Replies

Update:

Error caused Flash crash: paper

By ELIZABETH BRYANT, United Press International

PARIS, March 3 (UPI) -- Human error and technical problems caused a January charter plane crash off Egypt, a French newspaper reported Wednesday.

The pre-dawn crash of Egypt's Flash Airline near the Sinai tourist resort of Sharm el Sheikh Jan. 3 killed 148 people, most of them French tourists.

French and Egyptian investigators still investigating the incident quickly dismissed chances of a possible terrorist attack.

Now, according to Le Figaro, the probable cause was human error, compounded by technical difficulties.

The newspaper reportedly based its conclusions on conversations recorded by the plane's black boxes, recovered on the Red Sea bed after the crash.

The Flash crew had assumed the automatic pilot was on -- when in fact it was not, Le Figaro said.

Without the automatic pilot, the plane's resulting odd path perplexed the Flash pilot and his copilot -- who apparently never realized the cause.

Louis Arsianian, head of France's airline investigation office, told the newspaper the investigation was ongoing.

SHADOWY GROUP THREATENS TO BOMB FRENCH RAILWAY

March 3 — By Gerard Bon

PARIS (Reuters) - A shadowy group is threatening to blow up France's SNCF state railway if it is not paid about $5 million, officials said Wednesday. It has already directed police to a sophisticated time bomb under tracks near Limoges, in southwestern France on the line between Paris and Toulouse, to prove its technical prowess, they said.

The group, which calls itself AZF after a chemical factory in southwestern France that exploded in 2001, claims to have hidden 10 other bombs around the network, officials said.

http://abcnews.go.com/wire/World/reuters20040303_200.html

Thanks for the update. I'd love to know from a pilot if they typically engage the autopilot shortly after take-off at 5000 ft??

The things that still bother me about this crash are the facts that it took 32 seconds from 5000 feet in a "nosedive" for the plane to crash.

No distress call from pilots.

Everything "calm" on the flight voice recorder.