Metrojet Airbus A321 Crashes Killing All 224 Onboard

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Metrojet Airbus A321 Crashes Killing All 224 Onboard

October 31, 2015 - Today an Airbus A321 jetliner (EI-ETJ) that had departed from Sharm el Sheikh International Airport, Egypt for Saint Petersburg-Pulkovo Airport, Russia with 217 passengers and seven crew members crashed in the Sinai Peninsula.

It has been reported there are no survivors aboard Flight 9268. The Airbus A321 was operated by the Russian air carrier Metrojet. There is speculation that the aircraft broke up in-flight and that the craft may have been brought down by a bomb onboard the aircraft or a missile.

Flight 9268 had departed from Sharm el Sheikh Airport at 5:50 AM (local time). It appears through the flight data information the aircraft encounter occurred about 20 minutes into the flight, at or about 6:13 AM while the aircraft was climbing through 30,888 ft at an airspeed of 281 knots.

Egypt has dispatched emergency personnel and accident investigators to the crash site. The prime minister has visited the crash site and armed forces are guarding the crash site. Within hours of the crash Egyptian officials located the aircraft's black boxes.

Minister of Civil Aviation of Egypt has formed an investigation committee and has extended invitation to representatives from Russia (State of Operator), Ireland (State of Registry), France (State of Design) and Germany (State of Manufacturer) and advisors from the Engines manufacturer in accordance with national and international law.

Russian officials have indicated that it is to early to state the cause of the crash and suggested that crash was due to aircraft mechanical problems, while Metrojet has stated that there was nothing wrong with the aircraft and that something external to the aircraft brought down Flight 9268.

The debris field is scattered over a wide area more than 13 km in length. Egyptian officials report the Airbus 321 will be recovered to a safe and secure place in Cairo for further examination of each part, during which Metallurgy specialists will be involved. Within hours of the crash, the militant group ISIL (Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant) claimed responsibility for the downing of Flight 9268. As a result a number of countries have canceled flights in and out of Sharm el Sheikh International Airport due to the lack of airport screening and the possibility that a bomb was placed on Flight 9268. Although the pilot had not made contact with Cyprus Air Traffic Control, initially there was some confusion as to whether the Airbus had crashed. Even after the Russian Federal Air Transport Agency confirmed the flight had disappeared from radar tracking.