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EgyptAir MS 804 on 5/19/16, Paris to Cairo, Missing

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Old May 19, 2016, 12:11 am
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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


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EgyptAir MS 804 on 5/19/16, Paris to Cairo, Missing

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Old May 19, 2016, 4:12 pm
  #106  
nsx
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Originally Posted by alanR
Latest is that the debris found isn't from the missing aircraft, so we are back to square one
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.
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Old May 19, 2016, 4:20 pm
  #107  
 
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Originally Posted by MSPeconomist
I would assume so, but there could be exceptions for domestic flights in some areas. For example, would a general aviation pilot in the center of France be forced to speak English? I don't know.
See "The language of the Skies", by Sandford Borins, McGill-Queens University Press, 1983.
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Old May 19, 2016, 4:24 pm
  #108  
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Originally Posted by respectable_man
See "The language of the Skies", by Sandford Borins, McGill-Queens University Press, 1983.
....and the answer is? <please>
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Old May 19, 2016, 4:46 pm
  #109  
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Originally Posted by MSPeconomist
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.
As I read the event timeline, the jovial response was when being handed off from one sector of Greek ATC to another sector (so a different controller). The much later handoff from Athens ACC to Cairo ACC was never acknowledged by the plane.
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Old May 19, 2016, 4:47 pm
  #110  
 
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Originally Posted by nsx
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.
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.
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Old May 19, 2016, 5:12 pm
  #111  
 
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How big are the pressure changes during turbulence? Is the force of rain or other precipitation likely to be comparable? Let's have some more solid analysis please if you're going to do armchair engineering.
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Old May 19, 2016, 5:30 pm
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Originally Posted by televisor
How big are the pressure changes during turbulence? Is the force of rain or other precipitation likely to be comparable? Let's have some more solid analysis please if you're going to do armchair engineering.
Not very high. 1 atmosphere at sea level, about 1/3 of that at 30k feet, and about zero on the moon.

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
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Old May 19, 2016, 5:38 pm
  #113  
 
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Originally Posted by The_Bouncer
Would it not be unusual for them to speak to ATC in any language other than English?
AFAIK, it is quite normal to use local language as a "courtesy" sign for a sentence or two. I have listened to ATC at FRA and lots of communication there was in German.

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
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Old May 19, 2016, 6:23 pm
  #114  
 
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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.

Last edited by Firewind; May 19, 2016 at 6:29 pm Reason: Source update
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Old May 19, 2016, 6:31 pm
  #115  
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Originally Posted by nsx
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.
Originally Posted by TheTakeOffRush
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.
This and as I said in the MH370 thread a while back - make it so you can not turn the transponder off.
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Old May 19, 2016, 6:40 pm
  #116  
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Originally Posted by GRALISTAIR
This and as I said in the MH370 thread a while back - make it so you can not turn the transponder off.
Is there a particular reason it's currently possible to turn it off?
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Old May 19, 2016, 6:50 pm
  #117  
 
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Originally Posted by Madone59
Condolences thoughts and prayers with all. I wish the despicable American media would stop shouting Terrorism without facts - and respect those lost in this tragedy.
+1
The American media loves using the "terrorism" for almost everything, and love spreading fear and propaganda to drive up their selling of news.
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Old May 19, 2016, 6:55 pm
  #118  
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Originally Posted by chollie
Is there a particular reason it's currently possible to turn it off?
AFAIK it is to stop pings like crazy when an aircraft lands. It is currently possible to turn it off. With the technology we have this must be an easy solution.
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Old May 19, 2016, 7:24 pm
  #119  
 
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Originally Posted by cdn1
+1
The American media loves using the "terrorism" for almost everything, and love spreading fear and propaganda to drive up their selling of news.
Your biased opinion has no relevance to this specific event. The use of the term "possible terrorism" was justified because;
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.
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Old May 19, 2016, 7:29 pm
  #120  
 
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Originally Posted by cdn1
+1
The American media loves using the "terrorism" for almost everything, and love spreading fear and propaganda to drive up their selling of news.
Maybe take your complaint to the Egyptian government first:

(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
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