There is a lot of confusion and conflicting reports about the Metrojet plane that crashed into the Sinai Peninsula on Saturday.
On Monday, Alexander Smirnov, deputy general of Metrojet said, “We rule out a technical fault of the plane or a pilot error. The only possible explanation could be an external impact on the airplane.”
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But the investigation into the tragic loss of the plane and all 224 people on board is just beginning.
While some reports state that the plane had attempted to divert, none of the flight data by any of the flight tracking sites show any attempt to change course.
According to FlightRadar24, the Airbus A321 was on its planned route from Sharm el-Sheikh to St. Petersburg, Russia. The site said that three receivers were tracking the plane when it took off but all three lost signal at the same time, about 20 minutes into the flight. At no time did they receive an emergency squawk (an emergency signal) from the plane, something that was confirmed by another deputy director of Metrojet.
Data from the plane shows that its autopilot was set to 31,000 feet. The plane ascended to roughly 32,000 feet. It suddenly began to lose altitude, dropping about 6,000 feet per minute. It stopped sending a signal at 4:13 a.m. UTC. The plane did not appear to change heading.
But the data doesn’t reveal whether the plane broke up in mid-air or crashed upon impact. That can only be determined from the ground.
Until investigators are able to get data from the black boxes — with both data and voice recorders which have been recovered from the site — the exact cause will only be a guessing game.
–with files from The Associated Press
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