Pilot Mohamed Said Aly Aly Shakeer
The pilot of the doomed EgyptAir MS804 desperately tried to bring the plane down as his cockpit filled with smoke, according to sensational new reports. Aviation sources told a French TV station one of the pilots – believed to be Captain Mohamed Said Ali Shoukair, 37 – had spoken to air traffic control “for minutes” as he battled to bring the stricken plane under control.
Channel M6 claimed he told the control tower in Cairo smoke was filling up the aircraft and he was trying to make an emergency descent to try to clear the fumes when the disaster happened.The account directly contradicts the official version in which it stated that there was no distress call from the plane.
Their new account of the crucial final moments before the plane disappeared off radar came from unnamed French aviation officials, but was not confirmed by the accident investigation team.It is alleged the information was given to three official investigators from France, however, after they arrived in Cairo to take part in the official Egypt-led probe into the disaster. Just after the Paris-Cairo flight disappeared, there were contradictory claims about distress calls or signals.An airline spokesman initially said that there had been a distress call from the airbus
EgyptAir crash debris
Officials say it is still too early to say what happened to the aircraft – France’s foreign minister said “all the hypotheses are being examined” – but mounting evidence points to a sudden, dramatic catastrophe that led to its crash into the eastern Mediterranean early on Thursday.
The Egyptian investigation team confirmed a submarine, capable of diving 10,000ft, had been sent to help look for the wreckage today.
Investigators searching for vital clues to the cause of the crash face a race against time to recover the “black box” flight recorders before their location signals fail.
The radius of the search zone is 40 miles, equating to a total area of 5,000 square miles, and may yet be expanded further.
Mirror