Egypt, Greece, Turkey, and (I would think) Israel probably have radar coverage of this airspace. Primary coverage is for defense purposes to identify aircraft that might be flying towards or near their airspace. Both Egypt and Israel have some of the better in this category.

(Written on 05/19/2016)(Permalink)

10,000 foot elevation and an 11,000 foot ceiling from launch still does n or add up to 30,000 feet.

(Written on 11/02/2015)(Permalink)

I would doubt terrorism. The aircraft was above 30000 when it had problem and that is above what a man portable surface to air missile(SA-7, Stinger) is capable of. Also a columnist from Daily Beast wrote the aircraft had a tail strike many years ago whilst flying for MEA. http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2015/10/31/did-accident-from-14-years-ago-doom-russian-plane-over-egypt.html

(Written on 11/01/2015)(Permalink)

PS I think this is about a 20 year old A321.

(Written on 10/31/2015)(Permalink)

Tail is EI-ETJ. I could not find any current data on flight aware. Flight tracker' s Twitter site has ADS-B video of flight track, altitude and speed. The last info shows a ground speed of 98mph and a 4000fpm descent(I don't think an A321 can do this in controlled flight). As to claims that the aircraft was shot down, the flight was flying above 30,000 ft in level flight. No man portable system(SA-7, Stinger) has a missile capable of this altitude. The other possibility is an attack on departure that went unnoticed.(unlikely). Personally I'll wait until investigators play the data and voice recorders.

(Written on 10/31/2015)(Permalink)

The news reports I found don't say much. This one is still up. http://www.nbcdfw.com/news/local/Southwest-Flight-Returns-to-Love-Field-After-Engine-Issue-336656911.html

(Written on 10/31/2015)(Permalink)

I was looking at the news release that the Columbia, SC Airport did when the KEWR KCAE flight started. When I looked at the same time Delta was announcing that Delta was adding a second flight on their route KLGA KCAE. LaGuardia is also run by the Port Authority. I wonder how much business Delta did on the route. Where are the feds going to ask questions next? KCAE news release http://www.columbiaairport.com/abouttheairport/news.aspx?article_id=79

(Written on 09/11/2015)(Permalink)

Nothing illegal about having a flight from EWR to CAE. It's just too many fingerprints. If on the other hand any of those flights were delayed for Mr Samson that could be viewed another way. Say a 6pm flight was delayed to 9 pm without any explanation, CAVU weather no mechanical delay or other explanations, then Mr Samson had a meeting that went late and during that time Mr Samson made a phone call to United.

(Written on 09/11/2015)(Permalink)

Oscar Munoz was the number two man at CSX under Mike Ward. Munoz was being groomed as Ward's replacement. CSX is,in my opinion,the weakest of the big four class 1 railroads.(of the 7 class 1 railroads in the US). Not to impinge Mr Munoz he was working in not the beat of circumstances. He does have a set of skills that may prove to be useful at United. Experience with labor, dealing with a complex transportation organization with a lot of moving pieces. Railroads also have to deal with various governmental organizations. The one place he may or may not have experience is dealing with the public at large. It was not a necessary at CSX to a major degree.

(Written on 09/11/2015)(Permalink)

According to what I heard on PRI Marketplace on the radio, some time back he was having dinner with the Port Authority head David Samson and Samson related about the difficulty with flying to South Carolina with his wife for the weekend. They have a property in or near Aiken, SC. The next thing they knew United was flying twice a week to Columbia, SC (KCAE) from Newark (KEWR). I can only guess what days of the week. I can only guess this is fallout from the Bridgegate mess. It may have come up during that investigation over the George Washington Bridge lane closures and the skyway renovation funding.

(Written on 09/08/2015)(Permalink)