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EgyptAir Flight 804 Missing (cnn.com)
dark.nebulae writes: An EgyptAir flight disappeared on it's way from Paris to Egypt resulting in loss of 56 passengers and 10 crew members. The plane was flying at 37,000 feet when it vanished shortly after entering Egyptian airspace. It was suppose to land in Cairo at 3:15 a.m. Thursday after leaving Paris' Charles de Gaulle Airport at 11:09 p.m. local time. CNN's aviation correspondent Richard Quest said, "Planes just do not fall out of the sky for no reason, particularly at 37,000 feet." He said the plane vanished while cruising -- the safest part of the journey. We'll update the story as more details emerge.
UPDATE 5/20/16 3:57 AM (UTC): Egypt's civil aviation minister says it's more likely terrorism than a technical issue. Greek officials said the plane swerved sharply and plunged from 37,000 feet down to the Mediterranean as the plane left Greek airspace for Egyptian airspace. [Source]
UPDATE 5/20/16 3:57 AM (UTC): Egypt's civil aviation minister says it's more likely terrorism than a technical issue. Greek officials said the plane swerved sharply and plunged from 37,000 feet down to the Mediterranean as the plane left Greek airspace for Egyptian airspace. [Source]
At cruising altitude, a plane is hard to bring down. You generally need an air to air missile, or a bomb. Most Egyptian bombings happen leaving, not entering, because it's easier to breach security in Cairo than Paris. So if it is a bomb, it would be alarming that they were so successful. There would be almost nowhere that would be safe.
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I'm not a Muslim, nor do I feel particularly warm and fuzzy feelings for them, but the while pedophile thing is entirely unfair. Given that Muhammad lived in a society where it was entirely normal to marry pre pubescent children. If anything, Muhammed set an extremely liberal precedent in this regard, in that he waited 3 years until she was 9 before consummating it, which was not standard custom of the time.
Planes just do not disappear suddenly.
If there is any kind of mechanical issue, or a hint of it, pilots are trained to report immediately to the ground. All we have at this time is a news report about an automated distress signal, which is released by the plain automatically.
Remember Lockerby: it took years to put all the evidence, and it disintegrated over the ground. Flight 804 has disappeared in the middle of Mediterranean sea, investigation will be extremely difficult and costly. It will take weeks to get the flight recorders and it will take months to gather some plane parts. Marine environment is very unfriendly to the forensic evidence.
Because of the uncertainty, it will have a chilling effect to Egypt tourism (second airplane crash within 12 month), and, possibly, even longer TSA lines in USA. People will now need arrive to the airport not 2 but 3 hours.
This tragedy may also add several percent points to Mr. Trump's popularity, and could possibly win him elections.