Russian airliner broke up in midair over Egypt: official

PanARMENIAN.Net - The Russian jetliner that crashed shortly after takeoff from an Egyptian resort city broke up at high altitude, scattering fragments of wreckage over a wide area in the Sinai Peninsula, Russia's top aviation official said Sunday, November 1 as search teams raced to recover the bodies of the 224 people who died, the Associated Press reports.

The large area over which fragments were found indicates the jet disintegrated while flying high, said Alexander Neradko, head of Russia's federal aviation agency. He would not comment on any possible reason for the crash, citing the ongoing investigation.

Neradko was in Egypt to inspect the crash site along with Russia's emergency and transport ministers.

An Egyptian ground service official who carried out a preflight inspection of the plane said the aircraft appeared to be in good shape.

However, a Russian TV channel late Saturday quoted the wife of the co-pilot as saying her husband had complained about the plane's condition. Natalya Trukhacheva, identified as the wife of Sergei Trukhachev, said a daughter "called him up before he flew out. He complained before the flight that the technical condition of the aircraft left much to be desired."

An Egyptian official had previously said that before the plane lost contact with air traffic controllers, the pilot radioed that the aircraft was experiencing technical problems and that he intended to try to land at the nearest airport.

When planes do break up in midair it's usually because of one of three factors: a catastrophic weather event, a midair collision or an external threat, such as a bomb or a missile.

With no indication that those events played a role in the crash, an official said investigators will be looking at more unusual events, such as an on-board fire or corrosion that caused a structural failure.

The flight recorders will provide key information, including the plane's airspeed and whether it was on autopilot.

Alexander Smirnov, Metrojet's deputy director, described the A321 as a reliable aircraft that would not fall into a spin even if the pilots made a grave error because automatic systems correct crew mistakes.

Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi cautioned that the cause of the crash may not be known for months.

"It's very important that this issue is left alone and its causes are not speculated on," he told a gathering of top government officials, members of the military and security forces. The investigation "will take a long time" and "needs very advanced technologies."

A local affiliate of the extremist Islamic State group claimed it brought down the aircraft, which crashed in the same general area of northern Sinai where the Egyptian military and security forces have battled militants for years.

Russian officials, however, ruled out the possibility of IS intervention.

Russia's air-safety regulator on Sunday ordered Moscow-based Metrojet to temporarily suspend flights. The transport safety watchdog, known as Rostransnadzor, said Metrojet needed to thoroughly analyze the situation and weigh all risks before authorities decide on Monday whether to lift the suspension.

Despite the order, Metrojet continued operating its six remaining A321s, saying the regulator order meant that planes would be checked one by one and continue flying if they passed inspections.

Egypt's Ministry of Civil Aviation said a Russian aircraft carrying 217 passengers and seven crew members crashed Saturday, October 31, in the restive Sinai Peninsula, the Associated Press reports.

Egyptian officials said there were no survivors from the crash of a Russian airliner in Sinai that carried 217 passengers and 7 crew members.