Investigators will sift Metroject wreckage for clues to cause of crash

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[h=4]Investigators will sift Metroject wreckage for clues to cause of crash[/h]Pilot mistakes, technical problems or terrorism could have brought down Russian airliner.

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Only an external impact could have caused a Russian plane to dive into the Egyptian desert, killing all on board, Metrojet airline officials said Monday, adding to a series of confusing statements from investigators as to why the plane crashed. (Nov AP


Russian officials examine a piece of wreckage of Russian MetroJet Airbus A321 at the site of the crash in Sinai, Egypt.(Photo: MAXIM GRIGORIEV, RUSSIAN EMERGENCY MINISTRY via EPA)


As investigators comb the wreckage of Russia’s Metrojet charter Flight 9268, speculation about why the jet came apart in the air and plunged 31,000 feet into the Sinai desert<span style="color: Red;">*</span>includes pilot error, technical problems and terrorist attacks.
The crash 23 minutes after takeoff <span style="color: Red;">*</span>Saturday<span style="color: Red;">*</span>killed all 224 passengers and crew aboard the Metrojet Airbus 321-200 en route to St. Petersburg, Russia, from the Red Sea resort town of Sharm el-Sheik, Egypt.
Metrojet <span style="color: Red;">*</span>blamed "external impact" Monday and said neither their crew nor mechanical failure played a role in the air disaster. "We (are) excluding technical problems and rejecting human error," Alexander Smirnov, deputy director for Metrojet, said in Moscow.
An insurgent affiliate of the<span style="color: Red;">*</span>Islamic State group operating in the Sinai claimed responsibility for bringing down the jet.
USA TODAY
Airline blames 'external impact' for Egypt crash




Experts called conclusions premature.<span style="color: Red;">*</span>The answers lay in the flight<span style="color: Red;">*</span>data and voice recorders recovered immediately after the crash and the pattern of wreckage strewn over the Egyptian desert. A basic outline of what went wrong could come within weeks, if not days.<span style="color: Red;">*</span>The full investigation to determine what caused the crash could take a year or more.
Information recovered from the recorders "in a matter of days" will point the investigation toward the most likely scenario, said<span style="color: Red;">*</span>Al Diehl, an author and former investigator with the National Transportation Safety Board.
Even without the data, experts said<span style="color: Red;">*</span>some scenarios are less likely than others.
The Egyptian government said militants in the region using<span style="color: Red;">*</span>shoulder-fired anti-aircraft weapons could not<span style="color: Red;">*</span>reach<span style="color: Red;">*</span>the Metrojet flight at 31,000 feet in the air.<span style="color: Red;">*</span>James Clapper, <span style="color: Red;">*</span>U.S. director of national intelligence, said a terrorist strike from an Islamic extremist group could not be ruled out, but<span style="color: Red;">*</span>no physical proof of terrorism had been revealed.
If a missile did bring<span style="color: Red;">*</span>down the jet, the wreckage will hold clues about the weapon’s damage, like perforations in the wreckage of Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 shot down over Ukraine in July 2014. Likewise, a missile or bomb would leave chemical residue.<span style="color: Red;">*</span>“There’s all kinds of evidence from pyrotechnics,” Diehl said.
If a group affiliated with the Islamic State, also known as ISIL<span style="color: Red;">*</span>or ISIS, shot down the jet, it represents "a new and dangerous development —<span style="color: Red;">*</span> ISIS combining the bloodiest aspects of statehood and terrorism in one dangerous mess," Cornell Law School Professor Jens David Ohlin said.
One critical<span style="color: Red;">*</span>clue<span style="color: Red;">*</span>involves the aircraft's<span style="color: Red;">*</span>tail, which fell to the ground miles from the rest of the jet. That might turn the investigation toward a mechanical problem, such as metal fatigue.
In 2001, the tail of the Metrojet Airbus struck a runway during a landing in Cairo. Airline executives insist<span style="color: Red;">*</span>it was repaired correctly, but an improperly repaired and maintained tail could break off and lead to disaster.
Such was the case in August 1985, when Japan Air Lines Flight 123 from Tokyo to Osaka crashed,<span style="color: Red;">*</span>killing<span style="color: Red;">*</span>520 people in the worst single-plane<span style="color: Red;">*</span>aviation disaster in history,<span style="color: Red;">*</span>after losing part of its tail and vertical fin. Investigators found the Boeing 747’s bulkhead had been damaged in 1978 and was repaired improperly, allowing the tail to fail.
“It’s in a dry desert where things are easy to find,” Diehl said about Saturday's crash. “Within weeks, we should know about metal fatigue vs. overload failures.”
Another option in the Metrojet case could be a structural failure because of a pilot error.<span style="color: Red;">*</span>In the Metrojet crash, investigators will cull detailed data<span style="color: Red;">*</span>from the flight recorders about how equipment<span style="color: Red;">*</span>operated<span style="color: Red;">*</span>and how the pilots flew the jet. <span style="color: Red;">*</span>Flight tracking suggested the jet may<span style="color: Red;">*</span>have slowed down before its final plummet to the ground.
In November 2001, American Airlines Flight 587 crashed after taking off from New York’s John F. Kennedy airport, killing 260 people aboard the jet and five on the ground. Investigators found the vertical stabilizer of the Airbus A300-600 broke off<span style="color: Red;">*</span>because the first officer moved the rudder excessively and unnecessarily in the wake of another plane.
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