In 2016, an EgyptAir jet had a fatal crash, while flying between France and Egypt. In 2022, French authorities released their report into what happened. Now in 2024, Egyptian authorities have published their report on the accident. Not surprisingly, the two parties have come to very different conclusions.
Continue reading: EgyptAir Flight 804 Crash: Smoking Pilot Or Terrorism?
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Did any terrorist group claim responsibilty? Terrorist group usually and nauseatingly compete to brag about successful attempts, not in this case.
Also security at CDG is usually very tight.
The statement about quick depletion of the oxygen tank if there were a leak sounds plausible. This page https://320pilots.com/oxygen-system/ says there is enough oxygen in a A320 tank for maybe 22 minutes.
@ Jake;
"Also security at CDG is usually very tight."
As far as I read there is no proof who put in the explosives (if they were the cause).
Could be probably through the caterer company, or the couriers.
If a friendly driver goes to the airport every day with the same lorry, and similar cargo then security gets lazier...
This is why only dumb people get caught at the passenger security gates. The "real" cargo reaches the aircraft on different routes.
Fully agree with your first sentence. It makes them feel "proud."
Smoking. I said it was smoking when it happened. EgyptAir piilots are notorious for it. So yeah it is smoking. Naive to think it was anything else with their record.
Rest of the aviation industry, to the Egypt Civil Aviation Authority: "Sure, Jan."
Let's also not forget EgyptAir 990 in 1999, where a relief 1st officer insisted on taking command hours before he was due to do so and on purpose crashed the plane into the ocean. Now that was terrorism!
Not exactly a great track record
@ Adam, even today Crew can smoke inside A/C's. Even in European Carriers. Besides others I'm a frequent flyer on one so I know quite some Crew of that Carrier and if you're on a 10+h flight and you talk to a Crewmember after 4h and you smell he has been smoking, it was not before T/O. Some Long Haul A/C's have a huge exhaust system in the kitchen where you can have a smoke and not smelling it in the cabin. No, I won't name the Carrier but the guy confirmed it to me.
Do you know which airlines still allow smoking?
About 15yrs ago, I flew RJ… during the flight I smelled cigarettes coming from the lavatory were some guys were standing… so I called the FA button and told her, she appeared genuinely concerned and she was like let me go and check… she disappeared for few minutes and came back telling me something around: oh don’t worry it’s not these guys, it’s the pilot and you can smell it because of air circulation!
I was speechless 🙂
I recall Ben reviewing one of the Chinese airlines years ago and noticed the smell of smoke.
Every point made here is valid. Given the pathetic reputation of Egyptian aviation, it looks to me like:
1) Sloppy maintenance on the O2 mask resulted in it being left in an inappropriate setting;
2) Undisciplined pilots puffing away on cigs in the cockpit managed to not hear the hissing sound, but did successfully ignite something resulting in an oxygen enriched fire.
3) Said fire spread too quickly to do anything about.
4) The Egyptian government, ever eager to keep up appearances, worked very hard to fabricate an alternate reality scenario in a vain attempt to save face.
Did I miss anything?
Six domestic and one international flights with EgyptAir. I have smelled smokers and somebody lit a container of sterno. For such a tragedy as this, accepting responsibility is difficult and hence the alternative narrative. This likely was not terrorism.
Doesn’t one conclusion (French) lead to negligence and exposes the airline to lawsuits etc , vs the other (their own) shields them from legal liability ?
When one arguement is egypt, its usually a safe bet to assume its the other side thats right,
Tempted to agree with the Egyptians. Pilots smoked in cockpits for 50 years without any significant accidents blamed on smoking.
The flame spread seems conclusive and if you remember the politics in Egypt at the time, and the politics in France today, it is not certain that France got it right.
Just like how Israel brags every time when they strike civilian resident areas, hospitals, schools, etc.
Of course they never found an evidence of actual Hamas or Hezbollah presence because they fled already leaving only civilians behind.
A total terrorist behavior.
"Pilots smoked in cockpits for 50 years without any significant accidents blamed on smoking"
Almost everything that's ever caused a crash in aviation "happened for years without accidents," until they didn't.
Concordes had 50+ tire blowouts that caused FOD damage, prior to the one that caused a crash.
DC10s had cargo doors forced into place for years, prior to one causing a crash.
747s flew with empty center tanks without inerting for decades, prior to causing a crash.
Etc.