Don’t Believe Russian Airline’s New Excuse for Crash

[Blue_Tires]

A spokesman for the Russian airline Kogallymavia, or Metrojet, whose jet crashed in Egypt, said Monday that the cause was “external influences.” But within hours, an investigator told Reuters that there is no evidence of an external impact on the Airbus 321 and that the pilot did not make a distress call.

“The plane was in excellent condition,” Alexander Smirnov said. “We rule out a technical fault and any mistake by the crew.”

The airline is insisting that its own maintenance and safety procedures cannot have been at fault, but they are not denying that the airplane broke up in the air at 31,000 feet. Instead, the airline is saying that they don’t believe that a mechanical or technical fault in the Airbus, for which they would be responsible, was the cause.

While nobody can yet be sure of the cause, new images from the crash site confirm that the main part of the wreckage and the tail section were three miles apart. The aerial footage taken by RT shows the wings to have been intact on impact.

This reinforces the belief that the tail was severed from the rest of the airplane at the point when it broke up and fell separately. It all happened in 25 seconds: the A320’s fate was very sudden, as revealed in data released by FlightRadar24.

http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2015/11/02/don-t-believe-russian-airline-s-new-excuse-for-crash.html

[jberryhill]

1. Sounds like a bad translation

As in, some extrinsic cause - i.e. not an intrinsic failure of the aircraft, its components or operation thereof.

What language was he speaking?

A bomb aboard the aircraft would be an "external" cause, depending on how the whatever word he used is being translated (e.g. some cause foreign to the aircraft and its components or operators).

[Igel]

3. Russian.

Перед крушением пассажирского самолета А-321 компании «Когалымавиа» судно испытало механическое воздействие внешней силы. ... причина - это чисто физическое, механическое воздействие на самолет», - заключил А. Смирнов.

"... Before the crash of Kogalymavia's A-321 passenger plane the vessel experienced the mechanical action of an external force ... The cause is a purely physical, mechanical action on the plane," A. Smirnov concluded."

That's a forced translation to make sure every word's represented in its usual meaning.

He was not talking "bomb." I have trouble reading "external force" to mean something internal to the plane but outside its normal operation.

Then again, this is all CYA. It sounds to me like it's a conclusion from a certain set of assumptions, not an assertion of observation-based fact. "Concluded" smacks not so much of "summarized" facts but "wrapped up" his presentation.

Too early to tell.

[GeorgeGist]

2. Reading comprehension