The flight Metrojet 7K9268 crashed on October 31 in the Sinai may remain unsolved forever, even after reading the flight recorders. Russia may not have an interest in a transparent investigation. Meanwhile, here is everything experts have found so far.
One minute after the news of the disaster had spread among the media, the thoughts of many went to the flight Malaysia MH17 downed by a Russian BUK missile in Ukraine. But this is a completely different case. Most media call it a mystery. In fact, the field is littered with clues that already give lot of information. The reading of the flight recorders, which should take place in a short time, could unravel the causes of the disaster. There are fears, however, that both Russia and Egypt may have little interest in spreading an uncomfortable truth – that the terrorist attack.
What we know so far helps us to exclude the hypothesis of a surface- to-air missile. The A321 flight data until the time of the disaster are public and easily available on websites such as Flightradar or Planefinder.
The altitude at which the plane was flying when it disappeared from radar was of 33,000 feet, which is the cruising altitude. The Isis, the main suspect in the case of terrorist attack, has no anti-aircraft systems capable of hitting that high.
Many little clues
But this does not help us to discard completely the possibility of terrorism. He denied strongly from the first moment both by the Egyptian authorities that the Russian ones, is not at all unrealistic. The Isis, as we know, has immediately claimed responsibility for shooting down the Russian plane. It also released a rough video showing an airliner exploded in the sky. The video is almost certainly a fake. The silhouette of the aircraft does not seem that of an A321 (the position of the wings with respect to the length of the fuselagedoesn’tmacth the A321). Also something is wrong in perspective, or the aircraft in the video was flying much lower than 33,000 feet, or was filmed from another plane. In addition, the Isis has accustomed us to slicky videos, very different from the one posted on the net. And, indeed, if they had had a chance to use anti-aircraft artillery certainly they would have treated more carefully the media aspect.
Yet, even if the video is a fake, the hypothesis of the bomb on board is not so farfetched. The scene of the disaster is compatible with an explosion at high altitude. The remains of the aircraft were scattered over several square kilometers. The fuselage broke in two and the tail is located at a distance from the rest of the wreckage. Rumors leaked by the discussion forums from the first reading of the flight data recorders do not report no alarm in the cockpit until the sudden interruption of the recordings. In short, everything suggests that the aircraft is in flight and not broken with the impact on the ground.
Bomb or not bomb
There is just the bomb. The aircraft may have suffered a structural failure. Metrojet-Kogalymavia, the airline Airbus, has uploaded on its website all the aircraft’s documents of conformity, to prove that there were no problems reported and that the permits were all in order. But there’s more. Some pictures show fragments A321 with burn marks. And the Russian channel Life News – not an example of accountability, it must be said – reported yesterday evening rumors on the autopsy of some passengers: those sitting in the back would have wounds from explosions and burns, while the others would die for trauma or bleeding. In addition, the Pentagon said its satellites have picked up a spike of heat while the Airbus was flying.
But perhaps there is a more important clue that could favor the hypothesis bomb, the silence of Putin. The Russian President had spoken to the nation on television a few hours after the killing of the flight MH17 Malaysia, while so far refrained from doing so. If the cause of the worst air disaster in the history of Russia and Soviet Union was aIsis revenge for the military intervention in Syria, it could be a blow to the image of Putin among russians.
@daniloeliatweet
The flight Metrojet 7K9268 crashed on October 31 in the Sinai may remain unsolved forever, even after reading the flight recorders. Russia may not have an interest in a transparent investigation. Meanwhile, here is everything experts have found so far.
One minute after the news of the disaster had spread among the media, the thoughts of many went to the flight Malaysia MH17 downed by a Russian BUK missile in Ukraine. But this is a completely different case. Most media call it a mystery. In fact, the field is littered with clues that already give lot of information. The reading of the flight recorders, which should take place in a short time, could unravel the causes of the disaster. There are fears, however, that both Russia and Egypt may have little interest in spreading an uncomfortable truth – that the terrorist attack.
