the peninsula contains mountains in its southern sector that are a geological extension of the Red Sea Hills, the low range along the Red Sea coast that includes Mount Catherine (Jabal Katrinah), the country’s highest point, at 2,642 m above sea-level. The Red Sea may have been named after these mountains, which are red.
The southern side of the peninsula has a sharp escarpment that subsides after a narrow coastal shelf that slopes into the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aqaba. The elevation of Sinai’s southern rim is about 1,000 m. Moving northward, the elevation of this limestone plateau decreases. The northern third of Sinai is a flat, sandy coastal plain, which extends from the Suez Canal into the Gaza Strip and Israel.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geography_of_Egypt
This Continental commuter broke up mid-air after it lost a tail because of a maintenance screw up. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Continental_Express_Flight_2574 So mechanical failure is possible (although I personally lean toward a bomb based on the info provided). The electrical is a possibility but less likely.
I noticed CNN was floating ‘center fuel tank explosion’ yesterday. “ ...[I]t could have been a center fuel tank that might have exploded.” http://www.cnn.com/2015/11/02/africa/russian-plane-crash-egypt-sinai/index.html (quoting the former managing director of the NTSB)
The problem with modern Airbus and even Boeing constructions is the use of non metal composites in the airframe. When I was in high-school studying to get my airframe and power plant vocational license the old timers used to tap on the metal and could tell if there was metal fatigue by the sound the metal made and then they could do a whole host of electric spectrogram tests (as best I can remember) on the metal. You can't really test these composites for cracks. A failure of such a composite material caused the crash of that airline in New York shortly after 9/11. It was a coincidence that it happened so near the terrorist attacks and it happened on take off and not at 30K feet but it could be that. There is a big argument going on in the maintenance industry over the switch to composite vs metal/aluminum.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Airlines_Flight_587
American Airlines Flight 587
The National Transportation Safety Board concluded that the cause of the crash was purely human error: overuse of the rudder mechanism leading to mechanical failure and not—as people had first feared—a type of terrorist attack.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NpEXtFPlnKI
Ack Ack!
ISIS?
Unknown at this point. Despite Russian denial, it could still be a technical fault and airframe failure. If the prior damage to the tail already known about happened to start an undetected fracture in the composites used in the airframe, the fractures could have caused a failure in the elevator system that caused the plane to dive at a speed greater than the maximum specifications allow, resulting in the disintegration of the fuselage in mid-air above the Sinai desert.
This is just plain not correct.
For an example of what happens when a modern aircraft undergoes an "explosive decompression" Google "Aloha Airlines flight 243". Then run the search again and add "images" at the end of the search.
You will be amazed. The 737 was reworked into a convertible, in the air no less, but all of the seat belted passengers survived. A stewardess was lost when she was blown overboard at altitude, but everyone else made it, and the aircraft was obviously still flyable.
The concept of "explosive decompression" is widely misunderstood because it makes for dramatic special effects in movies.
“The simplest explanation for some phenomenon is more likely to be accurate than more complicated explanations.” - Occam’s Razor
Bomb...
Sharm EL Sheik has numerous warnings over the last several years about lax security.
Yet when I see the words “external influence”, that could also mean that it could have been shot down, got to remember that in what was Iraq, ISIS found a LOT of military stuff that was left behind or given by the USA in the first place.
Just wondering.
But I once saw a fat red headed German with a gun get sucked through a bullet hole in an airplane window...oh wait...never mind... ;)
When the supersonic TU-144 Konkordski crashed at the Paris Air Show, the Russians were loathe to reveal the complaints of the crews and the ground crews about the previous dangerous incidents of cracks in the aircraft’s wings and fuselage while in flight. Occam’s Razor would suggest problems with this aircraft’s true airworthiness is right up there with a terrorist bomb as a likely cause of this air disaster.
Surface-to-air missiles are not magic. Their operating limits are well known. This aircraft was flying far above their maximum altitude capabilities. Only a large SAM battery has that capability. Getting one of those SAM batteries on large military vehicles into the Sinai and operating its required radar guidance systems is virtually impossible to do without immediate detection. Furthermore, the shrapnel from such a missile’s warhead is immediately recognizable in the target’s fuselage, and the photographs and witness reports seem to exclude the presence of such shrapnel. So, anyone proposing ISIS used a missile to shoot down this airliner has a lot of explaining to do before the idea can be given any credibility whatsoever.
This past weekend, having been busy, did not pay too much attention to the news report of the crashed Russian plane, but right after news came out, ISIS jumped right into it to say they downed that plane. Must of been for the Arab street.
This is what Russia needed—a cause for general war—Watch if Putin goes to the Duma and asks for (demands) a declaration of war between Russian Federation and Islamic State. Then watch as all of Russias allies get on the bandwagon. (Iran, China, Cuba, etc...) Then will come a massive movement of troops and ships. Maybe a mobilization of Nuke Forces for a strike on the IS Capital. This could go bad really fast—IS was foolish to say they did it! Its not wise to poke the bear in the eyes with a stick.
Our Global Hawk goes much higher than that but we can easily avoid commercial aircraft.
Another crash due to improperly-repaired tail-strike damage:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japan_Airlines_Flight_123
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