Egypt Air flight MS804 goes off radar en route from Paris

[Drew Phipps]

Egypt Air flight MS804 goes off radar en route from Paris to Cairo.

Melanie Eversley

USA TODAY - ‎Wednesday‎, ‎May‎ ‎18‎, ‎2016

An Egypt Air flight on its way to Cairo from Paris went off radar Wednesday night, according to a tweet from the airline and from a journalist. "An informed source at Egyptair stated that Flight no MS804, which departed Paris at 23:09 (CEST), heading to Cairo has disappeared from radar," the tweet read. The airline said it would provide more details as they become available.

Something like 60 people were aboard.

[Peter Lemkin]

Sure seems like a lot of planes go 'missing' forever these days....... I for one would love for the days of ocean passenger ships [not luxury cruise liners] to return.

[Magda Hassan]

Egyptian military did report a distress signal but no further information at this stage. Yes, seems like a lot of planes do go missing these days.

[Peter Lemkin]

Only 8 hours since plane lost on radar, apparently suddenly without distress call...but given location very strange there is not more information, radar data, satellite data, sighting of debris, etc......if this one completely disappears in this location, it will really be quite a magic act..but it is early yet. Almost surely, it was not hijacked elsewhere unless that radar data is being hidden from the public. Press conference in a few hours in Egypt.

[Danny Jarman]

EgyptAir said there were 10 crew members on board. There are indications some of them were members of the Egyptian security services. - BBC

[Peter Lemkin]

EgyptAir said there were 10 crew members on board. There are indications some of them were members of the Egyptian security services. - BBC

Not sure if any were actual Egyptian 'security services' [intelligence services]...not saying no, but fairly definite was there were three 'air martials' onboard. News sources are quoting the French as saying the plane definitely crashed after a very abrupt decent and rapid side to side movements. Little more seems to be known and I'm surprised no wreckage has yet been spotted - it certainly will be and the flight recorders will easily be found, as well. The sea is not very deep in that area and is close to land on all sides. Sounds to me like major aircraft failure - only to be determined if intentional or accidental. It is a bit ominous that it occurred as soon as the plane entered Egyptian airspace, but could be a coincidence. From that altitude, I doubt there are any survivors - they would have almost certainly already have been spotted. Of interest, perhaps, is that at the French airport from which it took off a very sizable % of the ground staff that handle baggage and the planes were recently fired as possible security threats. Whether real threats or not, someone could have been upset at that action. Again, could be coincidental. If targeted, it would be at one or more of the passengers/items in the hold, or Egypt and/or Egypt Air more than France or the French, as most passengers were Egyptian not French.

[Magda Hassan]

The aviation expert person I saw interviewed on the news suggested that the Greek authorities knew where the wreckage was and more but were being quiet about it for some undisclosed reason.

[Michael Barwell]

I wondered if it was a barometric bomb triggered by the descent, but that would assume the ascent armed it, then the descent triggered it; that might be to send a msg as it'd go-off close to the intened recipient of the 'msg' - the Egyptian govt (they've been massively heavy-handed recently, banning demonstrations & locking ppl up for 10yrs or so for it, & doubtless much else), but getting such a device onboard at Paris CDG?

This reported sudden 90degree left turn followed by a 360degree turn to starboard is odd, implies a loss of control & an over correction, perhaps. On the other hand, I always wonder when they say "This is a very safe aircraft" - the Comet was very safe 'til they started crashing as materials/construction techniques failures appeared - I'm thinking of new materials/composites, that are more-or-less untested over long timeframes.

There was an Egyptian pilot who's likely to have deliberately crashed one of these things, repetitions by him, not of 'Allahuakbar', but a similar 'by gods will'-type phrase.

[Peter Lemkin]

If it was a bomb on board - in the hold or in someone's carry-on, getting it onboard at CDG is not impossible, only difficult - but the plane was also in Egypt, Tunis, and one other stop [not sure] before going to Paris...it could have been put on at any of these places. Even one of the three air marshals could be unhappy with the Egyptian government or life in general. We don't know and are only speculating. It seems now some significant wreckage was found fairly far West of the spot the plane disappeared [near Crete - and some reports from people on Crete having heard an explosion at the right time]. Flying is not fun anymore for a long list of reasons...this being only one....whatever the 'reason'.

No way to know if it is truth or 'legend' but another Egyptian pilot told Russian Reuters that this plane very recently [within the last few days] had writing on it in Arabic saying that this plane was to be brought down...and that the writing was, of course, removed...but several Arabic-speaking pilots had heard of this. They, said the pilot, didn't take it seriously, until it happened last night. Dunno....just adding this. Reference is here. https://translate.google.com/translate?s...edit-text=

[Peter Lemkin]

Very weird that the claims of 'wreckage found' have now all been withdrawn. An awful lot of a plane is buoyant and will float no matter how it crashes.

(Unnamed 'official sources' say):

"A senior U.S. intelligence official familiar with the U.S. capabilities in the region told NBC News the cause of the crash remains unclear, but infrared and multispectral imagers indicate strongly there was an explosion on the flight. "

- take it with a grain of salt at this point......but maybe. The satellites certainly have the ability to know such things, but such information or capability is rarely disclosed publicly. No sooner did I post the above, when:

BBC reports:

"A US review of satellite images has produced no signs of an explosion on board, Reuters news agency reports, quoting officials from multiple US agencies."

- so take your pick. Now it seems likely someone may be trying to confuse the picture of what happened. Lack of wreckage would lead one to speculate a hijacking, but radar would certainly be able to track a plane no matter how silent electronically. Another mystery airline disappearance thus far.

It *is* interesting that all these military air-surveillance radars and satellite-born radars and optical systems never have anything to say about planes that go down, at least in time to help S&R. AF-447 and MH-370 were a real disappointment in that regard.