Egypt Airliner CRASHED in Egypt - A final update on root cause analysis? Technical Fault Blamed

Various | 1/3/2004 | ME

[Gorons]

Egypt Plane Crash Kills 148; Technical Fault Blamed

By Ruben Sprich Reuters Saturday, January 3, 2004; 7:15 AM

SHARM EL-SHEIKH, Egypt (Reuters) - An Egyptian Boeing 737 airliner carrying 135 mostly French tourists crashed into the Red Sea off the Egyptian resort of Sharm el-Sheikh on Saturday and a rescue team member said there were no survivors.

"The initial indications are that it was a technical fault, but that is only preliminary," Civil Aviation Ministry Secretary-General Hassan Abo Ghanima told Reuters. He had said earlier: "There is no sign of terrorism."

The plane, operated by the Egyptian company Flash Airlines, disappeared from radar screens minutes after take-off from Sharm el-Sheikh airport at 0244 GMT and crashed into deep water a few miles to the southeast, official sources said.

The pilots did not report any problem and the weather was normal with good visibility, official sources said. The plane was heading for Cairo to refuel, change crew and take on more passengers before flying on to Paris.

A French diplomat based in Egypt said there were 135 passengers aboard, all but one French, and 13 Egyptian and Moroccan crew members.

The crash coincided with intense U.S. concern about possible attacks involving civilian airliners, which has led to the cancellation of seven U.S.-bound flights in just over a week.

Egyptian military aircraft and ships, helped by small boats from nearby diving centers, launched a rescue operation at first light. Eyewitnesses said they were finding pieces of human bodies but no complete corpses and no survivors.

"We have half of a body here, half a body there. But we don't have any body in one piece," said a rescue worker, speaking by telephone from one of the boats.

"There's lots of personal stuff, small bags and toys. We have collected very small pieces of the plane but the body of the plane has sunk," said another rescue worker, who asked not to be named.

Yasser Imam, a spokesman for the local authorities, said: "What they have picked up so far is just fragments of bodies. The chances of finding complete bodies look slim because of the force with which the plane hit the surface of the water."

DEEP WATER

The plane crashed in the Strait of Tiran, between the Sinai peninsula and Saudi Arabia, where the water is hundreds of meters (feet) deep -- too deep for divers to reach the flight recording devices, diving school managers said.

French President Jacques Chirac telephoned his Egyptian counterpart Hosni Mubarak to obtain details of the crash and expressed his "deepest shock" at the tragedy, his office said.

Eyewitnesses in Sharm el-Sheikh said the rescue operation was concentrating on an area about half a mile off Naama Bay, the site of many large hotels.

An Egyptian armed forces C-130 transport plane and two helicopters were taking part in the search, witnesses said.

Flash Airlines is an Egyptian charter airline company based in Cairo and flying to European cities. It flew two Boeing 737-300 planes manufactured in 1993, according to its Web site.

The plane was maintained regularly in Norway and there was no sign of any mechanical fault before its last flight, the official Egyptian news agency MENA reported.

French Transport Minister Gilles de Robien went to Charles de Gaulle airport, where distraught friends and relatives of passengers on the flight were being told of the crash.

An eyewitness speaking on Egyptian television said people heard a loud noise at the time of the crash but he interpreted this as the sound of the plane hitting the water. "In the morning we were surprised by a kind of slapping noise in the sea, a very loud noise," said the unidentified witness.

Sharm el-Sheikh, a major diving resort, is considered one of the most secure places in Egypt because of its isolation and Mubarak's frequent presence. Police man checkpoints on the only paved roads into the resort and check travelers' identities.

The last major crash by an Egyptian plane took place in May 2002, when a Boeing 767 of the state airline EgyptAir crashed near Tunis airport, killing 15 people.

In October 1999, an EgyptAir Boeing 767 dived into the sea off Nantucket, Massachusetts, killing all 217 people on board.

On Christmas Day, a Beirut-bound Boeing 727 smashed into the Atlantic after take-off from Benin, killing 138 people.

© 2004 Reuters

[bvw]

I wonder if the DC sniper -- JAM, knows anything about 587, or might know one or two people on the manifest.

[thesummerwind]

Whoa...don't take that quote out of context. Read again and follow the link.

A past event, but in this case, they'll most likely come up with a few 'beauties' (bizarre explanations) over the next 48 hours.......the old out-of control food cart rolls to back of plane destroying tailfin.

[thesummerwind]

And did you notice, Peter Jennings just sat there and didn't address it- never brought it up again.

Yep, Jennings was a good "coverup" soldier that day. I hate the mainstream media, the most destructive force in this country, the ones responsible for 90% of Americans not knowing the real Hillary Clinton - and speaking of terrorism, can you see The Beast as President?

[thesummerwind]

I just found fault with the word "follower". I don't "follow" any man, just the Lord. "Follower" is demeaning, if you get my meaning. ;)

[thesummerwind]

Therefore, mon ami, I think they just won't care. A plane crash in Eygpt, that's not ala mode, no j'nais sais kwa.

LOL ......just feeding the fish.

[asb3pe]

Well MSNBC just said that there were no distress calls made from the plane. So who is correct? Fox, MSNBC?

My opinion, given the limited facts available - and realizing the dubious, conflicting nature of these "facts" - is that this was terrorism, and that the plane was destroyed by some sort of explosion, either a bomb or a missile. Typically, when a plane explodes for some reason, the pilots don't get a chance to call home and say goodbye. :) Let's see if they ever find an intact body, or if they continue to simply find arms and legs.

This incident strikes me as being quite similar to flight 587, or (except for the altitude difference) flight 800. And, given the all-too-quick denial that this might have had anything to do with terrorism, it also reminds me of the northeast blackout. "Nothing to see here folks, move along now."

Yeah sure... Ok.

MSNBC also noted the interesting fact that Tony Blair was going to that exact Egyptian city for a vacation. A message, perhaps? Regardless, I find it rather bizarre that Blair would choose to vacation in a Middle Eastern country. Aren't there a bit more safer places on the planet to vacation? They did say he did the same thing a year ago, so this is a return trip for him and his family.

[Quilla]

Fox just reported this in their bottom of the hour update. The banner across the screen at the time read MECHANICAL PROBLEM. Apparently they are buying the French report outlined here:

French min says Egypt plane crashed at take-off

[Sacajaweau]

Thinking about this a little. Based on any dude in a wheel well as being on a suicide mission, I'm thinking the bomber would install a remote control device to detonate the plane as it was making its' approach. After setting the thing up, he stays in the well, committing suicide. The idea is that it takes a semi-skilled, known person to gain access, by-passing any searches and set this up.

[Sacajaweau]

Good memory!! My thoughts continue that the odd ball anthrax case, Nugent??, was connected to someone on this flight and I'm still opting for Malvo as the little "hit and run" mailer of the anthrax letters in NJ.

[Sacajaweau]

What's the flight number??

I can't understand the statement that they'll never recover the black box. Where's Jacque Cousteau's son??

[onyx]

I've been pondering the same scenarios. I don't know a damn thing about bombs or explosives of any type, let alone detonaters etc.

But, the guys in the wheel wells are factual proof that security was breached, not once but twice, and I know A-Q is also aware of the breach.

I can find no difference between a suicide car bomber or a wheel-well bomber. These cretin give their lives for Allah.

I've pinged Trav --- I think he knows about explosives and what all it takes to detonate 'em.

[_Jim]

This incident strikes me as being quite similar to flight 587

Get over it - don't you remember the vertical stabilizer that was fished out of the lake?

It's pretty apparent it was a 'materials failure' (fatigue, design failure, etc) on that Airbus.

I'm beginning to beleive all you neophytes believe everything in the world is built of Legos, Erector Sets and Tinkertoys!

Welcome to your world as envisioned, designed and built by Mr. Rogers!

[_Jim]

Well MSNBC just said that there were no distress calls made from the plane.

WHY don't you/they find a *pilot* who was in the area also busy w/aircraft ops and on the same tower/control frequency and ask THEM what they heard ...

Conspiracy, conspiracy - who has the conspiracy ... pick a shell - any shell ...

[TexasCajun]

Lemme guess, faulty wiring caused fuel tank explosion.

Haven't we heard this one before... Hummm

[_Jim]

knows anything about 587,

Mud - we need more 'mud' slung up against the wall in order to get to see what stucks and finally get to the 'truth' of this matter ...

FORGET science - yeah, FORGET the 'materials sciences'/metallury, the strength of materials and their 'flexure lifetimes' -

- we need more mud on the wall!

[_Jim]

Lemme guess, faulty wiring caused fuel tank explosion.

Haven't we heard this one before... Hummm

Another purported 'armchair aeronautics engineer' expressing his complete lack of scientific discipline.

[LoudRepublicangirl]

Is Technical problems a euphenism for "Abdullah with a cause"?