_________________
Do not go gentle into that good night.
___________ Rage, rage against the dying of the light

_________________
Do not go gentle into that good night.
___________ Rage, rage against the dying of the light

What we know so far

As Europe wakes to news of the missing flight, here is what we know at this point, four hours after the plane lost contact:

• Flight MS804, en route from Paris Charles de Gaulle to Cairo, has disappeared from radar.
  
• The plane, an Airbus A320, left Paris at 11.09pm on Wednesday night (21.09 GMT/22.09 BST/07.09am Thursday AEST).
  
• The airline said contact was lost around 16km/10 miles inside Egyptian airspace at 2.45am local time (00.45 GMT/01.45 BST/10.45 AEST).
  
• The plane was carrying 56 passengers and 10 crew: two cockpit crew, five cabin crew and three security personnel.
• The airline said two babies and one child were on board.
  
• Search and rescue efforts are underway at the site where contact was lost, around 50-65km (30-40 miles) north of Egypt’s coast.
  
• The plane, on its fifth journey of the day, was travelling at 37,000 feet when it disappeared from radar.
  
• EgyptAir says the captain has 6,275 flying hours, including 2,101 on the A320; the copilot has 2,766. The plane was manufactured in 2003.
  
• There is no detail yet on possible reasons for the plane’s disappearance.

_________________
Do not go gentle into that good night.
___________ Rage, rage against the dying of the light

Flightradar24 (Verified account)@flightradar24
Our last recorded point of contact with #MS804 is 33.6757, 28.7924 at 36,975 feet.
https://www.flightradar24.com/data/flig ... 4/#9c0b766

_________________
Do not go gentle into that good night.
___________ Rage, rage against the dying of the light

Emergency beacon 'detected at 4.26am'
EgyptAir says that the plane’s emergency devices (possibly an emergency locator transmitter or beacon) sent a distress signal that was received at 4.26am, some two hours after the previously stated last radar contact.

_________________
Do not go gentle into that good night.
___________ Rage, rage against the dying of the light

LIVE UPDATES:
http://www.theguardian.com/world/live/2 ... ve-updates

10:00AM ET
Here’s what we know so far about missing EgyptAir flight MS804.

• Possible debris from the missing EgyptAir plane has been found 230 nautical miles west of the Mediterranean island of Crete. A Greek frigate searching for a missing Egyptair aircraft discovered two large plastic floating objects in the sea.

• Egypt’s aviation minister Sherif Fathy said terrorism was more likely than technical failure to be the cause of the crash . “If you analysis the situation properly the possibility of having a terror attack is higher than the possibility of having a technical [problem],” he told reporters.

• French French President François Holland Flight confirmed that the plane crashed and that terrorism could not be ruled out. The EgyptAir Airbus A320 en route from Paris Charles de Gaulle to Cairo, disappeared from radar with 66 people on board.

• Greek defence minister, Panos Kammeno, said the plane made “sudden swerves” before dropping off radar over the Mediterranean. The plane made a 90 degree swerve left and dropped from 37,000 feet to 15,000 feet before swerving 360 degrees right, he said.

11:00PM ET
The head of Russia’s domestic intelligence agency has said he believes the plane was brought down by a terror attack “in all likelihood”.

Alexander Bortnikov, head of the Federal Security Service, called for governments to come together to track down those responsible for the “monstrous attack.”

12:00 noon ET

Greek defence sources have told multiple news agencies that two large plastic floating objects have been found in the sea 230 nautical miles from Crete.

“There have been finds southeast of Crete, inside the Cairo flight information area,” Greek general staff spokesman Vassilis Beletsiotis said earlier.

Tarek Wahba, the captain of the Maersk Ahram, a ship involved in the search and rescue operation, has posted some pictures on his Facebook account showing debris floating in the sea, which he describes as a “lifejacket and a chair.

We have no confirmation if the debris has anything to do with flight MS804 or where it was found.

LIVE UPDATES:
http://www.theguardian.com/world/live/2 ... ve-updates

1:00PM ET

EgyptAir has said that Cairo’s foreign ministry has “confirmed finding the wreckage” in an English statement on Facebook.

EgyptAir resource stated that the Egyptian Ministry of Civil Aviation has just received an official letter from the Egyptian Ministry of Foreign Affairs that confirms the finding of wreckage of the missing aircraft No. MS 804 near Karpathos Island.

EgyptAir sincerely conveys its deepest sorrow to the families and friends of the passengers onboard Flight MS804. Family members of passengers and crew have been already informed and we extend our deepest sympathies to those affected.

Meanwhile, the Egyptian Investigation Team in co-operation with the Greek counterpart are still searching for other remains of the missing plane.

In a series of tweets the airliner said that investigators found floating materials likely to be wreckage, life jackets and plastic debris.


Photograph: Tarek Wahba via Facebook


Photograph: Tarek Wahba via Facebook

There is absolutely nothing new on this, much speculation and a lot of "experts" on TV talking.
Most "reliable" experts are saying it will be DAYS before an actual search will take place ... preparing staging area must be done.

LIVE UPDATES:
http://www.theguardian.com/world/live/2 ... ve-updates

3:19PM ET

Greek sources dispute wreckage claim

Greek officials have cast doubt on Egypt’s confirmation that it found debris belonging to flight MS804, giving a conflicting account of the findings to the Associated Press and Reuters.

Ehab, Badawy, Egypt’s ambassador to France, told the nation’s BFM television: “All I will say is that our embassy in Athens told us that it was contacted by Greek authorities, who signalled that they found white and blue debris corresponding to EgyptAir’s colours.”

But Greek sources have told Reuters the material they had found so far was not blue and white.

The Associated Press meanwhile has word from an unnamed senior Greek official, who says the debris found so far does not belong to flight MS804.

Egypt’s Civil Aviation ministry had said “floating material,” including life jackets and plastic items, were found in the sea off the Greek island of Karpathos, close to the suspected site of the plane crash.

The AP also spoke with a former transport official from the US, who said the sparse evidence so far indicates a bomb is more likely than mechanical failure.

Debris, including passenger belongings found.

Guardian stopped live blog???

Telegraph Blog
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2016/05 ... telligenc/

Raf Sanchez in Cairo writes:
Egypt's state television, Nile TV, is reporting that the Egyptian military has found some wreckage of the missing aircraft in the Mediterranean around 290km north of Alexandria.

There are no details of what they say they've found and a spokesman for the military was not immediately available.

_________________
Do not go gentle into that good night.
___________ Rage, rage against the dying of the light

Guardian have bucked up their ideas and restarted blog

http://www.theguardian.com/world/live/2 ... ifies-live

_________________
Do not go gentle into that good night.
___________ Rage, rage against the dying of the light

_________________
Do not go gentle into that good night.
___________ Rage, rage against the dying of the light

Times journalist Anthee Carassava says the Greek MoD has confirmed the discovery of bodies, debris and baggage

Anthee Carassava@antheecarassava
Greek MoD confirms bodies, #MS804 plane parts and backages found 5 miles south of spot where #EgyptAir flight went off radar

_________________
Do not go gentle into that good night.
___________ Rage, rage against the dying of the light

The Greek defence minister Panos Kammenos said Egyptian authorities have said they have spotted a body part, 2 seats and suitcases in search for the EgyptAir plane.

_________________
Do not go gentle into that good night.
___________ Rage, rage against the dying of the light

7:19PM ET

The AFP news agency says that Egyptian authorities have confirmed they are investigating the reports of smoke in the toilet and electronics of EgyptAir Flight 804 in the moments before the crash.

“We are looking into this report,” an Egyptian civil aviation ministry official told AFP. “At this point, I can’t deny or confirm it.”

7:06PM ET

Another aviation expert has said that the reports of smoke in the avionics system of EgyptAir Flight 804 could point to a technical fault rather than a terrorist hijack.

Philip Baum, the editor of Aviation Security International Magazine, told the BBC:

“There was smoke reported in the aircraft lavatory, then smoke in the avionics bay, and over a period of three minutes the aircraft’s systems shut down, so you know, that’s starting to indicate that it probably wasn’t a hijack, it probably wasn’t a struggle in the cockpit, it’s more likely a fire on board.

“Now whether that was a technical fire, a short circuit, or whether it was because a bomb went off on board, we don’t know,” he added.

No terrorist group has claimed responsibility for downing the flight

6:50PM ET

The Aviation Herald states they “received information from three independent channels”, that ACARS (Aircraft Communications Addressing and Reporting System) received the following messages from the aircraft:

00:26Z 3044 ANTI ICE R WINDOW

00:26Z 561200 R SLIDING WINDOW SENSOR

00:26Z 2600 SMOKE LAVATORY SMOKE
00:27Z 2600 AVIONICS SMOKE
00:28Z 561100 R FIXED WINDOW SENSOR
00:29Z 2200 AUTO FLT FCU 2 FAULT
00:29Z 2700 F/CTL SEC 3 FAULT

The timestamps refer to GMT and point to the alerts being received in the minutes before the flight dropped off radar screens.

Source: http://www.theguardian.com/world/live/2 ... ifies-live

IMO we should NOT get over-excited about the smoke thing... yet.

I have already heard conflicting versions about the toilet being near cockpit or at rear of aircraft (or both??)

And of course what caused the fire and where did it start? It may (for instance) have started in the avionics( short circuit or a bomb) and smoke just surfaced in toilet and was detected there.

_________________
Do not go gentle into that good night.
___________ Rage, rage against the dying of the light

As an aside....

I am not HAPPY with monitoring of lavatory smoke!!!

I recall having the odd puff in the toilet en route from NZ to Singapore (11 long hours)

I consider this smoke monitoring to be an intrusion on my toilet privacy!!

_________________
Do not go gentle into that good night.
___________ Rage, rage against the dying of the light

I already see the "facts" being stretched into a narrative... "experts" opining on the visibility in the cockpit as it filled with smoke????? Eh?
NOTHING to indicate smoke in the cockpit AT ALL.. let alone enough smoke to suddenly make visibility an issue????

There are explanations for a smoke alert in a toilet... eg as I have indicated.. some passenger having a crafty puff!!!

It really is disappointing to see how the media expand info and make shit up!!!!

_________________
Do not go gentle into that good night.
___________ Rage, rage against the dying of the light

Daft Guardian stopped live blog again??

From Telegraph
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2016/05 ... in-as-sea/


Egyptian military releases first photos of debris from Flight MS804

_________________
Do not go gentle into that good night.
___________ Rage, rage against the dying of the light

_________________
Do not go gentle into that good night.
___________ Rage, rage against the dying of the light

Smoke in the cabin: what does the data from EgyptAir MS804's sensors mean?
Raf Sanchez, Cairo
21 May 2016 • 10:15am

[....]
The European pilot helped decode each entry. Here's what they all mean:

00:26Z 3044 ANTI ICE R WINDOW: There's a fault in the right cockpit window's heating element. The window should be heated to stave off ice but it isn't working.

00:26Z 561200 R SLIDING WINDOW SENSOR: There's a fault in the co-pilot's sliding window sensor. This sensor tells the crew if a cockpit window is closed or not.

00:26Z 2600 SMOKE LAVATORY SMOKE: Smoke has been detected in one of the lavatories. The smoke detector is an optical sensor and detects if a cloud has come between two points of light. It detects smoke but also fog inside the cabin.

00:27Z 2600 AVIONICS SMOKE: Smoke has been detected in the avionics compartment. Located underneath the cockpit, this area can be entered via a latch in the cockpit or via a latch at the nose wheel. It is a big area where all the aircraft computers are located.

00:28Z 561100 R FIXED WINDOW SENSOR: There's a fault in another cockpit window on the right side.

00:29Z 2200 AUTO FLT FCU 2 FAULT: There's a fault in the Autopilot Flight Control Unit 2. There are two channels in the control unit and losing one will result in the spare one taking over automatically.

00:29Z 2700 F/CTL SEC 3 FAULT: There's a fault in the system that controls the wing's spoilers, the portion of the wing that rises during landing. This is the final entry.

Each entry tells a discrete story about some part of the aircraft breaking down. But what do they mean altogether?

Firstly, they indicate that something catastrophic happened to the plane in the air, which would seem to rule out a deliberate crash by the pilots or a hijacking that forced the plane into the sea.

The pilot I spoke to said an "internal explosion" seemed the most likely explanation, based especially on the the problems with windows in the cockpit. "It looks like the right front and side window were blown out, most probably from inside out," he said.

...more at link
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2016/05 ... 04s-senso/

_________________
Do not go gentle into that good night.
___________ Rage, rage against the dying of the light