[Lorianne]

[DoughtyOne]

23 minutes in the air at time of problem

31,000 feet

Sorry to see this happen.

[gaijin]

MANPADS at 33,000 feet..?

Verrrrrry hard to believe.

[Snickering Hound]

http://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowTopic-g297555-i9225-k8250711-Security_removing_items_from_hand_luggage_at_airport-Sharm_El_Sheikh_South_Sinai_Red_Sea_an.html

Sharm El Sheikh airport has had awful security for a long time.

It’s a bomb.

[HarleyLady27]

Well if Putin hasn’t wiped all of the ISIS, he will now!!!

[4Liberty]

Obama’s fault.

[TXnMA]

This is very preliminary, but a not-unlikely explanation is a small on-board explosive device in an aft lavatory or closet.

~~~~~~~

Notice (at right in this photo you posted)

the Airbus logo -- which is painted right before "A-321" in the photo of the intact aircraft (a/c) about halfway between the aft door and the aft-most window. (The fore-aft direction of the printing is reversed on the right side -- with the logo farthest aft.)

In this Russian A-321 internal layout,

That logo would be in the vicinity of what appears to be a closet or lavatory space. (The galley is on the left side opposite it...)

In your photo, a semicircular section of the fuselage above that area is missing, and the remaining, lower sidewall is bulged outward.

That section of the a/c apparently separated from the remainder at altitude. It hit the ground with minimal lateral motion -- and what there was, was rearward. (IOW, the aft section of the a/c was traveling slightly backward when it hit the ground. (Indication that it separated at altitude and "fluttered" down in a flat spin...)

If my analysis is correct, that section of the ac landed at a significant distance from the remainder of the fuselage.

~~~~~~~~

This is certainly no "take it to the bank" analysis but, based on this very fragmentary and sketchy evidence, all of this adds up to an initial suspicion of a small explosive device stowed in an aft luggage or lavatory space.

~~~~~~~~

If there is any "good" news from an incident like this, the "good news" is that the flight recorders are in that aft section of the a/c, and should be in excellent shape.

...just my $.02...

[sport]

It was probably a small bomb courtesy of ISIS.

[rollo tomasi]

If foul play found, round up the maintenance crew and the

[Patton@Bastogne]

.













.

[donozark]

Many side discussions, photos,etc. However, still unable to discern from readings here and elsewhere, a reasonable explanation for what appears to be and almost total absence of fire/charring.

[AdmSmith]

What does, however, jump out from this particular airplane's record is an accident that it suffered on November 16, 2001, while landing at Cairo (while owned and operated by Middle East Airlines). As it touched down the nose was pointing at too high an angle and the tail hit the tarmac- heavily enough to cause substantial damage.

Tail strikes like this are not uncommon. The airplane was repaired and would have been rigorously inspected then and during subsequent maintenance checks. Nonetheless investigators who will soon have access to the Airbus's flight data recorder will take a hard look at what is called the rear pressure bulkhead, a critical seal in the cabin's pressurization system.

A Russian television reporter said that the remains of the tail of the Airbus were found three miles from the rest of the wreckage. Images of the tail section show a clear break near the site of the rear pressure bulkhead.

http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2015/10/31/did-accident-from-14-years-ago-doom-russian-plane-over-egypt.html

It looks as if the aircraft suffered from Soviet maintenance.