Just saw this as I landed late in ottawa. EgyptAir Flight MS804 from Paris to Cairo 'disappears from radar' - BBC News
Unfortunately, it has disappeared indeed: not many informations for the time being, only That it was about 200 miles from the egyptian coast, not 30 miles as stated initially. There is confusing information about an emergency message, first information saying That There indeed was one, but egyptian officials are now saying There was none. Rgds
Well, I know it Is only a question of words, but it Is not considered "missing" anymore: the french President has just declared it "fallen" ("Je confirme que l'avion d'EgyptAir s'est abimé"; more or mess: has gone to the abyss) Rgds
If it went from on radar at 37,000 feet to totally off radar, that would seem to imply a high-altitude disintegration.....
"Greeces defense minister, Panos Jammenos, said the planewhich was on its fifth flight in 24 hoursswerved abruptly before disappearing from radar. The plane carried out a 90-degree turn to the left and a 360-degree turn to the right, falling from 37,000 to 15,000 feet and the signal was lost at around 10,000 feet, he told reporters."
I'm thinking again and we know that is dangerous. To me a 90 turn to the left and then a descending 360 to the right sounds like a progressive vertical tail failure. maybe the entire empennage. Just thinking.
According to many sources ("The Guardian", etc...) the location of the crash is now certain, west of Creete, many pièces of floating débris having been found. Rgds
The reality is, it's going to happen again and again... Planes are so safe that it will usually be terrorism, suicide (GermanWings, EgyptAir), human error (Air France), war.
Something I find very puzzling here, is that the TV stations I watch (BBC, ITV, SKY TV, French channels, TV Maroc, etc...) keep repeating how unsafe Egyptian airports are, when in fact this plane took off from Roissy in France. Is it a case of diverting unwanted attention to another country? I think that if the black box says it was a terrorist act (a bomb?), the security of French airports will be questionned. Also, instead of cranking up more and more security for passengers, airports should look at airport staff, baggage handlers, refuellers, cleaning staff, etc... that are not vetted thoroughly in many places. Here at Heathrow, El Al is a good example of maximum security. They check the luggages themselves, the crew cleans the cabin, and the refuellers and ground staff are all El Al personel. Nobody by El Al accredited staff touch their aircraft. I wish other airlines could do the same, and vet their personel regularly.
My interpretation of the latest reporting is that authorities will be looking at the last 4 airports the plane was at in the preceding day to determine if some nefarious act didn't occur at those places rather than Roissy.
Security WAS done by the airlines before the govenment took it over; turned it into a huge boondoggle. That failed over 95% of the test runs recently...
True for this doomed flight, but look at the activity of the plane for the past 48 hours. An explosive device could have been added to the plane well in advance of this flight. Tuesday (local times) 8:47 a.m.: Lands in Brussels from Cairo. 1:59 p.m.: Lands in Cairo from Brussels. 8:14 p.m.: Lands in Asmara, Eritrea, from Cairo. Wednesday (local times) 12:02 a.m.: Lands in Cairo from Asmara. 5:33 a.m.: Lands in Tunis, Tunisia, from Cairo. 9:17 a.m.: Lands in Cairo from Tunis. 3:55 p.m.: Lands in Paris (Charles de Gaulle Airport) from Cairo. 11:09 p.m.: Flight MS804 departs Paris for Cairo. >8^| ER
In the US maybe, but not in Europe. There are hundred of different companies looking after security, luggage transfer, catering, refuelling, cleaning, maintenance, etc... for the many airlines using our airports. I think the weakest link is there. Terrorists know it and try to infiltrate these companies and their staff to gain access to airside and the crafts themselves. Only the Israeli airline EL AL insists in doing everything itself, with its own staff, its own security, etc... I think that's the way to go.
You certainly make some valid points. They try & "limit" airside access, but the whole mess just doesn't allow it. There's just too much going on..... Only "problem" with El Al, was a need to checkin 3 hours ahead of time..... I went with BA. Cheers, Ian
French Airports recently fired a lot of their employees who had access to planes because they found they were pro ISIS or Pro Islamism..so that could explain how the bomb made it through security in France.
I don't care how long it takes, I prefer to fly with a company that takes security seriously. I know several executives who only accept to fly with El AL or some Arab airlines (Gulf, Etihad, Saudi, etc...) because there is extra security, or they think they won't be targeted by terrorists.
How can they be sure to have sacked all the ISIS supporters? The issue is that airports (and airlines) are being infiltrated by terrorist sympathisers.
Not just airport. Private Security was always a big employers of North African immigrants in Europe. Shortly after the Paris attack there was a wave of firing of security people who were found to be sympathizers of the terrorists. Restaurants, Stores, Factories, malls etc. Even the Army was found to have a lot of sympathizers.
TSA in USA is a joke. I regularly fly with large bottles, usually a full water bottle or two just for grins. I never remove anything from my bags. They stop me maybe one in 5-6 flights. A full bag of baby wipes stops them every time...I guess it looks like C4. Whatta joke. We lost this war as soon as we starteed jumping through our own buttholes like this. Half the TSA folks are retards to begin with...probably no one knows what they really think either!