Russian airliner with 224 aboard crashes in Sinai

[rpm]

A Russian airliner carrying 224 passengers and crew crashed in Egypt's Sinai peninsula on Saturday, the Egyptian civil aviation authority said, and a security officer who arrived at the scene said most of the passengers appeared to have been killed.

The Airbus A 321, operated by Russian airline Kogalymavia,was flying from the Sinai Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh to St Petersburg in Russia when it went down in a desolate mountainous area of central Sinai soon after daybreak, the aviation ministry said.

The wreckage was found in the Al Hassana area of central Sinai, about 50 kilometers (31 miles) from where Egyptian security forces have been waging a fierce campaign against militants in northern Sinai that have pledged allegiance to the Islamic State. An Egyptian investigation team has reached the crash site and started searching for the black boxes, civil aviation authorities said in a statement.

"I now see a tragic scene. A lot of dead on the ground and many who died whilst strapped to their seats," the officer, who requested anonymity, said.

"The plane split into two, a small part on the tail end that burned and a larger part that crashed into a rock. We have extracted at least 100 bodies and the rest are still inside."

Russia launched air raids against Syrian opposition groups including Islamic State on Sept. 30. Civil Aviation Minister Mohamed Hossam Kemal was quoted in a cabinet statement as saying it was too soon to determine the cause of the crash, but security sources said there was no indication the Airbus had been shot down or blown up.

The Airbus A321, operated by Russia’s Metrojet, was descending at about 6,000 feet per minute before communication with the flight was lost, 23 minutes after leaving Sharm El Sheik International Airport, according to Flightradar.com, which tracks flight routes. The plane had reached a cruising altitude of 31,000 feet, Egypt’s Civil Aviation Ministry said in an e-mailed statement on Saturday.

At that altitude, it is “very unusual for something to happen,” Paul Hayes, director of safety at Ascend Worldwide Ltd., a London-based company that gathers air data for insurers, said.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/10/31/us-egypt-crash-idUSKCN0SP06V20151031

Sad news.

[SysError]

By contract (or law I guess), do the black boxes have to go back to Airbus or can the Russians just keep them?

[ghi]

 This people going in vacation in Egypt and most of middle east are naïve.
 Maybe just an accident ,terrorist attack or shot down by globalist reptilian illuminati because Putin takes a stand against their apocalyptic world enslaving  agenda, just my thoughts.

"ISIS has claimed responsibility for downing a Russian jet" video released soon after incident, but looks fishy;
http://en.alalam.ir/news/1754957

[Meatwad]

ISIS claims responsibility over anything even if they didnt do it.

"ISIS claims responsibility over Dennys serving eggs sunny side up when they were ordered as scrambled"

[cpxxx]

Video was of that the 747 crashing in Afghanistan. They're lying of course. It was too high for MANPAD to reach it. So unless they happened to have a Buk or something similar it's all propaganda.

We'll soon see when they replay the CVR and FDR. More likely loss of control for some reason.

[100Coogn]

ISIS claims responsibility over anything even if they didnt do it.

"ISIS claims responsibility over Dennys serving eggs sunny side up when they were ordered as scrambled"

I knew it was them.   

Coogan

[BaldEagl]

Is it just me or have there been a lot of Airbus incidents lately?

[ghi]

Video was of that the 747 crashing in Afghanistan. They're lying of course. It was too high for MANPAD to reach it. So unless they happened to have a Buk or something similar it's all propaganda.

We'll soon see when they replay the CVR and FDR. More likely loss of control for some reason.

I don't know much, but .... 747 has 4 engines,  the plane in video is actually twinjet and I read about MANPADS going to 36,000 ft;

[rpm]

Is it just me or have there been a lot of Airbus incidents lately?

It's just you.

The Oct. 31 crash of Metrojet flight 9268, now confirmed by Airbus, was only the third hull loss of an Airbus A321-200 and the worst accident so far involving the type.

In 2010 an Airblue A321 crashed into the side of a mountain during a poor weather approach to Islamabad. All 152 on board died. The only other A321 hull losses affected a TransAsia Airways A321-100. The aircraft, delivered in 1996, hit a utility vehicle on the runway while landing in Tainan/Taiwan injuring two construction workers. The aircraft was damaged beyond repair.

Other recent A320 family accidents include the Dec. 28, 2014, crash of Indonesia AirAsia flight 8501 for which major speed and altitude fluctuations were reported before contact was lost. There have been 34 hull losses for the A320 family, according to the Aviation Safety Network.

Compare that to the Boeing 737 family that has had 73 fatal crashes.
http://www.airsafe.com/events/models/b737.htm

[MiloMorai]

Is it just me or have there been a lot of Airbus incidents lately?

Another Boeing went up in flames the other day.

[ghi]

 

[Ripsnort]

It's just you.

Compare that to the Boeing 737 family that has had 73 fatal crashes.
http://www.airsafe.com/events/models/b737.htm

I'm not sure if you're purposely being silly or if you're really that uneducated?

First off the "A320 family" is like the 737 family, that being several models in that family (319, 320, 321)

The Airbus A320 family first start in 1988 with first deliver and the accidents and incidents recorded are 88 aviation occurrences, including 33 hull loss accidents with a total of 1,102 fatalities as of April 2015.

As compared to in the same time period of each respect A320 family and 737 Classic family of jets, 50 hull losses have been recorded of the Boeing 737 Classic(-300/-400/-500) series aircraft have occurred as of Sep 2015., with a total of 1,174 fatalities. This is roughly in the same measured time period (back to 1988)

One other fact to ponder, The 737 has twice as many sold since inception in 1967 and every 5 seconds (I think texans can count ) there are two Boeing 737's taking off or landing somewhere in the world, on an average.

More facts to ponder:

The 737 design is 20 years older as a whole.
There are lots more older less-safe 737s being flown by corner-cutting budget airlines in third-world countries with 40+ year old aircraft.

The 8,104 737s have, on average, flown many times more cycles than the 6,171 for Airbus A320.


And yes, while the A320 family is enviable, so is Boeing's.

If it ain't Boeing, I ain't going.

[Busher]

  Wonders if Rip has ever flown a Boeing (or an Airbus for that matter) or weather he just has a stake in Boeing success.
They are both built with minimum cost in mind (both construction and operating costs).
They both have Government approved Minimum Equipment Lists that are as thick as the New York telephone directory. That's the Manual that permits dispatch with certain listed systems not functioning properly (or at all).
ALPA (the Airline Pilots Association) argues for very limited MEL's - the Manufacturer and the Airlines want really thick MEL`s.
Guess who wins!

Trust me...they`re all junk.

[ghi]

maybe ISIS's anti aircraft condom bomb works ;

[MiloMorai]

One other fact to ponder, The 737 has twice as many sold since inception in 1967 and every 5 seconds (I think texans can count ) there are two Boeing 737's taking off or landing somewhere in the world, on an average.

The 8,104 737s have, on average, flown many times more cycles than the 6,171 for Airbus A320.

2 x 6171 = 13342 
2 x 8104 = 16208

Boeing employees can't multiply - divide.