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| Africa: North | |
| Unknown group claims ââattackââ on Egyptian charter plane | |
| 2004-01-05 | |
| A man claiming to represent an Islamic group in Yemen said on Monday the Egyptian charter plane that crashed Saturday was brought down in an "attack" by the groupâs members, in a telephone call to AFP. Took you two days to issue a press release?
Wonder if there is a automated group name generator these guys all use? Or do you just join a "Group Of The Month" club. A Boeing 737 operated by a Cairo-based charter firm, Flash Airways, plunged into the Red Sea on Saturday shortly after taking off from the Egyptian resort of Sharm el-Sheikh, killing all 148 people aboard, mainly French tourists. Egypt has ruled out terrorism as a cause of the crash and pointed to an unspecified technical fault. French officials said it appeared to have been a classic accident on take-off. Most likely a accident, but it doesnât hurt to check. The caller also warned that his group would launch an attack "soon" against Air France "if France does not go back on its decision to prohibit the Islamic headscarf" in state schools. If France doesnât cave first, Iâm sure something will go boom. | |
| Posted by:Steve |
| #5 In addition, obvious maintenance deficiencies were found in the areas of the landing gear, the engines and the aircraft steering,â the statement said. Racist Pigs. |
| Posted by: Shipman 2004-1-5 4:51:29 PM |
| #4 That's it. The exit signs. Gotta be it. The wheels won't matter, but the engines and the steering could point to problems. We will probably never know. Is anyone going to mount a salvage op and investigation like the NTSB does? 'Cause that is what it will take to even have a chance to find the cause. |
| Posted by: Alaska Paul 2004-1-5 4:28:41 PM |
| #3 Then again, it could just be a accident: Switzerlandâs aviation authorities say they found serious faults in both aeroplanes owned by the Egyptian carrier Flash Airlines, more than a year before one of its planes crashed. However, the Federal office for civil aviation (FOCA) stressed it was drawing no conclusions about Saturdayâs crash, which killed all 148 people on board. The office said in a statement it had found a number of problems on both aircraft, including missing navigational documents, fuel calculations that didnât match international standards, and unsuitable emergency exit signs. âIn addition, obvious maintenance deficiencies were found in the areas of the landing gear, the engines and the aircraft steering,â the statement said. "Other than that, they're good planes." |
| Posted by: Steve 2004-1-5 3:58:30 PM |
| #2 The Head Scarf War.. or the War of Chirac's Ear. |
| Posted by: Shipman 2004-1-5 2:41:28 PM |
| #1 The commentariat at LGF noted that this "crash" could be a message to Egypt (for meeting w/ Sharon) and to Chirac for the headscarf thing. |
| Posted by: seafarious 2004-1-5 12:16:09 PM |