[PIF]

If it was not mechanical, if it was some sort of missile, then it would have to be something taken from Qaddafi’s Libya and smuggled in ... what AA stuff did he have and was any of it capable of going up to 1.1km?

[fso301]

If it was not mechanical, if it was some sort of missile,

With the lone exception of TWA-800 /sarc, large commercial airliners do not spontaneously break apart leaving no time for a distress call.

a MANPAD cannot cause such damage. A large SAM, or bomb aboard the plane could. I generally doubt terrorists in the Sinai have large SAMs, although a rogue Egyptian army unit could.