Egyptian aircraft down.
 

Breaking news on Sky News indicate a charter aircraft has crashed in Egypt.

Reports are saying that it is an airline called Air Flash. Leaving CAI with 141 onboard, mostly French pax. Will post back with any news I find.

BBC News 24 saying it went off radar at 3am Cairo time. Wreckage spotted in the sea.

Quick internet search reveals Flash Airlines operates two B733's.

2004 isn't boding well for aviatiors. :(

An Egyptian charter plane with 135 passengers and six crew members on board has crashed into the Red Sea - all are feared dead.

It happened shortly after take off from the coastal resort of Sharm el-Sheikh, Cairo airport officials said.


Most of the passengers were French tourists, they added.

Egypt's state television station said the plane was heading to France.

Pieces of wreckage from the Boeing 737 were found in the sea about nine miles south of Sharm el-Sheikh.

The civil aviation authority in Cairo said the plane disappeared from radar screens at 4:44 am, minutes after taking off from Sharm el-Sheikh airport.

The plane belonged to the private Egyptian company Flash Air

Sky News Updated 7.30am GMT

Reckage was found in the Red Sea 9 miles south of the resort Sharm el Sheikh where they departed from. The Aircraft dissapeared from Radar at 04:44 according to officials in Cairo.

The aircraft bound for France with mainly french tourists was being opperated by a Flash Air 737. There was about 135pax and 6 crew members onboard.

Such a sad event.

CAIRO, Egypt Jan. 3 — A charter airliner with 135 people aboard most of them French tourists crashed into the Red Sea shortly after takeoff early Saturday from the resort of Sharm el-Sheikh, according to airport officials in Cairo. No survivors were immediately found.
The Boeing 737 jet took off shortly before 5 a.m. (10 p.m. EST) and quickly disappeared from radar about seven miles south of the airport, airport officials said, speaking on customary condition of anonymity.





The officials said 127 passengers and eight crew members were aboard the jet operated by the private Egyptian company Air Flash en route to Cairo, and most were French tourists.

Rescue teams rushed to the scene but found no immediate survivors.

An initial statement from the Ministry of Civil Aviation called the crash an "accident" and said crews were searching for the wreckage. It gave no ideas on the possible cause.



Copyright 2003 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

Assuming that it is 'Flash Airlines' <-- click for the link

:sad:

Flight FSH604 Heading for CDG.

STD 0510 STA 0900.

They operate 2 737s, built in 1993.

Flash Airlines Boeing 737-300 fleet with 148 seats configuration all Y (Economy) class in addition to the operating cabin crew, 25 rows with 29 inch / with reclining seats and convenient table meals with cup holders, TV screen & headphones.


Flash Airlines fleet Boeing 737-300, is equipped with powerful CFM 56-3C1 engines, with 22000 ibs / thrusts and the up-to-date computerized navigational instruments such as WAS II and GPS; the take-off weight is 63276 KGs is pressurized, to ceiling is 37000 feet, and the average cruising speed is Mach 0.74.


Flash Airlines qualified pilots have a minimum of 5000 hours each, and long experience of flying domestically and internationally.

Flash Airlines qualified Engineers are certified by the Egyptian Civil Aviation Authorities to perform light maintenance up to 8A checks for our fleet.

Flash Airlines both aircrafts are insured for legal and third party liability and passenger, liability by El Shark Insurance Company for an amount of 550 Millions USD for each aircraft.
Head Office
166 B El Hegaz St. Heliopolis. Cairo, Egypt.
Tel: (20-12) 3903254.
Fax: (20-2) 6240641.
SITA: CAIHPCR

Crystal Ball
 

The Egyptian aviation authorities immediately labelled it an accident,
before the wreckage or black box's are even found.!!!

Wirraway

The last paragraph off the wires...

Quote:

There was no immediate word on the cause of the crash but an official source at the Civil Aviation Ministry said the plane appeared to have had an accident.

Unquote.

Wonder how he reached that conclusion!!

It was this one http://www.airliners.net/open.file/306502/M/
Initially bound for Cairo, then CDG. French TV is reporting 129 French pax.

Cheers

Wirraway
What else can you call it at this stage ?

Perhaps the use of the word 'accident' is meant to imply that this disaster was not planned:

a) An unexpected and undesirable event, especially one resulting in damage or harm
b) An unforeseen incident
(from 'dictionary.com')

Let's not get petty about semantics and express our condolences to those who have lost a loved one.

I think what they meant was that is was not a terrorist bomb that brought it down.

Sorry, I thought an aviation authority would just say 'Cause
unknown' untill they get some facts.

Just looking at 737 'accidents' over the past 30yrs and note
this one will rank as the 2nd worst if no survivors are found.

Source: http://www.airdisaster.com/cgi_bin/v...i?aircraft=737

Wirraway

Condolences to all.
Please dont get into arguments about whether its an accident or not as it only happened about 6 hours ago and theres already banter.
Lets just hope these last two weeks (Benin crash etc) are an exception to what had been quite a good run without any major accidents/incidents.

Well said, No comment.

:ugh:

Deepest sympathies to all those who have families and loved ones that have been involved in this tragic accident. Not a good start to 2004 for them.

Lets just hope the cause of the accident can be discovered and we all learn from it.

'Learn from the mistakes of others as you won't live long enough to make them all yourself!'

Lets just hope 2004 gets better. :-(

Bit early to be calling it an accident, particularly as Tony Blair is holidaying in Sharm at the moment.