Apparently, I say apparently, the crew put out a radio call requesting a PDQ diversion due to a technical failure.
Very soon after the incident the Russian aviation feds ordered a raid of the airline's offices, this aircraft was operated by a smaller independent airline, all Russian airlines have been suffering financially due to the sanctions, so perhaps the feds have an idea what they're going rummaging for.
But ... Haven't they learned from MH17 ... The airspace over the Sinai is restricted below FL260, this aircraft was at FL330, pretty much the same scenario as over eastern Ukraine, MH17 was cruising at FL330 with the airspace below restricted.
ISIS could simply claim responsibility, even if they didn’t do it.
This could go two ways,,, if it’s an error on the part of the Russians,, then they need someone to blame. It can also go to further their cause in the middle east.
"The Islamic State is taking credit for shooting down a Russian airliner that crashed in Sinai, killing over 200 passengers. There is some confusion as to how this was accomplished. Security experts believe the airliner could not have been shot down with the equipment used by militants in the area.
However, there is little to support that human error was involved in the crash at the moment. Either way, ISIS is taking credit, and, according to LiveLeak, Putin has evacuated personnel and advised Russian non-essential personnel to evacuate the region.
Putin held a secret meeting with NATO to alert them that he is considering a nuclear retaliation."
But the FDR and the CVR (commonly referred to as the black boxes) should, I'm guessing, go to the Egyptian authorities for analyse and unless they drag their heels such as the Indonesian's regarding the Air Asia we should know within days if indeed it was a technical failure or something else.
Not my words but a somewhat interesting copy & paste:
Just looked at the longest article I've yet seen (on any topic) in gazeta.ru: The Largest Catastrophe in Russian Aviation
Some highlights:
• this crash is the largest loss of life in the history of Russian aviation, surpassing the 1985 Tu-154 crash in Uzbekistan which killed 200 (that doomed Soviet era-flight was also intended to land at Pulkovo airport)
• although the flight was nominally chartered by a tour company called "Triomed" operating under the brand "Brisco", both Triomed and Kogalymavia (operating under the brand Metrojet) belong to "Western Aviation-Investment Company" ... ALL of these companies are registered at the same Moscow address
• the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation has already opened two criminal cases ... one for "violation of the rules of safety preparedness" («Нарушение правил полетов и подготовки к ним») and another for "provision of unsafe services" («Оказание небезопасны 093; услуг»). Quick work, comrades!
• the Russian web has numerous complaints from previous airline customers complaining about their experiences
• on 1 January 2011, the airline experienced a fire on a taxiway in Surgut which killed 3, and sent 43 more to hospital
• customers with Brisko tour reservations are cancelling their trips
• notwithstanding all the above, Brisko announced that it will loyally continue to charter its flights with its kissing-cousin airline, Metrojet
• the airline apparently insures it passengers, with the payout expected at more than RUB 2,000,000 (over USD 31,000 at today's rates) per person
• Putin has declared tomorrow (1 November) to be a national day of mourning
________________________________
A "non-news" component of the story that got my attention, was (in the context of reassuring readers about the aviation system) a wry acknowledgement of Russia's corner-cutting traditions. It explained that aircraft maintenance is unlike "известного в России способа «быстро сделать»" (the known Russian method of "making quick").
This reference acknowledges the awareness of ordinary Russians that in their "rules are made to be broken" culture, few things are what they're supposed to be. It is normal for Russians to be afraid that restaurant food may send them to a sickbed, or that liquor purchased from a shop will be a cheap counterfeit of its labelled brand. (Not selling "anti-Russian propaganda" here, this is first-hand experience from many visits to the Russian Federation.)
IS have got bloody good eyesight to recognise an aircraft 31,000ft above them!
Shortly after the crash, Islamic State (IS) claimed responsibility for the incident, which occurred around an area of fighting between government forces and an IS affiliate, Sinai Province. Islamic State claimed this was in revenge for Russian air strikes against militants in Syria,
This could be a copycat of the Lockerbie Scotland plane explosion. Someone could have loaded a bomb inside a baggage placed into the plane. The bomb could have had a timing mechanism that was triggered soon after takeoff. They will have to go over the baggage debris as well as the plane fragments to see how the burn mark patterns look like if there was an internal explosion.
If this was terrorism then why pick on some tin pot airline that nobody has ever heard of and will soon be forgotten about as they can't even afford to pay their staff?
Why not pick on Aeroflot, that would make the news and strike fear significantly more?
It would depend on the security procedures at the Egypt airport. You take whatever is easiest to infiltrate. The best "result" for terrorists is for the plane to explode at the point of reaching a local target (the city of St. Petersburg), but that would require for the bomb to explode at the end of the flight which is not easy thing to estimate given that flight times can vary. So, if you are going to bomb a plane, it would usually happen soon after takeoff.
As for Aeroflot, maybe they do not have service at that airport? Or the person planting the bomb did not have the proper "connections" with any of the Aeroflot flights and servicing personnel?
The cause of the crash will be found in the tail section laying miles from the main crash site. It is clean and did not suffer fire. It will have evidence of rapid oxidation , compressed gas explosion or metal fatigue or Gremlins with metal shears.
They keep saying that ISIS doesn’t have anything to shoot above 10,000ft. Nothing that they know of?! Who knows what Obama might have given them,,, or what they might have stolen.
The Panam Lockerbie bomb was supposed to detonate out over the Atlantic Ocean where evidence might never be found but because the flight was delayed it detonated over Scotland.
Some bombs are designed to detonate upon reaching a designated altitude and, I believe, this flight would have only recently reached it's cruising altitude.
There are reports that suggest that the tail separated in flight, that may suggest a bomb in the rear cargo hold or indeed in a rear toilet however this aircraft was of 18 years vintage and back in 2001 it suffered a tailstrike (with the runway surface) during a landing.
There’s something floating around on fb about McCain giving “sam’ missiles to some group over there. While the story about McCain sounds bogus,,, the idea sounds possible.
Also,,, I can’t see Putin asking or discussing nukes with NATO. He’s going to do what he wants,,,, and dare the world to stop him.
McCain has been tryin give those missiles away on the Free section of Phoenix Craigslist since he brought them home from the Hanoi Hilton where he had them hidden under his bunk since 1968. Anyone who would have posted such tripe, surely has a mother that would consider and feel as though they made the wrong choice in the first trimester or that mother's mother surely did not have the right of choice herself. (For those that find my words too obtuse, it states cross generation political prejudice of emotionally disturbed and ignorant bigots!)
There is a rumour that ISIS have acquired one launcher and missiles that could attain that height but what are the chances of that one launcher being in Sinai at that time.
"Amusing" is perhaps an inappropriate word to use but a yank satellite detected a heat flash from this aircraft whilst in flight yet when MH370 went walkabout the yanks claim to have seen nothing at all!