Russian Airbus down over Egypt

[Heel n Toe]

Russian passenger aircraft with 220 onboard goes off radar, reportedly crashes over Egypt.

A Russian plane carrying over 220 people has been lost from radars, according to sources in the Russian and Egyptian air traffic controllers. There have been reports the plane crashed over Sinai.

Egyptian Prime Minister Sherif Ismail confirmed that the Russian plane did crash in the Sinai.

Earlier, the Egyptian air accident chief said the Russian plane had safely left Egyptian airspace and made contact with Turkish air traffic control.

Kolavia Flight 7K9268 went off radar 23 minutes after taking off the Sharm El-Sheikh International Airport, Russian sources said.

A source in the Russian air traffic controller told Ria Novosti that the plane did not contact controllers in Larnaca, Cyprus.

Some Egyptian media claim the crash site has already been discovered in Egypt.

The Airbus that was reported going off radar and crashing in the Sinai Peninsula was travelling from the Egyptian resort Sharm El-Sheikh to St. Petersburg, Ria Novosti reported. It belonged to Kogalymavia airline, a small airline based in Western Siberia.

Egyptian sources told Reuters there were 212 people on board when the plane went down, most of them Russian tourists. Russian sources put the number at 224.

https://www.rt.com/news/320217-russian-plane-off-radars/

[Scuba Steve]

If true, 220 people sounds about like A330 size to me?

[motion]

It was an A321. Geez, that airline company only has 9 planes. What a safety record.

[Neilk]

Wow, I would have agreed with Steve on the airplane type without reading the linked article. Those seats must be crammed together to fit that many people.

Hope the pilots weren't drinking or something. Odd that the plane would crash without any contact.

[intakexhaust]

of note:
A senior official in Egypt air traffic control said that the pilot told him in their last communication that he was having trouble with the plane's radio system.

Kogalymavia, which now operates under the name Metrojet, says on its website it has two A320 planes and seven A321s, and that it transported 779,626 passengers in the first nine months of 2015.

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Millions of tourists, many of them Russian, visit the resort town, one of Egypt's major draws for beaches and scuba diving.

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Can't rule anything out >>>>>>>

The resort, and others dotting the southern Sinai Red Sea coast, are heavily secured by the military and police as an Islamist militant insurgency rages in the north of the restive peninsula, which borders Israel and the Gaza Strip.

Militants in the north who pledged allegiance to the jihadist Islamic State group have killed hundreds of soldiers and policemen since the army ousted Islamist president Mohamed Morsi in 2013.

[Scuba Steve]

Wow, bad news. 220 people in an A32x series - I didn't know they could do 37+ rows in those. It must have been a packed flight with hardly a spare seat.

[BE911SC]

A321 is the longer (more passengers) 320 series airplane.

http://www.airbus.com/aircraftfamilies/passengeraircraft/a320family/a321/

[motion]

These are wholesale flights for travel agent packages, so they're pretty basic and really stuffed to the max with seats.

[intakexhaust]

^That's basically it. Just a 'bus'. I could see someday they'll offer standing room only and grab bars.

[Iciclehead]

BBC is reporting ISIS affiliate is claiming they brought the aircraft down....still very suspect of course at this point.

From what I read, the aircraft was well above the shoulder fired anti-aircraft weapons, but is there any chance that the ISIS captured American surface to air missiles when the Iraqis fled?

That'd certainly put the fox amongst the chickens....allegations would surface and Putin would undoubtedly use it to demonstrate that the Ukrainian disaster was not "his fault".

Monitoring with great interest.....and fear, not to speak of sadness for the death of the people on board.

Dennis

[motion]

Really sad. When I fly Delta and western carriers, its interesting to see the flight path zigzagging around problem areas. I've flown Aeroflot probably 15-18 times this year and have been amazed at some of the stuff I flew over.

[gamin]

Crash site found. No survivors. Looks like in flight break up for whatever reason. Very sudden deceleration and descent. Latest report is that there were no communications from the aircraft prior to event. Icyclehead has a good point about the possibility of ISIS capture of US sams from Iraq. Nobody is making that point and it does not surprise me considering what else we left behind and in massive numbers. This will be an interesting investigation. They have recovered the cvr and fdr.

[Iciclehead]

Photos show relatively intact aircraft (considering), but what is surprising is that most airplane crashes have everything burnt to a crisp....this one looks different. I imagine it was relatively full of fuel considering it had just left on a multi-hour trip.

Dennis

[Gogar]

Originally Posted by Iciclehead

Photos show relatively intact aircraft (considering), but what is surprising is that most airplane crashes have everything burnt to a crisp....
Dennis

Well . . "some" photos.

Other photos show exactly what you describe though. Bummer

[tcar]

Sinai looks like Mars.

FWIW, shoulder mount SAMs cannot hit a plane at FL330... not even close.

[VaSteve]

I'm always amazed at the amount of knowledge on this site. Right down to how many seats on the plane.

[onewhippedpuppy]

Originally Posted by VaSteve

I'm always amazed at the amount of knowledge on this site. Right down to how many seats on the plane.

Probably better information than you'll get on any of the 24 hour news stations. As someone that works in aerospace, their aircraft "experts" are appallingly stupid.

[Chocaholic]

And "managed".

[Deschodt]

CNN must be so disappointed that plane was found so fast....

****ty way to go, it's becoming a pet fear of mine...

[MRM]

I can't imagine a worse way to go than being trapped in a tiny aluminum tube that falls 40,000 feet and being conscious all the way down.

Here's a nice article that seemed to have a lot more thought behind it than the usual breathless media reports. Russia Confirms Jet Broke Up in Mid-Air; Did 2001 Accident Doom It? - The Daily Beast

When I first saw the article the headline was "Did 14 Old Accident Doom Plane?". I read too quickly and thought the headline was "Did a 14 Year Old's Accident Doom Plane?". I clicked on it to see how in the world a 14 year old boy's accident (I assumed it would have to be a boy) could have caused a jet airplane crash.

Anyway, this airplane was in a tail-down landing accident 14 years ago. If the damage wasn't perfectly repaired and continuously re-inspected, it could have broken up in the air like that. It makes more intuitive sense than an ISIS strike or aliens, or whatever.

I will not fly Aeroflot or most third world carriers. I won't go if I can't fly on a plane that has European or US safety standards. I just won't. I've flown domestically in China but only on their international carrier that conforms to US safety standards.