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Events from Jun 19th 1999 to Sep 19th 2020 www.avherald.com Incidents and News in Aviation List by: Filter: Crash: Egypt A320 over Mediterranean on May 19th 2016, fire on board, traces of explosives found

By Simon Hradecky, created Thursday, May 19th 2016 03:35Z, last updated Monday, May 22nd 2017 15:00Z An Egyptair Airbus A320-200, registration SU-GCC performing flight MS-804 (dep May 18th) from Paris Charles de Gaulle (France) to Cairo (Egypt) with 56 passengers and 10 crew, was enroute at FL370 over the Mediterranan Sea about 130nm north of Alexandria (Egypt) and about 210nm northnorthwest of Cairo when a number of ACARS messages indicating cockpit window temperature sensors faults and optical smoke detector activations were received between 00:26Z and 00:29Z, the crew did not respond to a hand off from Greek to Egypt ATC, the transponder signals of the aircraft ceased at 02:33L (00:33Z) and according to primary radar data provided by Greece's Ministry of Defense the aircraft tracked on its course at FL370 until 00:37Z, then flew a left hand turn of 90 degrees, started a descent doing a right hand orbit until reaching 15,000 feet and disappeared out of radar reach at 10,000 feet. No distress call was received. The aircraft was located crashed in the Mediterranean Sea, there were no survivors.



Search and Recovery



On May 19th 2016 France is joining the search and rescue efforts dispatching ships and aircraft into the search area, which is already being scanned by Greek and Egypt aircraft and ships.



On May 19th 2016 a good number of civilian ships in the area have, according to MarineTraffic, veered off their intended courses and are now steaming towards a common position at approximately N33.4 E29.7 approximately 30nm eastnortheast of the last ADS-B position. A first ship "Oceanus" has already reached that position and is nearly stationary there.



On May 20th morning Egypt's Military announced, Egyptian naval aircraft and vessels found debris from the A320 aircraft as well as personal belongings of passengers about 290km (156nm) north of Alexandria (Egypt).



On May 20th European Space Agency (ESA) reported Sentinel-1A radar satellite images showed a 2km long slick at position N33.5333 E29.2167, about 40km/21.6nm from the last transponder position, coinciding with the suspected area of impact of flight MS-804. The photo was taken on May 19th 2016 at 16:00Z. Image below.



In the afternoon of May 20th 2016 Egyptair reported that more debris has been found during the day including body parts, passengers' belongings, aircraft seats.



On May 22nd 2016 Egypt's President, while holding a speech to inaugurate a fertilizer factory, "asserted that the Petroleum Ministry has provided a submarine that could reach 3,000 meters under water in an attempt to retrieve the two black boxes."



Late May 26th 2016 the French BEA announced the French Navy vessel "Laplace" has been dispatched to the crash site equipped with three "DETECTOR 6000" units capable of detecting and locating the black boxes' pingers. The vessel just departed Porto Vecchio with two BEA investigators on board and is estimated to arrived at the crash site in the next few days. There are discussions to also involve a second vessel equipped with a robot submarine capable of lifting debris from the ground estimated at a depth of 3000 meters. All operations are conducted under the lead of Egypt Authorities with the technical assistance by the BEA.



On May 28th 2016 Egypt's Civil Aviation Authority reported a contract has been closed with the company "Deep Ocean Search", short DOS (editorial note: not to be confused with Microsoft's original operating system), to recover the black boxes of the crashed A320 confirming the French vessel, just like DOS, belong to the ships best equipped for that task.



On Jun 1st 2016 Egypt's Civil Aviation Authority reported, that the French vessel "Laplace" has located pings presumed to originate from one of two black boxes. Vessel "John Lethbridge" of DOS is estimated to join the search in a week in order to retrieve the blackbox(es). The search for the second pinger continues.



On Jun 1st 2016 the French BEA confirmed that Egyptian Authorities have confirmed a "signal that may come from one of the recorders" of flight MS-804. The BEA did NOT confirm that a black box has been located though (unlike many media are reporting as breaking news).



On Jun 10th 2016 Egypt's CAA reported that the vessel "John Lethbridge" of Deep Ocean Search has arrived on site. The vessel is tasked to locate and recover the black boxes from the sea floor.



On Jun 15th 2016 Egypt's CAA reported that the ship "John Lethbridge" has identified several main locations of wreckage of the A320, first images of the wreckage on the sea floor were forwarded to the accident investigation committee. The crew of the ship and the accident investigation team are currently mapping the findings. A meeting has taken place to decide of how to best handle the wreckage.



On Jun 16th 2016 Egypt's CAA reported, that the vessel "John Lethbridge" managed to retrieve the cockpit voice recorder in several stages as the CVR had been damaged, however, the most important part, the memory unit, has been brought to surface. The cockpit voice recorder memory module is now being handed over to the accident investigation commission for read out and analysis.



On Jun 17th 2016 Egypt's CAA reported, that the vessel "John Lethbridge" managed to recover the memory module of the second black box, the flight data recorder, too. The memory module is now being transferred to the investigation committee too.



Later Jun 17th 2016 Egypt's CAA released photos of both memory modules (see below) reporting that the condition of the memory modules has not yet been determined. If the modules can be read out without repairs, download will commence right away, if there is minor damage only, the repair will be done locally, if there is extensive damage, the memory modules will be needed to sent abroad for repairs under supervision by the investigation committee. The process of reading the data out and analysing them will likely take several weeks.



In the late evening of Jun 19th 2016 Egypt's CAA reported that the memory units of both recorders have been dried, which took 8 hours at high tech drying ovens. Electrical tests are currently in progress which will be followed by downloading the data.



On Jun 22nd 2016 Egypt's CAA announced, that after inspection and salt removal from more than 200 electronic circuits the investigation is in the process of identifying one currently not functioning properly in order to ensure accurate reading of the memory contents. The accredited representatives from the BEA and NTSB are witnessing these procedures. Vessel John Lethbridge is still at the crash site mapping the area and wreckage distribution, which ultimately may result in the recovery of such wreckage parts.



On Jun 23rd 2016 Egypt's CAA announced that both blackboxes will be taken to the BEA/France for repairs. The recorders will subsequently be returned to Cairo for data analysis. In the meantime vessel "John Lethbridge" continues to locate and retrieve victims. French forensic doctors have joined Egypt's forensic staff supervising the retrieval in accordance with standard procedures.



Late Jun 27th 2016 Egypt's CAA announced (mirrored by the BEA in the morning of Jun 28th), that the French experts at the BEA Labs were able to successfully repair the electronic boards of the flight data recorder, subsequent testing to ensure data were on the recorder and can be downloaded has been successful. The following day (Jun 28th) attempts to repair the board of the cockpit voice recorder will commence, thereafter the recorders will be returned to Cairo for download and data analysis.



On Jun 29th 2016 Egypt's CAA reported that the repair work on the cockpit voice recorder is still on ongoing. The data have been successfully downloaded from the flight data recorder however.



On Jul 2nd 2016 Egypt's CAA reported that the memory chips of the CVR were found intact, however, supportive circuitry to permit reading the data needed to be replaced. Following tests were satisfactory enabling the read out of the memory chips. The recorder is now being returned to Cairo for read out and analysis.



On Jul 3rd 2016 Egypt's CAA reported, that vessel "John Lethbridge" departed the crash site for Alexandria to hand over the human remains as well as debris recovered from the sea floor. Following hand over DNA testing will commence to identify the human remains.



Late Jul 7th 2016 Israel's government reported that wreckage believed to orginate from MS-804 have been washed ashore near Israel's city Netanya. The government informed both Egypt's and France's governments about the find.



On Jul 8th 2016 Egypt's CAA reported that they are coordinating the transfer of the debris found at Israel's shores to verify whether the debris indeed belonged to MS-804.



Statements



On May 19th 2016 at 05:00L (03:00Z) the airline reported, that flight MS-804, estimated to land in Cairo at 03:10L (01:10Z), is missing and so far has not landed at any airport in reach of the aircraft. Egyptair subsequently tweeted that the aircraft was enroute at FL370 about to enter Egyptian Airspace when radar contact with the aircraft was lost at 02:45L (00:45Z). A search and rescue operation has been launched. The airline further corrected initial statement of 59 passengers to 56 passengers actually on board of the aircraft. The commander had accumulated 6,275 hours with 2,101 hours on type, the first officer has accumulated 2,675 hours. The aircraft had been manufactured in 2003. The airline has opened hotlines for relatives at +202 25989320 (outside Egypt) and 080077770000 (landline in Egypt).



On May 19th 2016 at about 07:40L (05:40Z) Egyptair updated their statement saying, that the contact with the aircraft was lost 280km (151nm) from the Coast of Egypt at 02:30L (00:30Z). The crew comprised the captain, first officer, 5 cabin crew and 3 sky marshals. Amongst the passengers there were 30 Egyptians, 15 French, 2 Iraqis, 1 British, 1 Belgian, 1 Kuwaiti, 1 Saudi, 1 Sudanese, 1 Chadian, 1 Portugese, 1 Algerian and 1 Canadian.



On May 19th 2016 Greece's Civil Aviation Authority reported radar contact with the aircraft was lost about 2 minutes after the aircraft was handed off from Greek to Egyptian Air Traffic Control. The crew did not report any problems up to hand off. The CAA subsequently clarified, that the crew was talking to air traffic control in Greek when the aircraft entered the Greek control zone. When ATC attempted to hand the aircraft off to Egypt the crew did not respond, radar contact was lost 2 minutes after the first attempt to raise the crew for hand off, the aircraft was 7nm past mandatory reporting point KUMBI (N33.7139 E28.7500), boundary between Greek and Egyptian control zone.



On May 19th 2016 at 08:25L (06:25Z) Egypt Air reported that search and rescue have picked up an emergency locator transmitter (ELT) signal. Dawn in the area was at 04:26L.



On May 19th 2016 at 10:15L (08:15Z) Airbus posted "Airbus regrets to confirm that an A320 operated by Egyptair was lost at around 02:30 am (Egypt local time) today over the Mediterranean sea. The aircraft was operating a scheduled service, Flight MS 804 from Paris, France to Cairo, Egypt. The aircraft involved, registered under SU-GCC was MSN (Manufacturer Serial Number) 2088 delivered to Egyptair from the production line in November 2003. The aircraft had accumulated approximately 48,000 flight hours. It was powered by IAE engines. At this time no further factual information is available."



On May 19th 2016 at 12:30L (10:30Z) France's President Hollande announced that the aircraft has crashed while flying over the Mediterranean Sea in Egyptian Airspace.



On May 19th 2016 Egypt's Civil Aviation Minister said in a press conference, Egypt continues to call the aircraft "missing". The Government does not rule out any cause as of yet, neither mechanical failure nor terrorism.



On May 19th 2016 at 14:55L (12:55Z) Greek Authorities reported that search aircraft have spotted two objects floating on the sea surface about 50nm south of the last transponder position and about 230nm southsoutheast of Crete (Greece). The objects were white and red and appeared to be made of plastics. Authorities subsequently reported two orange objects also seen appear to be aircraft life vests, position near N33.3 E29.9 (about 40nm east of last transponder position).



On May 19th 2016 at 19:10L (17:10Z) Egyptair confirmed that according to Egypt's Ministry of Foreign Affairs (parts of) the wreckage have been located crashed in the Mediterranean Sea. Families of passengers and crew have been informed, the airline expresses their deepest sympathies. The Egyptian Investigation Team continues to search for other remains of the aircraft.



On May 20th 2016 about 00:00L Christiane Amanpour (CNN) tweeted that Egyptair's Vice President retracted the statement, that debris of the aircraft had been found and said they were mistaken. However, Egyptair did not retract such statements on all their official outlets, on their main website the statement was reposted instead with timestamp May 20th 2016.



Greece's Minister of Defense reported that Greek Armed Forces were informed about the loss of radar contact with the aircraft at 03:37L (00:37Z) and activated the search and rescue procedure with the armed forces. Upon request by the joint search and rescue coordination center Hercules C-130 aircraft were dispatched at 03:41L (00:41Z), Greek Navy was also dispatched. A primary radar track of the aircraft was received, description see below in the data section.



On May 23rd 2016 the French BEA as well as Egypt's Civil Aviation Authority, in response to media reports of an emergency call on Egypt's frequency, stated, that no such communication has been received on any frequency. Egypt's CAA said: "What was published on media today concerning a recording of a conversation between the pilot of EgyptAir MS804 and Cairo Air traffic control is totally false; the aircraft did not make any contact with Egypts Air traffic control. ... The air traffic control unit made contacts with some of the aircraft located in the airpace near of EgyptAir aircraft flight No. 804 to help communicate or sending any information about the aircraft and the Egyptian search and rescue units were notified at once."



In response to media reports claiming the CVR would suggest one of the pilots was out of his seat in an attempt to extinguish the fire Egypt's CAA reminded all media on Jul 6th 2016 that the only source of information about the investigation of MS-804 is Egypt's CAA and urges media to only and only rely on official reports issued by the accident investigation committee. As of current the investigators are verifying the information downloaded from both black boxes and establish time correlations. The CAA stated: "The committee has gathered information that need time to be analyzed and matched to reach some very basic conclusions."



Investigation



On May 19th 2016 the responsible Paris states attorney has opened an investigation into the disappearance of the aircraft but cautioned, that a mechanical failure or other causes besides terrorism have not been ruled out at this point. No credible claims of downing the aircraft have been made so far.



On May 20th 2016 Egypt's Authorities reported that an accident investigation commission has been formed to investigate the crash.



On May 20th 2016 the French BEA reported 3 investigators have been dispatched to Egypt by the BEA to join the investigation led by Egyptian Authorities.



On May 22nd 2016 Egypt's Accident Investigation Commission said that they are currently collecting information from various sources including documentation of the aircraft, documentation of crew, documents from air traffic control and information from data management systems including ACARS messages and other communications. The investigators were also taken to the crash site by Egypt's Navy. The Commission annotated that it is too early to draw conclusions from a single source like the ACARS messages. The Commission is already supported by specialists and investigators from various participating countries.



On May 24th 2016 the Egyptian Accident Investigation Commission (EAIC) reported that the search and recovery efforts are continuing. Egyptian Air Force, Egyptian, Greek and French Navy are scanning the crash site. So far 18 "groups of wreckage" have been forwarded to the criminal research laboratories in Cairo, the prosecutor decided to take DNA samples by forensic experts under judicial supervision. Priority is currently given to the recovery of victims and black boxes. The investigation team studies documentation, including maintenance and crew documentation, pertinent to the aircraft and flight. The EAIC said: "Accurate study of radar images and air traffic records are being carried out, in addition to analyzing weather conditions and services provided from the take-off airport. Furthermore, all available information at countries crossed by the aircraft is being assessed."



On May 28th 2016 Egypt's Civil Aviation Authority reported, that data about the accident have been received from Greek Air Traffic Control, further data about the flight track just prior to the accident are being expected. The CAA also confirmed that an ELT signal had been received via satellites enabling search and rescue services to locate the crash site.



On Jun 13th 2016 Egypt's Civil Aviation Authority reported, that primary radar data received from the Egyptian Army, Greek and English Authorities are matching indicating the aircraft turned left off course then performed a full right circle. The CAA reminds however that such data can not be relied upon without consideration of the full context of the investigation. The Accident Investigation Commission has accepted the request by the NTSB to join the investigation representing the state of manufacture of the engines as well as one of the black boxes. Both ships LaPlace and John Lethbridge are operating in the search area as of current, the pingers of the black boxes are anticipated to operate (at least) until Jun 24th 2016.



On Jun 25th 2016 Egypt's CAA, while dealing with false rumours spread by a number of media, stated: "It is worth mentioning that the Technical Investigation Committee follows international measures of aircraft accident investigations and is not affected by criminal investigation or administrative or political pressures; as it concerned mainly with technical investigations in order to reach the evidences and technical information to enhance civil aviation safety standards."



On Jun 29th 2016 Egypt's CAA reported that the flight data recorder has been successfully downloaded, more than 1200 parameters are being decoded and validated. Data are present from departure at Charles de Gaulle Airport in Paris until the aircraft was at FL370 just after the ACARS messages (see below in data section) were transmitted, the data are consistent with the ACARS messages of lavatory and avionics bay smoke. Recovered wreckage parts from the forward section of the aircraft show severe heat damage and evidence of thick black smoke (soot). The investigation is going to undertake comprehensive analysis to try to determine the source and cause of the fire.



On Jul 16th 2016 Egypt's CAA reported that first analysis of the cockpit voice recorder found the existance of "fire" on board was mentioned. The CAA cautions that it is still too early to determine the cause and the location of the fire. At the same time the vessel John Lethbridge finished their mission in Alexandria after making sure all human remains had been recovered.



On Dec 15th 2016 Egypt's Civil Aviation Authority announced, that forensic examination on behalf of the Accident Investigation Commission has found traces of explosives with some of the human remains recovered. In accordance with Egypt law the states prosecutor has been informed, a technical commission formed by the prosecution office have opened their investigation into the crime.



On May 22nd 2017 Egypt's Civil Aviation Authority released following statement indicating the investigation currently is in the hands of Egypt's Public Prosecutor:



After the repair of the electronic boards of the aircraft recorders and conducting several intensive tests; the result came as positive as it showed the possibility of reading the recordings of the two memory units.



The members of the Technical Investigation Committee returned to Cairo with the boards to continue work and reading the contents of the recorders as well as analyzing them at the laboratories of the Ministry of Civil Aviation of Egypt. After the FDR data were uploaded and examined by the experts; the results indicated that the flight data had been recorded since the departure of the plane from Charles de Gaulle Airport until it stopped at 37000 thousand feet where the accident occurred. The recorded data of the recorder matched the Aircraft Communications Addressing and Reporting System (ACARS) messages which indicated smoke in the lavatory and smoke from the avionics compartment. When the CVR data was unloaded, conversation at the cabin prior to the accident at was heard, which mentioned the word fire.



Consequently the Technical Investigation Committee made a chronological linkage between the data extracted from FDR and the voices recorded on CVR.



In the meantime; John Lethbridge recovered all the human remains that were spotted at the crash location; in the presence of Egyptian and French forensic experts on board. As the Egyptian government was keen to ensure that all human remains are recovered and that it stands in solidarity with the families of the victims, it was decided to extend the mission of John Lethbridge for two additional periods, to conduct a new scan of the seabed and to search for any other remains until it is fully ascertained that there are no human remains at the crash scene.



The human remains of the victims were handed to the Public Prosecutors and to accredited representatives of the Egyptian forensic medicine institution; in the presence of members of the Technical Investigation Committee and the Egyptian and French forensic doctors. Immediately the human remains were transferred to the Egyptian forensic medicine institution in Cairo in order to carry out the standard measures.



In September 2016; the Central Department for Aircraft Accident Investigation at the Ministry of Civil Aviation received reports of the forensic Medicine of the Arab Republic of Egypt; concerning the bodies of the victims; which indicated finding traces of explosive materials in some human remains. Reference to Article No. (108) of the Civil Aviation Law No. 28 for the year 1981, and its amendments; which provides that in case the Technical Investigation Committee suspects the existence of any criminal act behind the accident, it shall inform the public prosecution and therefore the Technical Investigation Committee had referred the matter to the public Prosecution; while availing its expertise under the disposal of the public prosecution. Noteworthy; investigation is still in progress by the Egyptian public prosecution.



Data available



On May 20th 2016 The Aviation Herald received information from three independent channels, that ACARS (Aircraft Communications Addressing and Reporting System) messages with following content were received 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

no further ACARS messages were received.



Early May 21st 2016 the French BEA confirmed there were ACARS messages just prior to break down of communications warning however that they are insufficient to understand the causes of the accident until flight data or cockpit voice recorders have been found. Priority as of current is to find the wreckage and the recorders.



On May 21st 2016 Airbus confirmed all ACARS messages above as authentic and explained the "ANTI ICE R WINDOW" message was triggered by the Window Heat Computer #2 as well as the related 2 maintenance messages corresponding to the temperature sensors of the 2 right cockpit windows. The two smoke messages were triggered by their respective optical detectors. Airbus stated: "With the limited data available, the analysis of these messages does not allow to establish the sequence of events that would explain the loss of flight MS804. Pending more data become available (in particular flight data recorders and aircraft parts), Airbus has no specific recommendation to raise at this stage of the investigation."



Greece's Minister of Defense reported: "What we know for now from the air image of the National Operational Centre is that at 03:37L (00:37Z) the aircraft located 10-15 miles off the borders within the Egyptian air space, in Cairo FIR, at a height of 37,000 feet, took a turn of 90o to the left and then a 360o turn to the right falling from 37,000 feet to 15,000 feet. The image that we had was lost when it reached about 10,000 feet.



Search and first parts of (Video: Egypt Armed Forces):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QRZlfCIb8qE



Black Boxes' memory modules (Photos: Egypt's CAA):









Sentinel-1A radar satellite image showing 2km long slick (Photo: ESA):





Debris seen from search ship Maersk Ahram (Photos: Tarek Wahba):













A number of ships left intended course towards a common position (Graphics: MarineTraffic):





Infrared Satellite Image Seviri May 19th 2016 00:00Z (Photo: AVH/Meteosat):





Map and flight trajectory based on Mode-S transponder signals (Graphics: AVH/Google Earth):







By Simon Hradecky, created Friday, Jul 6th 2018 18:48Z, last updated Friday, Jul 6th 2018 18:48Z



SAFETY INVESTIGATION INTO AIRBUS A320 ACCIDENT, REGISTERED SU-GCC AND OPERATED BY EGYPTAIR, ON 19/05/2016 OFF THE EGYPTIAN COAST



- REVIEW OF SITUATION ON 6 JULY 2018 -



Following the accident on 19 May 2016 over the Mediterranean Sea involving an Airbus A320 registered SU-GCC operated by EgyptAir, a safety investigation was immediately opened. In compliance with the international texts in force, as the accident occurred in international waters, Egypt, as the State of Registry and State of the Operator of the aeroplane, is in charge of carrying out this investigation. The BEA appointed an Accredited Representative to represent France as the State of Design of the aeroplane, assisted by technical advisers from the aircraft manufacturer, Airbus. The NTSB (1) also appointed an Accredited Representative to represent the United States as the State of Manufacture of the engine.



France contributed to the safety investigation from the very outset. Initially, the BEAs work consisted in acting as advisor to its Egyptian counterpart and then in participating in sea search operations for the aircraft wreckage. At the same time, the three States collaborated in collecting and analysing the first elements available - in particular the ACARS (2) messages.



Once the wreckage had been found, the debris was inspected and the flight recorders were located, retrieved and immediately sent to Cairo in order to start the initial work to recover and read the data. These operations, collectively decided on and carried out by the Egyptian, American and French specialists, did not succeed in reading the recorded data due to the severe damage to the data media. Advanced repair work was then necessary and the BEA was asked to carry it out in its laboratory in France.



The work on the flight recorders was carried out under the authority of the Egyptian Investigator In Charge, on the BEA premises, and at the beginning of July 2016 the data from the two flight recorders was extracted, read and decoded.



During this work, the Egyptian authorities published the following elements about the accident:



- The flight recorders stopped operating while the aircraft was in cruise at an altitude of 37,000 feet;



- The aircraft systems sent ACARS messages indicating the presence of smoke in toilets and the avionics bay;



- The data from the data recorder confirms these messages;



- The playback of the cockpit voice recorder reveals, in particular, that the crew mentioned the existence of a fire on board;



- Several pieces of debris were retrieved from the accident site. Some of these had signs of having been subject to high temperatures, and traces of soot.



Once the data from the flight recorders had been retrieved, the Egyptian authorities continued their work in Egypt.



In addition, the BEA had collected the following elements:



- A signal from an emergency locator transmitter was sent at 00:37 (source CNES (3) ) i.e. around eight minutes after the transmission of the last ACARS message;



- Data from a Greek primary radar (sent by the Greek authorities to the BEA) shows that the aeroplane had descended in a turn until collision with the surface of the water.



Based on these elements, the BEA considers that the most likely hypothesis is that a fire broke out in the cockpit while the aeroplane was flying at its cruise altitude and that the fire spread rapidly resulting in the loss of control of the aeroplane.



For its part, the BEAs Egyptian counterpart announced in December 2016, the discovery of traces of explosive on human remains. It stated that, in accordance with Egyptian legislation, this finding led it to transfer the file to the Egyptian Attorney General who would from now on be responsible for carrying out the investigation.



The BEAs proposals concerning further work on the debris and recorded data were not, as far as the BEA knows, followed up. The technical elements of the investigation already collected by Egypt, including those provided by the BEA, are protected by the Egyptian judicial investigation.



In an effort to continue the safety investigation mission, the BEA asked to meet the Egyptian Attorney General. This took place at the end of May 2018. In this meeting, the Egyptian authorities explained that as it had been determined that there had been a malicious act, the investigation now fell within the sole jurisdiction of the judicial authorities.



The BEAs Egyptian counterpart did not publish the final report which would have allowed the BEA to set out its differences of opinion as authorized by the international provisions.



The BEA considers that it is necessary to have this final report in order to have the possibility of understanding the cause of the accident and to provide the aviation community with the safety lessons which could prevent future accidents.



As mentioned above, the BEA considers that the most likely hypothesis is the rapid spread of a fire and would like investigations into this hypothesis to be continued in the interests of aviation safety.



The BEA is ready to continue its collaboration with its Egyptian counterpart should the latter restart the safety investigation into this accident.

On Jul 6th 2018 the French BEA released following press release (quoted in full):Following the accident on 19 May 2016 over the Mediterranean Sea involving an Airbus A320 registered SU-GCC operated by EgyptAir, a safety investigation was immediately opened. In compliance with the international texts in force, as the accident occurred in international waters, Egypt, as the State of Registry and State of the Operator of the aeroplane, is in charge of carrying out this investigation. The BEA appointed an Accredited Representative to represent France as the State of Design of the aeroplane, assisted by technical advisers from the aircraft manufacturer, Airbus. The NTSB (1) also appointed an Accredited Representative to represent the United States as the State of Manufacture of the engine.France contributed to the safety investigation from the very outset. Initially, the BEAs work consisted in acting as advisor to its Egyptian counterpart and then in participating in sea search operations for the aircraft wreckage. At the same time, the three States collaborated in collecting and analysing the first elements available - in particular the ACARS (2) messages.Once the wreckage had been found, the debris was inspected and the flight recorders were located, retrieved and immediately sent to Cairo in order to start the initial work to recover and read the data. These operations, collectively decided on and carried out by the Egyptian, American and French specialists, did not succeed in reading the recorded data due to the severe damage to the data media. Advanced repair work was then necessary and the BEA was asked to carry it out in its laboratory in France.The work on the flight recorders was carried out under the authority of the Egyptian Investigator In Charge, on the BEA premises, and at the beginning of July 2016 the data from the two flight recorders was extracted, read and decoded.During this work, the Egyptian authorities published the following elements about the accident:- The flight recorders stopped operating while the aircraft was in cruise at an altitude of 37,000 feet;- The aircraft systems sent ACARS messages indicating the presence of smoke in toilets and the avionics bay;- The data from the data recorder confirms these messages;- The playback of the cockpit voice recorder reveals, in particular, that the crew mentioned the existence of a fire on board;- Several pieces of debris were retrieved from the accident site. Some of these had signs of having been subject to high temperatures, and traces of soot.Once the data from the flight recorders had been retrieved, the Egyptian authorities continued their work in Egypt.In addition, the BEA had collected the following elements:- A signal from an emergency locator transmitter was sent at 00:37 (source CNES (3) ) i.e. around eight minutes after the transmission of the last ACARS message;- Data from a Greek primary radar (sent by the Greek authorities to the BEA) shows that the aeroplane had descended in a turn until collision with the surface of the water.Based on these elements, the BEA considers that the most likely hypothesis is that a fire broke out in the cockpit while the aeroplane was flying at its cruise altitude and that the fire spread rapidly resulting in the loss of control of the aeroplane.For its part, the BEAs Egyptian counterpart announced in December 2016, the discovery of traces of explosive on human remains. It stated that, in accordance with Egyptian legislation, this finding led it to transfer the file to the Egyptian Attorney General who would from now on be responsible for carrying out the investigation.The BEAs proposals concerning further work on the debris and recorded data were not, as far as the BEA knows, followed up. The technical elements of the investigation already collected by Egypt, including those provided by the BEA, are protected by the Egyptian judicial investigation.In an effort to continue the safety investigation mission, the BEA asked to meet the Egyptian Attorney General. This took place at the end of May 2018. In this meeting, the Egyptian authorities explained that as it had been determined that there had been a malicious act, the investigation now fell within the sole jurisdiction of the judicial authorities.The BEAs Egyptian counterpart did not publish the final report which would have allowed the BEA to set out its differences of opinion as authorized by the international provisions.The BEA considers that it is necessary to have this final report in order to have the possibility of understanding the cause of the accident and to provide the aviation community with the safety lessons which could prevent future accidents.As mentioned above, the BEA considers that the most likely hypothesis is the rapid spread of a fire and would like investigations into this hypothesis to be continued in the interests of aviation safety.The BEA is ready to continue its collaboration with its Egyptian counterpart should the latter restart the safety investigation into this accident.

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By antonio bordoni on Thursday, May 18th 2017 15:17Z





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