Crash cause remains elusive
Although the black boxes from the Boeing 737 that plunged into the Red Sea on 3 January have been examined, the cause of the tragic crash remains a mystery. Amira Ibrahim reports
Seven weeks after the tragic crash of a Boeing 737 in Sharm El-Sheikh, investigators still don't know why the doomed plane plunged into the sea, killing all 148 people aboard. The flight, operated by the private Egyptian charter Flash Airlines, was taking tourists -- mostly French -- home to Paris after spending the Christmas holidays at one of the world's most famous diving spots; just three minutes after taking off, the plane dove into the Red Sea, slamming into the water at a speed of 500 kilometres per hour.
It took two weeks for investigators to retrieve the flight data and cockpit voice recorders (CVR) from the seabed. Both boxes were found about 30 metres apart, at a depth of more than 1,000 metres. Although many had pinned their hopes on the boxes helping to reveal the cause of the crash, this has not taken place thus far.
Shaker Qelada, who heads the investigation team, told Al-Ahram Weekly that the CVR included 25 minutes of crew conversations, most of which took place while the plane was on the ground preparing to take off. The part investigators are more concerned with -- the last few minutes before the plane went down -- ended up being "a normal conversation among a crew attempting to rescue the plane", Qelada said. At present, investigators "are working on comparing the CVR data with the flight data recorder to understand what caused the plane to change its navigation route".
Asked if the CVR showed any attempts by the pilot and co-pilot to ask for help, Qelada said that "both recorders showed that it took the plane 32 seconds to fall from a height of 5000 feet. The crew was busy trying to save the plane, while [simultaneously] attempting to discover an unknown technical fault. It all took place in no time."
Two MFO soldiers stationed near where the plane went down told investigators that they noticed that the sound emanating from the plane's engines was unusually low, indicating that something was wrong. The witnesses also said the plane plunged into the sea with its body intact.
Although Egypt is leading the investigations, the French Aviation Bureau is also taking part (133 of the victims were French citizens), as are American investigators from the manufacturer Boeing, the Federal Aviation Authority (FAA), and the National Transport Safety Board (NTSB).
Shortly after the crash, Egyptian and French investigators ruled out terrorism, saying their primary suspicion was an unspecified mechanical fault. Qelada told the Weekly that investigators asked NTSB experts to look into four important technical questions with Boeing. "We have specific concerns regarding the technical and mechanical performance of the Boeing 737 class that we think should be covered within the investigation. The Americans said they needed six weeks to study these carefully before providing us with the reply," Qelada said. That is one of the reasons why "you can see it is too early" to draw any final conclusions. "The full process is delicate and we need more time," Qelada said.
He also revealed that although "Egyptian laboratories had completed all their analyses into both flight boxes," both the Americans and the French were analysing certain technical aspects of the investigation at their own labs. "The French experts have taken some of the work to [further] study and verify it. The Americans are doing the same. Later on we will meet and discuss each side's remarks," Qelada said.
The French naval units participating in the wreckage retrieval left Sharm El-Sheikh three weeks ago. Although the overall wreckage was spread over 3-4 square kilometres, most of it was concentrated over an area of 1500-2000 metres.
Qelada said it would be "possible in the future to resume the work and retrieve more wreckage. But we do not need to for now, so we stopped the process, which had become extremely expensive."
The French government paid for the rescue operation and wreckage retrieval, which included the use of hi- tech rescue ships equipped with robot submarines capable of diving deep into the waters of the Red Sea. The Egyptian Navy contributed naval units and frogmen at the operation's start.
French insurance companies, meanwhile, announced last week that they would make immediate payments of 10,000 euros to each family affected by the crash, in order to help them with their living expenses until the standard compensation procedures are finished. Flash Airlines Chairman Mohamed Nour welcomed the move, saying the French insurers would get back their money when the final compensation amounts were settled.
The airline's insurers have pledged to pay full compensation to each of the families of the 148 victims. Flash is covered by Egypt's Sharq Insurance company, which has pledged to pay $350,000 in compensation for each victim, once the investigations and technical inspections are over.
Nour told the Weekly he had already made arrangements with the company's insurers for the swift disbursement of a first installment. "We are waiting for the victims' families to complete legal procedures concerning official documents, after which they will get a first payment," he said.
Nour said the Boeing 737 had been insured for $550 million; "if the total claims exceed that amount, Flash Airlines must pay the difference."
Meanwhile, because of the bad publicity catalysed by the crash, Nour said the company -- which operates one other aircraft -- had suspended its activities. "We are facing a really terrible situation, and going through a very difficult period as an airliner," he said. "But we are determined to overcome all difficulties and resume activity soon."
Nour said Flash had suspended its flight schedule through March at least, and was busy with compensation payments for the contracts that were cancelled as a result. Only after flights resume in April, Nour said, would the company begin to consider purchasing a new plane to replace the Boeing 737 that is now a mangled wreck at the bottom of the sea.
