Free Republic

Earlier today, we highlighted commentary from Russia’s Kogalymavia (the airline operating the ill-fated Airbus A321 which crashed in the Sinai Peninsula) where officials said human and technical factors weren’t responsible for the mid-air disaster which killed 224 people. IS Sinai took credit for “destroying” the plane but it wasn’t immediately clear what the contention was in terms of just how the group went about sabotaging the flight. Subsequently, a series of analysts and commentators opined that there was simply no way the militants could have possessed the technology or the expertise to shoot down a plane flying at 31,000 feet,...

The Russian airline Kogalymavia has blamed "external influence" for Saturday's Sinai plane crash which killed 224 people. A senior airline official said: "The only reasonable explanation is that it was [due to] external influence." An investigation by aviation experts using data from the aircraft's "black boxes" has yet to give its conclusions. A Kremlin spokesman has warned against speculation as to the possible causes of the crash.

<p>SHARM EL-SHEIKH, Egypt (AP) - The latest developments after a Russian passenger plane crashed in Egypt's Sinai Peninsula, killing all 224 people on board (all times local).</p> <p>11:00 p.m.</p> <p>Russia's Emergencies Ministry says that remains of the victims of the Russian plane crash in Egypt will be flown home soon.</p>

Viktor Sorochenko, an official with the Intergovernmental Aviation Committee, made the comments after inspecting the crash site on Egypt's Sinai peninsula. The Russian Airbus A321 which crashed in Egypt Saturday killing 224 broke into pieces midair, but it is still too early to determine the cause, Interstate Aviation Committee (MAK) said Sunday."It is too early to draw conclusions," MAK executive director Viktor Sorochenko said. "Disintegration of the fuselage took place in the air, and the fragments are scattered around a large area [about 20 square kilometers]", the official added.

.. The large area over which fragments were found indicates that the jet disintegrated while flying high, said Alexander Neradko, head of Russia's federal aviation agency. He would not comment on any possible reason for the crash, citing the ongoing investigation. Neradko was in Egypt to inspect the crash site along with Russia's ministers of emergencies and transport. ..

Metrojet Rules Out Technical Failure or Human Error for Crash in Sinai Peninsula By NEIL MacFARQUHAR NOV. 2, 2015 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,” Alexander A. Smirnov, a former pilot who is now the airline’s deputy director for aviation, said at a...