EgyptAir flight MS804

(my post was removed before I could correct the error of violating the no click policy--hopefully I won't violate some other policy--I seem to make posting mistakes often here)

Hello

I have seen several reports claiming that EgyptAir 804 made a series of emergency landings immediately prior to the fateful day. At the same time, the report is denied by other officials. I have seen this reported this way on mainstream news sites--and it seems like something that could be verified (maybe by examining FlightAware for deviations between expected flight and where it ended up for those claimed days) somewhat easily. It seems like lazy journalism... Does anyone have the scoop on this?

For example:
French media reports the plane made three emergency landings in the 24 hours before the crash. The plane was forced to turn around after taking off to return to airports in Eritrea, Cairo and Tunis. Each time, the airports allowed the plane to leave after inspectors finished technical audits and found nothing wrong.

In that report, EgyptAir's chairman denied these claims
Source: http://www.wpsdlocal6.com/story/321...4-made-3-emergency-landings-before-it-crashed
 
Is it possible to check the data for the previous two or so days?

Yes, if you are logged in to Flightaware you can see the history right back to February. I haven't looked through them all, but the only bit of weirdness I can see is this:

upload_2016-6-9_10-21-20.png


A flight supposedly between Borg El Arab (Alexandria) and Cairo actually shows a very small portion of track in Brussels, and then a part just east of Cairo, and then a longer portion from Abu Dhabi. (The tracked parts are in green, and are linked by the white lines of estimated track on great circle routes.)

upload_2016-6-9_10-22-40.png


I am not sure quite what is going on here. This is the history: http://uk.flightaware.com/live/flight/SUGCC/history/20160514/0700Z/HEBA/HECA.

Tracklog is here: http://uk.flightaware.com/live/flight/SUGCC/history/20160514/0700Z/HEBA/HECA/tracklog

upload_2016-6-9_10-26-25.png

As you can see there are three separate bits of tracking there: Saturday May 14 at just after 2pm UTC it is in Brussels. At just after 9pm UTC it is in flight over the Gulf of Suez, heading east. And at 1.16am UTC on May 15 it is heading west, climbing out of Abu Dhabi!


Edit: I think what has happened is that Flightaware has picked up portions of other flights on the list and somehow created a phantom flight: for example the first few points on the flight from Brussels to Cairo seem to be missing from the log of that flight, and have been added to the log of the mystery flight.

This is the log of the actual Brussels-Cairo flight. Note that the first reported point is at 3:10:11pm BST, which is 15 seconds after the last one (3:09:56pm BST) of that stretch in the screenshot above. The sequence of points every 15-16 seconds continues perfectly.

upload_2016-6-9_10-34-5.png


I'm pretty sure that's just a Flightaware glitch rather than any unusual flight activity.
 
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Thanks for showing me how to look. The article claimed the plane "was forced to turn around after taking off to return to airports in Eritrea, Cairo and Tunis."

I checked those and saw no evidence the French claim was true.

There seems to be missing data from one (Cairo to Tunis--it is hard to know if this is the "return to Cairo" claimed by the French)
upload_2016-6-9_8-36-28.png


But the rest seem okay. I checked both to and from Asmara Int'l, the other claimed problem area and it shows a complete path. So ..anomaly? So is it enough to call the claim debunked?
 

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This is positive news
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/jun/27/egyptair-flight-ms804-manslaughter-inquiry-opens
The flight data recorder of crashed EgyptAir flight MS804 has been successfully repaired, according to Egyptian authorities, as French investigators open a manslaughter investigation into how the jet headed from Paris to Cairo came down.

The plane’s two recorders – one containing flight data, the other carrying voice recordings from the flight deck – were handed over to French experts after they were recovered damaged from the wreckage in the Mediterranean and Egyptian investigators could not download their contents.

The investigators in Egypt said on Monday that the repaired data recorder would be returned to Cairo for analysis of its contents, while the doomed plane’s cockpit voice recorder was still being worked on.
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They are still working on the voice recorder
https://adclick.g.doubleclick.net/p...do?campaign=News+&adgroup=Tablet&creative=Int
 
This is positive news
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/jun/27/egyptair-flight-ms804-manslaughter-inquiry-opens
The flight data recorder of crashed EgyptAir flight MS804 has been successfully repaired, according to Egyptian authorities, as French investigators open a manslaughter investigation into how the jet headed from Paris to Cairo came down.

The plane’s two recorders – one containing flight data, the other carrying voice recordings from the flight deck – were handed over to French experts after they were recovered damaged from the wreckage in the Mediterranean and Egyptian investigators could not download their contents.

The investigators in Egypt said on Monday that the repaired data recorder would be returned to Cairo for analysis of its contents, while the doomed plane’s cockpit voice recorder was still being worked on.
Content from External Source
They are still working on the voice recorder

That is good news.

How long till someone claims the French tampered with the data? Any takers?
 
Oh, was slow to catch the so-called "chemtrail" aspect of an earlier post. I say NO! It was a bomb.

A terrorist attack. There is no "MetaBunk" link here, unfortunately.
 
Most? Rear lavatory? I don't think anyone's seriously theorising a bomb, at least I've not heard it, and in a rear lavatory? I'd be interested to see any articles on this.
Most unlikely. As I said earlier in this thread, the usual symptoms of a bomb in an aircraft, especially the rear, are a sudden in-flight break up with associated debris field. We did not have this. Any trace of the aircraft was difficult to find.
What we do know from the CVR and the investigation so far is the leak that the word 'fire' was uttered, smoke residue was found on the inside right side of the flight deck and various warnings were triggered. (right side window heating, avionics and toilet smoke).
Taken with no claim of action by any group, my feeling is that it was a tragic accident. My own pet theory is an EFB (Electronic Flight Bag - tablet computer) lithium battery fire. This would have been mounted on the right-side window frame, would have been next to the windows that failed and would have been difficult to fight. A lithium battery fire cannot be extinguished with an extinguisher, it needs to be cooled (put in a bucket of water as per the Airbus drill). If it's mounted in a bracket, you can't get it out and you can't sit next to it, so they are instantly down to one pilot and the flight deck's now full of smoke.
Someone here could perhaps say whether something like an iPad fire in a space 6ft square could be serious enough to cause the crew to be distracted enough to lose control of the aircraft.
 
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That is sad, but part of the Internet Age we live in....better Intel---

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2...kpit-voice-recorder-from-crashed-egyptair-804

Most are now theorizing a bomb, placed in a rear lavatory.

Being a better pilot than an internetter my last comment was in reply to this quote and I was a bit wrong in that one should, indeed, at first use a BCF/Halon extinguisher. This is not the end of the story of course. Guidance from the FAA:


Source: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=vS6KA_Si-m8
 
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4580732/EgyptAir-crash-caused-overheating-iPad.html

June 7, 2017

French authorities have ordered an investigation into whether EgyptAir Flight MS804 was brought down by a fire caused by overheating mobile devices.

The probe is set to focus on whether an Apple iPhone 6S and an iPad Mini 4 belonging to the first officer on board may have caught fire after being plugged into an incorrect socket.


It is thought CCTV footage shows the first officer had placed a tablet and bottle of perfume on an instrument panel close to where the blaze is believed to have started.
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