Russian airliner crashed in Egypt

[RockLobstar1]

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-34687139

The Airbus A-321 had just left the Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh, bound for the Russian city of St Petersburg.
Wreckage was found in the Hasana area and bodies removed, along with the plane's "black box". An official described a "tragic scene".
Flight KGL9268 disappeared when travelling at 9,500m (31,000ft).
Egyptian officials said all the passengers were Russian.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has ordered an official investigation into the crash, and for rescue teams to be sent to the crash site.
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A commission headed by Transport Minister Maksim Sokolov is to leave for Egypt on Saturday afternoon.
A criminal case has also been opened against the airline, Kogalymavia, for "violation of rules of flight and preparation for them", Russia's Ria news agency reported.
The airline, based in western Siberia, operates under the name Metrojet.
Russian authorities say it was carrying 217 passengers, 17 of them children aged between 2 and 17, and seven crew. Most were tourists.
A centre to help relatives of the passengers has been set up at Pulkovo airport, Tass news agency quoted St Petersburg city officials as sayin.

The plane split in two, with one part burning up and the other crashing into a rock, he added.
The Russian aviation authority Rosaviatsiya said in a statement that flight KGL9268 left Sharm el-Sheikh at 06:51 Moscow time (03:51 GMT) and had been due into St Petersburg's Pulkovo airport at 12:10.
The authority added that the aircraft failed to make scheduled contact with Cyprus air traffic control 23 minutes after take-off and disappeared from the radar.
Egypt's civilian aviation ministry said the plane had been at an altitude of 9,500m (31,000ft) when it disappeared.
Live flight tracking service Flight Radar 24's Mikail Robertson confirmed the altitude.
He told the BBC that the plane started to drop very fast, losing 1,500m in one minute before coverage was lost.
Aviation official Ayman al-Mukadem said the pilot had reported technical difficulties before the plane went missing, the Associated Press reported.
The BBC's Orla Guerin in Cairo says it is likely there will be speculation about militant involvement in the incident - Sinai has an active militant network, with local Jihadis who have allied themselves to so-called Islamic State.
But the aircraft's altitude suggests that it could not have been struck from the ground, she adds.
Local weather observations in the vicinity of the rescue scene suggest relatively benign conditions.

[cdnpilot77]

A 5h19m trip in an A321 with 217pax, that seems long and a lot of pax, or am I mistaken?

[Eric Janson]

A321 High Density seating = 220 seats

A321 MTOW 93500kg (not sure if this aircraft was certified at this weight). 5+19 flight is certainly possible.

[Braun]

Apparently ISIS is claiming responsibility...

[delta1]

Apparently ISIS is claiming responsibility...

Says who?

[Strobes]

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2015-10-3 ... lane-crash

[kev994]

Every time a plane crashes near a terrorist group they try to claim responsibility. I don't buy it without more evidence.

[Panama Jack]

A criminal case has also been opened against the airline, Kogalymavia, for "violation of rules of flight and preparation for them", Russia's Ria news agency reported.

Would this be a separate matter, or triggered by today's accident? It seems to suggest Russian-style kangaroo court justice.

[Inverted2]

Could have been shot down by someone other than ISIS. They are backed by some big players who don't like Russia.

[cdnpilot77]

Well a conspiracy theorist might say this is a tool so that Russia can significantly upgrade their activities in the region to "stabilize it"

[Old fella]

Boys over on PPrune have all the answers, 7+ pages already...........

[Siddley Hawker]

From ASN.

http://aviation-safety.net/database/rec ... 20151031-0

Last contact with the flight was about 06:13 hours. Flight tracking website Flightradar24 shows the aircraft climbing to 30875 feet, after which it shows erratic altitudes and speed indications. Last altitude recorded was 27925 feet at a speed of 62 knots.

[cncpc]

Russia now says aircraft broke apart in the air.

[plhought]

I don't trust any spokesperson/government that says anything about the cause of an accident 2 days later.

Remember the Lokomotiv crash? They were so quick to blame fuel suppliers and all sorts of tertiary bull s*** for weeks. Turns out the flippen pilot was draggin' on the brakes....

I hate to stir it but most likely this will be another stupid accident involving a CIS airline. They'll be 5 guys in a cockpit designed for 2 with no coordination and poor decision making with some stupid mistake made by the oh-so-holy 'aircraft commander' all holding to some old Soviet ideal that supreme authority is best and inevitably all yelling and screaming at each other as they all trip over each other f-in around with the airplane as they plummet to their and passengers deaths.

I used to think the "old-ways" had passed on in Russia/CIS countries with the introduction of western machinery...but it's still the same really. Such BS accidents over the years. I'd rather be in a 70s clapped out 154 then with a bunch of Russians flying an airbus. At least it's designed for what they practice.

[RockLobstar1]

I think it was the size of the debris field (over 20 square km) that led them to believe it had a mid air break up. No one is really saying anything about a cause of the break up. Just that it didn't hit the ground in one piece.

[brownbear]

I'm sure this is human caused, meaning a bomb or a missile.

Who did it, is the mystery. Sounds great for Russia to have a reason to keep engaging in the middle east. So maybe they took down their own aircraft. Maybe it had an important person on board who was set to be assassinated, and the rest of the plane was collateral.

They have the recorders so a lot of preliminary questions will be answered very shortly.

Egypt is so low on my holiday list of places to go. Once it was higher, but due to today's people in charge nah..

[Gannet167]

This aircraft had a 2001 accident in which the plane’s tail section struck the runway on landing in Cairo. The plane sustained substantial damage and needed repairs. I think the nature of the repair and last inspection on an aircraft with over 20,000 cycles will be a very interesting area to look into. It sounds a lot like China Airlines Flight 611 and Japan Airlines Flight 123. Both were tail strike repairs that eventually resulted in structural failure of the pressure vessel.

[ogc]

This aircraft had a 2001 accident in which the plane’s tail section struck the runway on landing in Cairo. The plane sustained substantial damage and needed repairs. I think the nature of the repair and last inspection on an aircraft with over 20,000 cycles will be a very interesting area to look into. It sounds a lot like China Airlines Flight 611 and Japan Airlines Flight 123. Both were tail strike repairs that eventually resulted in structural failure of the pressure vessel.

Looking at the pictures that are being released, this looks very plausible. Tail section is seperated and far away frome the rest of the wreckage.

US government has ruled out a missile through satellite imagery at the time of the crash

[RockLobstar1]

http://mobile.reuters.com/article/idUSKCN0T60PS20151117

Russia confirms it was a bomb.