In 2016, an Airbus from Egypt Air crashed into the Mediterranean Sea, killing all passengers. According to one report, the pilot lit up with a cigarette.
At 11:21 pm on May 18, 2016, Egypt Air’s regular flight MS904 took off from Paris-Charles-de-Gaulle bound for Cairo. However, the Airbus A320 never got there: after disappearing from the radar screen at 2:34 am on 19 May, it crashed into the sea between Crete and the Egyptian coast. None of the 66 people on board survived the disaster.
In the days and weeks that followed, the wreckage and the remains of the passengers and crew were recovered in a large-scale search operation in the water and in the air. The two flight recorders can also be located.
When it came to clarifying the cause of the accident, there was initial confusion: while French investigators initially believed it was a mechanical failure, their Egyptian counterparts assumed a terrorist attack. It wasn’t until 2018 that British experts determined, using black box data, that there was a fire on board. Why this broke out, however, remained a mystery.
Ashtray replaced due to wear
Now, the journalists of “Corriere della Sera” have had access to a 134-page expert report that was recently sent to the Court of Appeal in Paris, where he will be tried for involuntary manslaughter: 15 of the victims were of French nationality. The report now apparently solves the mystery. According to this, the cockpit fire broke out because oxygen came out due to a faulty mask – and was then ignited by a cigarette that pilot Mohamed Said Shoukair or co-pilot lit. The fire then quickly spread throughout the aircraft and eventually led to the crash.
According to experts, the sound of escaping oxygen can be heard clearly in the cockpit audio recordings. The mask had been replaced three days earlier – and a valve had inexplicably been placed in the emergency position, allowing gas to escape under high pressure.
never reported defects
They also found other deficiencies in the aircraft that the pilots never reported and consequently never corrected. However, two months before the accident, the cockpit ashtrays were replaced because they were worn out from heavy use.
Navigation account np time27.04.2022, 21:10| Act: 04/27/2022, 21:10