Russian airliner missing over Egypt

[Tuppy_Glossop]

That does not give a constant stream of data so is not at all conclusive.

I don't think it is conclusive at all. They are unlikely to say something like, "Well, we may have skimped on the structural integrity tests a bit".

"External factors" is a very general term and could, feasibly, mean the aircraft's earlier tail strike.

 

[ci_newman]

All of this speculation to do with terrorism doesn't cover why the plane suddenly gained altitude shortly before crashing.

My money is still on a technical failure.

 

[Jokester]

Loss of control often results in the plane going nose up before stalling.

 

[Tuppy_Glossop]

All of this speculation to do with terrorism doesn't cover why the plane suddenly gained altitude shortly before crashing.

Might have been unrelated, ie. part of the flight plan or a request from ATC.

 

[balky12]

Loss of control often results in the plane going nose up before stalling.

I imagine the tail falling off would result in nose up for a brief moment? No lift coming from the tail resulting in plane pointing upwards?

 

[Five.Stars]

All of this speculation to do with terrorism doesn't cover why the plane suddenly gained altitude shortly before crashing.

My money is still on a technical failure.

Depending on what happened to the aircraft, be it a bomb or a missile strike, or even a technical failure, if control of the control surfaces was lost then it can climb steeply, gaining altitude until such point that the airspeed begins to become disrupted over the wings - at that point it will be in an aerodynamic stall situation.

Also, depending on the integrity of the structure in flight, the centre of gravity will shift causing a climb for a period. This is what happened in the case of TWA 800. The explosion in the centre wing tank ruptured the skin and the front section of the 747 separated from the main part of the fuselage. It then climbed for a bit before the wings stalled and if fell out of the sky.

 

[Entai]

Do any shoulder fired anti-aircraft missiles have the range to hit a plane at over 32,000 feet?!

Yes there is but its not in service as yet.

Mk 3 version of Starstreak will easily go to 40,000 ft will be out mid 2016 just undergoing proving trials.

Mk4 in a couple more years will be 60,000 ft+ but still on drawing board.

 

[Werewolf]

Well, there could be physical evidence on the wreckage, eg. traces of explosives/evidence of shrapnel damage/etc.

Have they got data from the black boxes, yet? Could they have info already?

But yeah, it seems too early and I'd be taking those comments with an industrial quantity of salt.

Aye, unless there is very obvious damage patterns at the moment they almost certainly won't have much to go on.

Even if there is obvious damage it's too soon for them to know for certain what caused the damage.

It sounds more like the airline trying to put the blame on anyone other than them at an early stage, as ruling out pilot error before you've had the data recorders fully read and examined is a hard sell given you can have a recoverable technical problem that the pilots make worse.

 

[Blackjack Davy]

Isn't Sinai basically under the control of islamic militants? And basically a no-go area for the Egyptian army?

Would make it easier to smuggle a bomb onboard at the airport or just shoot it out of the sky.

If there was a technical fault then they would have called a Mayday? Lack of communication suggests a sudden catastrophic failure surely.

 

[N17]

Tis looking to me like another AF447

 

[Cosimo]

Are the French going to look at the black boxes or will Russia take them?

 

[Curio]

A bomb certainly seems like a valid explanation. HOWEVER, Russian airlines aren't exactly known for their rigorous safety performance, this aircraft had the tail-strike incident, and the airline seems to be claiming the aircraft and pilot were both 100% WAY too quickly. I'm 50/50 to be honest.

 

[ubersonic]

Are the French going to look at the black boxes or will Russia take them?

They are being looked at by French/Egyptian investigations and Russian observers.

As the plane is a French design they will have to be involved (as is usual) because it's unlikely Egypt has the capability to read the boxes, Russia has also sent observers as it was a Russian airline and passengers.

 

[Ayahuasca]

Flight recorders have shown it wasn't struck from the outside.

 

[DJMK4]

From the outside, although something is telling me someone managed to get past some lax security

 

[leaskovski]

Flight recorders have shown it wasn't struck from the outside.

Link?

 

[Werewolf]

A bomb certainly seems like a valid explanation. HOWEVER, Russian airlines aren't exactly known for their rigorous safety performance, this aircraft had the tail-strike incident, and the airline seems to be claiming the aircraft and pilot were both 100% WAY too quickly. I'm 50/50 to be honest.

I think the russian airline has basically said "aircraft don't fall apart in the air" or something similar, which seems to go against all the cases where aircraft have fallen apart in mid air, usually due to poor maintenance routines either not spotting issues, or putting off repairs for some part of the aircraft.

It doesn't seem good to my untrained eye that part of the tail was found several miles from the main wreckage.

 

[Ayahuasca]

Link?

https://uk.news.yahoo.com/first-bod...t-plane-crash-065002802--finance.html#53VrKmS

 

[Curio]

https://uk.news.yahoo.com/first-bod...t-plane-crash-065002802--finance.html#53VrKmS

I suppose it's good to have that ruled out, but I think a SAM or air-to-air missile was always way down in the list of likely scenarios.

 

[kiteloopy]

A bomb certainly seems like a valid explanation. HOWEVER, Russian airlines aren't exactly known for their rigorous safety performance, this aircraft had the tail-strike incident, and the airline seems to be claiming the aircraft and pilot were both 100% WAY too quickly. I'm 50/50 to be honest.

copy of China airlines flight 611 maybe?