Sinai plane crash: No survivors on Russian airliner KGL9268

BBC News ^ | 31 October 2015

[wrench]

The pics of the tail on the ground do not show the horizontal stabilizers still attached or near the remaining tail.

Structural failure resulting in loss of the horizontal stabilizers can cause the excursions noted.

Also, the main fuselage appears to have impacted flat and inverted, while the tail impacted upright. Loss of HSs usually causes the nose to tuck and aircraft to go inverted, sometimes resulting in a flat spin.

[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.

[TXnMA]

Until I re-read your comments, I overlooked your mention of an earlier tail strike. Except for the missing overhead in the rear latrine area, I can see that being a matching failure cause, as well...

Of course, I agree with your remarks re loss of HStabs. Sort of a chicken and egg thing, though: Did loss of HStabs cause a high-stress condition -- or vice versa...?

If the examiners/analysts are any good, the FDRs should shed some light on those issues.

Whatever the cause, that Radar24 data shows a radical departure from stable flight -- to put it mildly...

[TXnMA]

Loss of HSs usually causes the nose to tuck and aircraft to go inverted, sometimes resulting in a flat spin.

Agreed. I believe I mentioned that the wild vertical delta vee excursions could have been porpoising and/or tumbling...

~~~~~

BTW& FWIW, I didn't see (except in a photo of a different crash) signs that the rest of the a/c landed inverted. I'll look more closely...

[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.

[Rockpile]

Regarding those pictures——what was the local time in the Sinai when the Metrojet plane went down? Was the sun up?

[SunkenCiv]

Thanks!

[Moonman62]

I can imagine how the Boeing folks who worked on that JAL 747 felt with it going down with the huge pax load.

...

How about when their 737’s were dropping out of the sky on approach?

[virgil]

Could that orange box in the foreground be one of the FDRs?

[PA Engineer]

I don't know, however they seemed to recover both them almost immediately.

I had glanced right over that. Great catch.

[editor-surveyor]

.
Air Bust plastic toys.

If it ain’t Boeing, I ain’t going!

.

[editor-surveyor]

.
Or a lucky piece of luggage?
.

[virgil]

Or another piece of emergency equipment.

[editor-surveyor]

.
Yes, more likely.