This article is from the source 'nytimes' and was first published or seen on . It last changed over 40 days ago and won't be checked again for changes.
You can find the current article at its original source at http://www.nytimes.com/2015/11/03/world/europe/sinai-peninsula-russian-plane-crash.html
The article has changed 9 times. There is an RSS feed of changes available.
| Version 0 | Version 1 |
|---|---|
| Metrojet Rules Out Technical Failure or Human Error for Crash in Sinai Peninsula | Metrojet Rules Out Technical Failure or Human Error for Crash in Sinai Peninsula |
| (about 1 hour later) | |
| MOSCOW — Senior officials at Metrojet, the charter airline company whose Airbus passenger plane crashed in Egypt over the weekend, killing all 224 people aboard, on Monday ruled out any technical failure or human error on the part of the airline in the catastrophe. | MOSCOW — Senior officials at Metrojet, the charter airline company whose Airbus passenger plane crashed in Egypt over the weekend, killing all 224 people aboard, on Monday ruled out any technical failure or human error on the part of the airline in the catastrophe. |
| “We absolutely exclude the technical failure of the plane, and we absolutely exclude pilot error or a human factor,” Aleksandr A. Smirnov, a former pilot who is now the airline’s deputy director for aviation, said at a packed news conference in Moscow. | |
| Mr. Smirnov said that the crash could have been caused by “an external impact on the plane,” although he did not provide any evidence to support his assessments and said an investigation would determine the cause. | |
| He spoke after the remains of 144 victims were flown overnight to St. Petersburg from Cairo, their bodies taken from a Russian aircraft to the main morgue in a long white truck. More remains were due to arrive from Egypt later Monday. | He spoke after the remains of 144 victims were flown overnight to St. Petersburg from Cairo, their bodies taken from a Russian aircraft to the main morgue in a long white truck. More remains were due to arrive from Egypt later Monday. |
| Morgue officials worked to identify the victims with the help of DNA samples and relatives. | Morgue officials worked to identify the victims with the help of DNA samples and relatives. |
| At the news conference, the airline rejected criticism that the airplane was too old to fly, and that a tail strike in 2001 during a landing in Cairo, when it was owned by a different airline, might have caused structural flaws. | At the news conference, the airline rejected criticism that the airplane was too old to fly, and that a tail strike in 2001 during a landing in Cairo, when it was owned by a different airline, might have caused structural flaws. |
| Andrei B. Averianov, Metrojet’s deputy director for engineering, ruled out both as possible factors during the hourlong news conference at the company’s headquarters in an office park here. | Andrei B. Averianov, Metrojet’s deputy director for engineering, ruled out both as possible factors during the hourlong news conference at the company’s headquarters in an office park here. |
| The 18-year-old Airbus A321-200 had flown just under 60,000 hours of its 120,000-hour life span, he said, adding that was not an “extraordinary” age compared to other European and Russian fleets. |