| Date: | Thursday 19 May 2016 |
| Time: | 02:29 |
| Type: |  Airbus A320-232 |
| Owner/operator: | EgyptAir |
| Registration: | SU-GCC |
| MSN: | 2088 |
| Year of manufacture: | 2003 |
| Engine model: | IAE V2527-A5 |
| Fatalities: | Fatalities: 66 / Occupants: 66 |
| Aircraft damage: | Destroyed, written off |
| Category: | UI |
| Location: | ca 200 km N of Egyptian coast -
 Mediterranean Sea
|
| Phase: | En route |
| Nature: | Passenger - Scheduled |
| Departure airport: | Paris-Charles de Gaulle Airport (CDG/LFPG) |
| Cairo International Airport (CAI/HECA) | |
| Confidence Rating: |
EgyptAir flight MS804, an Airbus A320 impacted the Mediterranean Sea some 200 km north of the Egyptian coast line, killing all 66 on board.
The aircraft departed Paris-Charles de Gaulle Airport, France, at 23:21 hours local time on May 18. Scheduled departure time was 22:45 hours. Destination of the flight was Cairo, Egypt.
Last contact with the flight was at FL370, about 02:29 hours. According to Greek military authorities their primary radar showed the aircraft suddenly taking a 90 degree turn left, followed by a 360 degrees turn in the opposite direction as it descended from FL370 to FL150 before disappearing off radars.
The Flight Data Recorder and Cockpit Voice Recorder were both recovered from the sea bed on June 16, 2016.
The Egyptian authorities found that:
- The flight recorders stopped operating while the aircraft was in cruise at an altitude of 37,000 feet;
- The aircraft systems sent ACARS messages indicating the presence of smoke in toilets and the avionics bay;
- The data from the data recorder confirms these messages;
- The playback of the cockpit voice recorder reveals, in particular, that the crew mentioned the existence of a fire on board;
- Several pieces of debris were retrieved from the accident site. Some of these had signs of having been subject to high temperatures, and traces of soot.
On December 15, 2016, investigators reported that traces of explosives were found on several victims. Egyptian authorities determined that there had been a malicious act. The formal investigation per ICAO Annex 13 was stopped and further investigation fell within the sole jurisdiction of the judicial authorities.
Contradicting the Egyptian finding, the French BEA considered that the most likely hypothesis was that a fire broke out in the cockpit while the aircraft was flying at its cruise altitude and that the fire spread rapidly resulting in the loss of control of the aircraft.
In April 2022, Italian newpaper Corriere della Sera published an article based on the French judicial investigation report. This document supposedly concluded that the accident was caused by an uncontrollable cockpit fire that broke out due to a leak from the FO's oxygen tank which had been replaced a few days before and the pilot(s) smoking in the cockpit.
Sources:
www.corriere.it
EgyptAir
Flightradar24
History of this aircraft
Other occurrences involving this aircraft
| 25 June 2013 | SU-GCC | EgyptAir | 0 | near Cairo Airport |  |
min |
| Engine failure | ||||||
Location
Images:
photo (c) Flightradar24; Mediterranean Sea; 19 May 2016
photo (c) Ahmet Akin Diler; Istanbul-Atatürk International Airport (IST/LTBA); 09 April 2014
photo (c) Jos Van den Broeck; Brussel-Zaventem Airport (BRU/EBBR); 06 November 2015
Revision history:
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