Fly 540 Africa

EgyptAir’s Airbus A320-200, flight MS804 went down over the Eastern Mediterranean Ocean, en route to Cairo from Paris’ Charles de Gaulle Airport. There were no survivors amongst the 56 passengers and 10 crew on board. Radar tracked the aircraft on its flight path, and everything was normal as it passed through the airspace of France, Italy and Greece.

According to the ACARS (Aircraft Communications Addressing and Reporting System) the fire started in the toilet, with smoke spreading rapidly to the front. ACARS messages indicate cockpit window temperature sensors faults and optical smoke detector activation.

The pilot spoke to air traffic control in Egypt for several minutes just before the plane crashed. He reportedly said there were smoke and fumes in the aircraft, consistent with the ACARS data. The conversation apparently lasted for several minutes. The pilot decided to make an emergency decent to attempt to clear the smoke which had engulfed the front of the plane. Contact was lost and minutes later, as the flight crashed into the sea. On May 20th 2016 Egypt Air reported that more debris has been found during the day including body parts, passengers’ belongings, aircraft seats.

Causes of the air crash are still unknown, although it is an incident that happened extremely quickly. The incident is currently under investigation.