Air Crash Investigations Mechanical Failure Or Suicide 3 The E C A A Egypt View Of The Crash Of Egyptair Flight 990

On October 31, 1999, EgyptAir flight 990, a Boeing 767-366ER, crashed into the Atlantic Ocean 60 miles south of Nantucket, Massachusetts. All 217 people on board were killed, and the airplane was destroyed. According to the Egyptian Investigation Team a mechanical defect is the most likely cause of the accident, there is no credible evidence to support a conclusion that the First Officer intentionally dove the airplane into the ocean in fact.

On October 31, 1999, EgyptAir flight 990, a Boeing 767-366ER crashed into the Atlantic Ocean 60 miles south of Nantucket, Massachusetts. All 217 people on board were killed, and the airplane was destroyed. According to the NTSB the impact with the Atlantic Ocean was a result of the relief first officer's flight control inputs. The National Transportation Safety Board determines that the accident is a result of the relief first officer's flight control inputs. The reason for the relief first officer's actions was not determined.

On 19 December 1997 SilkAir Flight 185, a Boeing 737-300, operated by SilkAir, Singapore, on its way from Jakarta to Singapore, crashed at about 16:13 local time into the Musi river near Palembang, South Sumatra. All 97 passengers and seven crew members were killed. Prior to the sudden descent from 35,000 feet, the flight data recorders stopped recording at different times. There were no mayday calls transmitted from the airplane prior or during the rapid descent. The weather at the time of the crash was fine.

On 25 January 2010, at 00:41:30 UTC, Ethiopian Airlines flight ET 409, a Boeing 737-800, on its way from Beirut to Addis Abeba, crashed just after take-off from Rafic Hariri International Airport in Beirut, Lebanon, into the Mediterranean Sea about 5 NM South West of Beirut International Airport. All 90 persons on board were killed in the accident. The investigation concluded that the probable causes of the accident were pilot errors due to loss of situational awareness. Ethiopian Airlines refutes this conclusion. Other factors that could have lead to probable causes are the increased workload and stress levels that have most likely led to the captain reaching a situation of loss of situational awareness similar to a subtle incapacitation and the F/O failure to recognize it or to intervene accordingly. Ethiopian Airlines refutes the investigation. According to the airline the final report was biased, lacking evidence, incomplete and did not present the full account of the accident.

During takeoff from runway 02 at Tamanrasset Aguenar aerodrome in Southern Algeria, on Thursday 6 March 2003, the left engine of a Boeing 737-200 from Air Algerie suffered a contained burst. The airplane swung to the left. The Captain took over the controls. The airplane lost speed progressively, stalled and crashed, with the landing gear still extended, about one thousand six hundred and forty-five meters from the takeoff point, to the left of the runway extended centerline. The crew of six and 96 of the 97 passengers were killed in the accident. The accident was caused by the loss of an engine during a critical phase of flight, the non-retraction of the landing gear after the engine failure, and the Captain, the PNF, taking over control of the airplane before having clearly identified the problem.

This book demonstrates how nonlinear/non-Gaussian Bayesian time series estimation methods were used to produce a probability distribution of potential MH370 flight paths. It provides details of how the probabilistic models of aircraft flight dynamics, satellite communication system measurements, environmental effects and radar data were constructed and calibrated. The probability distribution was used to define the search zone in the southern Indian Ocean. The book describes particle-filter based numerical calculation of the aircraft flight-path probability distribution and validates the method using data from several of the involved aircraft’s previous flights. Finally it is shown how the Reunion Island flaperon debris find affects the search probability distribution.