Last edit by: NewbieRunner
PLEASE READ FIRST: WELCOME and MODERATOR NOTE
If you are new to us, welcome to FlyerTalk!
An EgyptAir Airbus A320, registration SU-GCC from Paris Charles de Gaulle (flight MS804 departing 18 May) to Cairo with 56 passengers, 2 flight crew, 5 cabin crew and 3 security personnel, lost contact over the Mediterranan Sea about 280km (151nm) from the Coast of Egypt at 02:30 local time (00:30 UTC) on 19 May 2016. Greece's Civil Aviation Authority reported radar contact with the aircraft was lost about 2 minutes after the aircraft was handed off from Greek to Egyptian Air Traffic Control.
At 12:30 CEST (10:30 UTC) 19 May 2016 France's President Hollande announced that the aircraft has crashed while flying over the Mediterranean Sea in Egyptian Airspace.
At 19:00 local time (17:00 UTC) 19 May 2016 EgyptAir posted on their Facebook page that wreckage of the missing aircraft was found near Karpathos Island. This was later denied by the head of the Greek air safety authority. EgyptAir's VP subsequently retracted the statement that debris of the aircraft had been found and said they were mistaken.
On the morning of 20 May 2016 The Egyptian Armed Forces informed EgyptAir that they have found first debris from the missing aircraft operating flight MS804 around 295 KM from the Egyptian coastline.
On 20 May 2016 The Aviation Herald published ACARS (Aircraft Communications Addressing and Reporting System) messages which suggested there was smoke in a lavatory followed by smoke in the avionics bay.
On 22 May 2016 Egypt's President confirmed that the Petroleum Ministry has provided a submarine that could reach 3,000 meters under water in an attempt to retrieve the two black boxes.
On 23 May 2016 the French BEA and Egypt's Civil Aviation Authority, in response to media reports of an emergency call on Egypt's frequency, stated that no such communication has been received on any frequency.
On 1st Jun 2016 Egypt's Civil Aviation Authority reported that the French vessel "Laplace" has located pings presumed to originate from one of two black boxes. The French BEA confirmed that Egyptian Authorities have confirmed a "signal that may come from one of the recorders" of flight MS-804.
On 16 Jun 2016 the vessel "John Lethbridge" managed to retrieve the cockpit voice recorder in several stages as the CVR had been damaged.
On 17 June 2016 the vessel "John Lethbridge" managed to recover the memory module of the second black box, the flight data recorder.
List of nationalities of passengers on Board:
30 Egyptian
15 French
2 Iraqi
1 British (dual nationality with Australia as confirmed by AU government)
1 Belgian
1 Kuwaiti
1 Saudi
1 Sudanese
1 Chadian
1 Portuguese
1 Algerian
1 Canadian
+ 10 crew of unknown nationality.
Useful, reliable links:
Aviation Herald (Avherald) article on MS804
BBC article on MS804
MODERATOR NOTE
If you are posting media reports please summarize or quote a sentence or two and link to the source whenever possible.
When discussing this tragedy please bear in mind that these matters are always personal and should be treated with respect. Family members and other affected parties may be following this thread.
Moderation of this thread will be strictly "to rules". Moreover, because of how quickly this thread is moving, it is simply not possible to contact each individual poster whose post may be deleted or edited. We ask for your patience and understanding, and thank you for your cooperation.
For those who are eligible there is a thread in OMNI/PR if anyone wishes to speculate possible links with any terrorist group or discuss politics.
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/omni-...s-missing.html
Moderator team for this thread: obscure2k, armagebedar, NewbieRunner
About FlyerTalk
Who we are: FlyerTalk features discussions and chat boards that covers the most up-to-date traveler information; an interactive community dedicated to the topic of travel.
All travelers are welcome in the community. Just choose a forum: conversing about airlines and their programs, airports, destinations, dining and how to make the most of your miles and points, or visit our Information Desk to start.
We do have some Rules, and everyone agrees to abide by these when they are granted free membership privileges.
FlyerTalk is a diverse, multi-cultural community. Expressions of prejudice or discrimination in any form are not permitted (such as those concerning race, nationality, religious belief, gender, sexual orientation, age, disability, etc).
If you have an issue with a post, please contact a moderator (click on the button). Do not make a situation worse by publicly responding.
EgyptAir MS 804 on 5/19/16, Paris to Cairo, Missing
#106
Moderator: Southwest Airlines, Capital One
Join Date: Sep 1999
Location: California
Programs: WN Companion Pass, A-list preferred, Hyatt Globalist; United Club Lietime (sic) Member
Posts: 21,625
Aircraft manufacturers should consider adding a small module on the top of the fuselage which would break free at external pressures above, say 3 times sea level, and then float to the surface with an EPIRB. That would save a lot of money searching for downed aircraft.
#107
Join Date: May 2003
Programs: UA Silver
Posts: 1,931
See "The language of the Skies", by Sandford Borins, McGill-Queens University Press, 1983.
#108
A FlyerTalk Posting Legend
Join Date: Sep 2009
Location: Minneapolis: DL DM charter 2.3MM
Programs: A3*Gold, SPG Plat, HyattDiamond, MarriottPP, LHW exAccess, ICI, Raffles Amb, NW PE MM, TWA Gold MM
Posts: 100,417
#109
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Nov 2001
Location: Wanting First. Buying First.
Programs: Lifetime Executive Diamond Platinum VIP with Braniff, Eastern, Midway, National & Pan Am
Posts: 17,492
I find it interesting that the last communication from the pilot reported that he was jovial/jocund is thanking the Greek air traffic controllers. Yet SOP was for one more communication as the flight was handed off to the Egyptian air traffic controllers, and the pilots would surely have known that. To me, it would have been more natural to do the effusive thank you at the time of the handoff, not before. It strikes me as strange.
#110
Join Date: May 2014
Location: CMH, HNL
Programs: UA, HA
Posts: 583
Maybe ICAO could require overwater airliners to host a standard solution like this? Let the manufacturer(s) pass the cost on to the airlines and then to us pax. Maybe there need to be 3 crash-survivable items: Flight Data Recorder, Cockpit Voice Recorder, and this Floating Locator Beacon.
#112
Join Date: Nov 2007
Location: SW London
Programs: BAEC Silver; Hilton Diamond;a miscellany of other hotel non-statuses
Posts: 3,607
Weather reports will often show high and low pressure changes, from 1050 mBar to 950 mbar, so again not much absolute difference.
That's one of the challenges of ocean exploration versus space exploration. Only 1 atmosphere maximum pressur, difference as you venture into space (although higher as you approach gaseous planets). Very quickly multiple atmosphere differences as you descend below water.
Last edited by EsherFlyer; May 19, 2016 at 5:57 pm
#113
Join Date: Oct 2007
Location: Tasmania, Australia
Programs: M&M SEN, Amex Plat, Club Carlson, Marriott, HHonors & Accor Gold, Velocity Silver, Qantas Bronze
Posts: 3,767
Russian airspace is full of Russian language and AFAIK, there are several ATC areas (including Russia, China etc.) where they use metric system or mix of FL and metric too...
So, no ATC is not unified nor English only at all...
Last edited by vbroucek; May 19, 2016 at 5:57 pm
#114
Join Date: May 2006
Location: BOS and ...
Programs: UA 2MM, AA 600k, DL 500k, Hyatt GP 1M, HH Gold, Rad. Gold, CP Gold, Miracle Fruit-su Club
Posts: 9,950
CBS radio had it this afternoon that there were dramatic turns back and forth before the aircraft went down. I think the source was a Greek government authority. This would reduce the speculation factor of their narrative.
Mods, please have your way with this if the known chronology has moved beyond it.
Mods, please have your way with this if the known chronology has moved beyond it.
Last edited by Firewind; May 19, 2016 at 6:29 pm Reason: Source update
#115
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: May 2008
Location: CHA, MAN;
Programs: Delta DM 1 MM; Hz PC
Posts: 11,169
This, and many other logical suggestions, makes sense. But it would cost something, and who wants (needs) to pay?
Maybe ICAO could require overwater airliners to host a standard solution like this? Let the manufacturer(s) pass the cost on to the airlines and then to us pax. Maybe there need to be 3 crash-survivable items: Flight Data Recorder, Cockpit Voice Recorder, and this Floating Locator Beacon.
Maybe ICAO could require overwater airliners to host a standard solution like this? Let the manufacturer(s) pass the cost on to the airlines and then to us pax. Maybe there need to be 3 crash-survivable items: Flight Data Recorder, Cockpit Voice Recorder, and this Floating Locator Beacon.
#116
A FlyerTalk Posting Legend
Join Date: Sep 2006
Location: where the chile is hot
Programs: AA,RR,NW,Delta ,UA,CO
Posts: 41,714
#117
Join Date: Apr 2011
Location: Scarborough
Posts: 596
The American media loves using the "terrorism" for almost everything, and love spreading fear and propaganda to drive up their selling of news.
#118
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: May 2008
Location: CHA, MAN;
Programs: Delta DM 1 MM; Hz PC
Posts: 11,169
#119
Join Date: May 2012
Location: BKK/SIN/YYZ/YUL
Programs: DL, AC, Bonvoy, Accor, Hilton
Posts: 2,924
1. There was a recent bombing of an airplane in the Sinai;
2. There is ongoing insurrection and terror attacks in Egypt and recent threats to bomb an aircraft and;
3. The Egyptian minister responsible for air safety offered his personal view that it was a terror event.
#120
Join Date: Dec 2011
Programs: United 1.9MM
Posts: 168
(via NYT): " ... Egypt’s leaders abandoned their typical approach to crisis management: obfuscation. Instead, they offered what appeared to be a candid assessment, acknowledging that the disaster might well have been a result of terrorism. And that was even before there was hard evidence of terrorism."
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/05/20/wo...light-804.html