Saturday 21 May 2016

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French aviation agency confirms smoke alerts on EgyptAir plane

The French Bureau of Inquiry and Analysis (BEA) for Civil Aviation Security on Saturday confirmed reports that there were smoke alerts on board EgyptAir flight MS804 shortly before the plane carrying sixty six individuals plunged into the Mediterranean.


A BEA spokesman aforesaid messages from the craft Communications Addressing and reportage System (ACARS) indicated there was cabin smoke before the EgyptAir airliner A320 crashed into the Mediterranean. But he warned that it was too early to interpret the info.

"The BEA confirms that there have been ACARS messages sent by the plane indicating that there was smoke within the cabin shortly before the break in data transmissions," a spokesman for the French aviation investigation trade told the foetoprotein Saturday. "It’s too early to interpret and understand the causes of the accident till we have a tendency to have found either the portion or the [flight knowledge and cockpit voice] recorders.”French Foreign Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault also aforesaid it had been too early to succeed in any conclusions on the explanation for the crash.

“At the moment … all theories are being examined,” said Ayrault, speaking to reporters in Paris after meeting with relatives of passengers from the Cairo-bound flight.

There were 15 French nationals among the sixty six passengers and crew on board the Paris-Cairo flight.

The BEA confirmation earlier Friday followed a report on the web site The Aviation Herald that the ACARS showed smoke alerts within the bathroom and therefore the aircraft’s electrics before the plane crashed. The Aviation Herald, which tracks incidents in the aviation trade, said the info came from 3 freelance channels.

Reports of the smoke alerts came as search teams continuing to scour the space within the Mediterranean wherever EgyptAir flight MS804 is believed to own crashed early Thursday.

Debris from the plane – as well as human remains, wreckage and personal belongings of the passengers – has been found around a hundred ninety miles (306 kilometres) north of the Egyptian town of Alexandria, according to Egyptian authorities.

However the plane’s flight knowledge and cockpit voice recorders – additionally celebrated as “the black box” – haven't however been retrieved.

‘It’s not black box information’

While the flight knowledge and cockpit voice recorders give the best clues to the explanation for a crash, the ACARS is merely an information link for causation messages between planes and ground facilities.

Experts have warned that the ACARS info has not been verified as however which the system simply transmits short condition updates.

“It’s not black box information, it’s not verified at the moment,” said aviation professional David Gleave in AN interview with FRANCE twenty four, noting that the smoke alerts “may be indicative of electrical problems on the heavier-than-air craft inflicting these messages to be triggered”.

Describing the ACARS as “a maintenance communication system”, Gleave explained that it’s also used to send “SMS text-like messages” between the crew and therefore the operations center on the bottom. “The ACARS may trigger automatic messages back to the maintenance center to mention there’s a retardant here, so once the craft lands the maintenance crew will prepare the elements necessary or have maintenance technicians prepared at the gate,” he explained.

EgyptAir flight MS804 was flying from Paris to Cairo when it disappeared early Thursday over the ocean. The 66 passengers and crew on board the airliner A320 enclosed thirty Egyptians, 15 French, two Iraqis and one traveler every from the United Kingdom, Belgium, Chad, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Portugal, Algeria, Canada and Kuwait.

‘No indication’ on cause of the crash

Two days when Greek air traffic controllers lost contact with the crew, questions remained over however and why the airliner A320 plunged into the ocean.

Egyptian Aviation Minister Sherif Fathi on Thursday aforesaid a terrorist attack was a lot of doubtless than a technical failure, but he offered no proof.

However French Foreign Minister Ayrault has repeatedly urged caution in attributing the crash to coercion.

"We're looking at all potentialities, but none is being favoured over the others as a result of we have a tendency to have completely no indication on the causes (of the crash)," Ayrault told a French TV station Friday.

Ayrault’s comments appeared to contradict Fathi's statement that the crash was likely caused by a terrorism.

Reporting from Cairo, FRANCE 24’s Adam Pletts said the statements mirrored “different interpretations of the same info, and that information itself is extremely sparse”.

The Egyptian civil aviation minister’s comments, Pletts noted, reflected “his confidence in the fleet and therefore the pilot instead of any proof to counsel it’s terrorism”.

France is participating in the investigation because it is that the country from that the flight originated, as well as where the airliner 320 plane was factory-made. It also had the second-highest variety of passengers on board.




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