Fresh questions have been raised about what happened to Flight MS804 after automated radio messages were released suggesting a fire on board, but not necessarily pointing to a bomb.
Initial fears had focused on a terror attack and a possible security breach at Paris Charles de Gaulle, but with the latest data findings – and the fact that no group has yet come forward to claim responsibility – experts are now questioning whether a massive mechanical failure was to blame.
The ACARS alerts, which spanned three minutes, warned of smoke in the onboard toilet and in a compartment below the cockpit where the plane’s computers and avionics systems are stored.
With an on board fire, the pilot would be expected to radio a distress call before taking action, while with a catastrophic incident like the shooting down of Malaysian Airlines Flight 17 over Ukrainian airspace, it happened so quickly the onboard systems didn’t have time to send the ACARS messages.
John Cox, a former A320 pilot, told Bloomberg the latest data raises more questions than answers about what caused the Paris-Cairo flight to plunge into the Mediterranean Sea with 66 people on board.
"It’s too long for an explosion and too short for a traditional fire," said Cox, who is now president of Washington-based consultancy Safety Operating Systems.
The data does, however, appear to rule out pilot suicide or a hijack situation, but investigators warned about jumping to any conclusions and said nothing can be confirmed until the black box voice and data recorders are recovered.
A submarine has now been brought in to help with the search.
Meanwhile, Egyptian and French authorities have dismissed reports that the pilot of Flight MS804 had, in fact, sent a distress call as the plane went down.
The reports, which came from French TV station Channel M6 over the weekend, said the EgyptAir pilot had made the call as he struggled to make an emergency descent.
Egypt’s CAA dismissed the claims as ‘totally false’.
