French Find Possible Egypt Crash Black Box Signal

Reuters ^ | 01.06.04 | Opheera McDoom

[prisoner6]

French Find Possible Egypt Crash Black Box Signal

By Opheera McDoom

SHARM EL-SHEIKH, Egypt (Reuters) - French divers may have detected a signal from the flight recorder of an Egyptian plane which crashed into the Red Sea, but French sources could not confirm an Egyptian report that the device had been found.

Reuters Photo

(Reuters Video)

The "black boxes," which record technical data about the flight and conversations between pilots, should help explain what caused the crash, which killed all 148 people on board, including 133 French tourists.

Once they are sure of the location, French salvage experts plan to use a submersible robot to retrieve the flight recorders of the plane, which crashed on Saturday into deep water off the Egyptian resort of Sharm el-Sheikh.

"They caught a signal which could be from the black box but they did not locate the boxes, they just caught a signal. They will continue...this morning to locate the boxes, when they locate them they will use the robot," a French official said.

The depth of the signal had yet to be determined, he said.

The fuselage and most of the bodies are now believed to lie at a depth of about 400 meters (1,300 feet).

French officials could not confirm a report by Egypt's official Middle East News Agency (MENA) that French divers had located a flight recorder and the exact position of the Paris-bound Boeing 737.

"We have no information on this," the French official said. "We only know that they found a weak signal," he added.

France said on Monday it attached little credence to a previously unknown Islamic group's claim to have brought down the plane. Egypt has ruled out an attack.

Egypt has defended the safety record of Flash Airlines, operators of the plane, but Switzerland has said it banned the Egyptian company from its airspace on safety grounds.

Swiss authorities said on Monday they had found two Flash aircraft unsafe in 2002, raising the possibility that one was the plane that crashed on Saturday. Flash officials were not immediately available for comment.

But they have said the doomed plane was one of only two that Flash has operated in recent years, including all of 2002. Swiss officials could not confirm positively that it was one of those they had inspected.

[prisoner6]

Other reports claim the boxes have been found. Nothing to see here...move along.

prisoner6

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[thesummerwind]

The recorder was heard to say, "mechanical problem only, not to worry, move on."

[thesummerwind]

a submersible robot

Colmes, Daschle, Gore, Lieberman, -- which robot?

[demkicker]

The recorder was heard to say, "mechanical problem only, not to worry, move on."

LOL!

[Diogenesis]

Trust the French? Non.

French missiles FIRST given to Iraq to be USED Against US and Coalition Heroes

These French missiles were found by the Poles, and to protect France, blown up.

The pompous froggies said they did not say "2003". Decide for yourself.

---

Iraqi missiles given to, and now located in, Syria:

[Atlantic Friend]

Hasn't the full "2003 missiles" story been debunked here in FR months ago ? Bottom of it seems to be : Roland missiles were no longer in production for years, and 2003 is either the "best before" date or a simple number identifying the batch...

[50sDad]

Again and again, I am brought back to that Turkish pilot, several years ago, who "suicided" into the drink, supposedly taking a bunch of foreign soldiers and a plane-load of innocents with him. As I recall, he said something on the order of "Allah forgive me!" and tanked it. Post 9-11, I wonder if we will ever hear the true story on that one!

[Diogenesis]

The missiles were French for use against the Coalition.
And printed on the missiles were the number "2003".

The rest is handwaving, methinks.

[Rebelbase]

Nice, factual reply regarding the French instead of the normal "Cheese eating surrender monkey" cliche that has become the norm around here.

Thanks again.

[Atlantic Friend]

Come on, there is every reason to think these missiles were sold way before, even before the first Iraq War...

I know I won't convince you, but the Poles confessed they made a mistake, and given the high state of animosity between our countries at that time, I don't think the US High Command, nor the US Government, nor the American people would have let it slip.

[DTA]

For the sake of facts, call "2003 made Rolands" for what it is - a Polish joke.