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Just wanted to offer condolences to any people who may have had friends or family aboard the plane that went down outside of Sharm El Sheik.
wise_woman Member # 444
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I'm surprised this hasn't been mentioned on the boards more. Maybe as a mark of respect.
Just can't help being concerned though as to why it happened, I hope answers are found.
Everyone on the boards feels an attachment to Egypt in some way and this is such heartbreaking news.
cairoexpat Member # 1023
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I agree it was a horrible event! One thing that I noticed from watching the news and seeing the initial pictures of the crash area was that there was no sign of an explosion, fire, and no fuel residue/oil slick floating on the water. In most cases of a maritime mishap involving a ship or airplane there is fuel/oil residue floating on the water. My question is where did all the fuel go?
[This message has been edited by cairoexpat (edited 06 January 2004).]
Noor-77X Member # 3199
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I TOTALLY AGREE WITH WISE WOMAN...I WAS VERY SURPRISED AN UPSET TODAY WHEN READING SOME POSTS IN AN EUROPEAN WEB-PAGE OF TRIPS, PEOPLE COMING BACK FROM EGYPT ONLY TOLD ABOUT THEIR HOLIDAY AND NOT ABOUT WHAT IS HAPPENED.I WAS IN FRANCE IN THAT PERIOD AND I DINDN'T HEAR NOTHING ABOUT.
Sonomod_me Member # 10522
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Flash Airline crash pilot had “lack of sleep” (AFP)
26 March 2006
PARIS - The pilot of the Flash Airline plane that crashed in Egypt in January 2004 killing 148 people may have been affected by a “lack of sleep”, the French chief investigator of the case said on Sunday.
“We think that it was the spatial disorientation” of the pilot that caused the crash, said Paul-Louis Arslanian, head of the French Civil Aviation Investigation and Analysis Bureau.
In a heated news conference in Cairo on Saturday the French and Egyptian investigators gave differing explanations of the crash.
Lead Egyptian investigator Shaker Kelada blamed technical failure of the automatic pilot which then led to disorientation of the pilot. Arslanian stressed failure by the pilot as the cause of the crash.
“This kind of divergence is common in this type of investigation. I will not talk of lies by the Egyptians, but of differences of assessment,” Arslanian said.
He emphasised the “lack of sleep” of the pilot and the speed with which he had moved on from military aviation to captaining civil flights. The pilot “may have lacked a transition” period, Arslanian said.
Arslanian was speaking after returning to France with Kelada, who has come to present his final report to families of the victims.
The plane crashed into the sea shortly after takeoff from the Sharm El Sheikh resort on the Red Sea, heading to Paris on January 3, 2004. Of the 148 people killed in the accident, 134 were French.
At Saturday’s news conference the head of the group defending the interests of the victims’ families contradicted Arslanian, rejecting the explanation of pilot spatial disorientation.
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