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EgyptAir Flight 804 Crashes into Mediterranean Sea. Aired 10- 10:30a ET

Aired May 19, 2016 - 10:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

[10:00:02] CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Some debris has been recovered, but it's not yet confirmed to be from that flight.

This is what we do know right now. The Paris to Cairo flight had 66 people on board. Air controllers in Greece say the EgyptAir pilots did not respond to their calls during the last 90 seconds of the flight. It vanished from the radar 173 miles off of Egypt's coast.

The problems emerged at 37,000 feet. Aviation experts say that this is the safest part of the flight because the airliner is cruising much -- and is under much less stress.

So I want to bring you all the latest developments and our correspondents and aviation experts are here. They're across the globe. I want to begin with Ian Lee. He's at Cairo's international airport.

Are authorities telling you anything new, Ian?

IAN LEE, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, they have been fairly tightlipped at least this afternoon here in Cairo about the further -- further parts of the investigation. We do know that they're out there right now, the Egyptian military, the air force, the Navy, patrolling that area looking for any sort of wreckage, and we're talking to family members who are coming out of this hall. They are being told -- given updates by the Egyptian authorities as well, but even they aren't getting a lot of information, and that has been frustrating for a lot of them.

They want to know exactly what happened to their loved ones, and when you talk to them, a lot of them still are holding on to hope that they can be found alive, although as the hours pass, it does seem less likely, and we heard from the minister of civil aviation just a little while ago sing that it is more likely to be a terrorist attack than a mechanical issue, and if that is the case, then any sort of recovering any sort of survivors makes that also seem less likely.

But family members still holding on to hope that something, a miracle will happen. Someone will be found alive, but it seems like right now Egyptian authorities trying to recover the wreckage of the plane, but also at the same time trying to figure out what exactly happened.

COSTELLO: All right, Ian Lee, reporting live from Cairo.

Egypt now saying as I said it's more likely that terror brought down the plane than some kind of technical problem. So let's bring contributing editor of Flying magazine, AAA captain, Les Abend. And we're also joined by Mary Schiavo, a CNN aviation analyst and former inspector general for the U.S. Department of Transportation.

Welcome to both of you.

Mary, I'll ask you this since they're still calling it a rescue operation. Is it possible that someone might have survived?

MARY SCHIAVO, CNN AVIATION ANALYST: It depends entirely on the angle of which the plane struck the water and the temperature of the water. I think at this point given the fall from 37,000 feet and I'm sorry to even have to say this, but it's highly unlikely because of the rate of the fall and that the fall happened in about two to three minutes. That's pretty much, to use a bad term, terminal velocity.

COSTELLO: So, Les, you're a pilot. What caused the plane to take a sharp turn to the left and then a sharp turn to the right and do a complete 360?

LES ABEND, CONTRIBUTING EDITOR, FLYING MAGAZINE: There's a lot of possibilities. I mean, if I'm sitting at a cockpit at cruise altitude and apparently everything was normal, I mean, cruise is a benign part of our regime in flight, and I'm just about to enter into another airspace, I'm focusing on -- especially with 40 minutes, about 40 minutes left to go to fly, I'm focusing on my landing in Cairo. You know, I'd be wanting to know what the weather is and so on and so forth. So something sudden occurred like apparently happened, I would be trying to assess the situation, then decide what checklist I'd have to go to.

Now what could cause it, in answer to your question, we seem to be leaning toward a potential explosion of sorts. It could be an explosive depressurization where something in the airplane caused it to go apart mechanically.

Yes, it could be something nefarious in the direction that we're leaning which would make that airplanes do those sudden turns, if you were trying to recover, but at a certain point it seems to me as erratic as they were, it may not have been under the control of the crew. It's hard to say at this point. You know, we're very preliminary. We need to get some more information that the -- it was probably a radar track that saw those turns, but were those turns something that we saw precisely or was it just the way the radar track indicated.

So we've got to be careful where we're going here, but the fact that the airplane descended so quickly and very abrupt altitudes, it is sort of leaning toward an airplane not under the control of the crew.

[10:05:00] COSTELLO: And, Mary, that information came from Greek aviation authorities, so it came from a credible source, and we have EgyptAir officials, Egypt investigators now saying that it's more likely terror. Why do they think that in your mind?

SCHIAVO: Well, I think we have some clues there, too. First of all, they had, and they confirmed this, that there were three security officials on the plane. It's not unusual to have more than one. They don't usually work alone. But the fact that they had them on the plane, one might wonder if they had not received some intelligence information, and certainly you don't need intelligence to know that at the Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport had 57 people with ties to ISIS or other terror groups, by the way, so did other airports in Europe. There were some in Belgium.

That it really doesn't take a lot of intelligence to realize you'd have to be very, very careful with your airplane and just because -- and your flight operations and just because Charles de Gaulle Airport says that they stripped their security clearance, you know, that doesn't sound like enough to me, and I think if that happened at other places in the world, in the United States, for example, we'd shut that airport.

COSTELLO: So, Les, the plane stopped at four airports in the past 24 hours. Eritrea, Cairo, Tunisia, then it went back to Cairo and then Paris. So would the planes be checked at every stop or would they just land and other passengers get on and off in the plane and --

ABEND: No, I mean, at the very least the crew would go out and do the walk around most likely. The co-pilot would do is his walk around inspection and just make sure, you know, if everything was attached and standard stuff that we do on walkarounds. Maintenance at each one of those stations may have very well done the same things. But it's routine type of stuff.

But going back to some of the things Mary said with reference to terrorism. We're talking Charles de Gaulle Airport. This is a very sophisticated security setup situation. I'm not saying things can't get by, but, especially in light of the Paris attacks, we're not talking an airport with average security. We're talking an airport with very, very good security.

COSTELLO: Mary, would you agree with that?

SCHIAVO: Well, yes and no. I mean, it depends on what part of the security you're looking at. If you're looking at the security that's, you know, screens passengers, and by the way airlines can do their own individual additional security. We all know about the El Al additional security and one would assume that EgyptAir put that in after the events of last year, but it also depends on the rest of the airport operations. For example, planes were subject to graffiti.

I mean graffitied aircraft at a Paris airport. That's rather shocking that someone was able to do that and the airline involved -- I think it was Easyjet, it was a British company. But they said, well, it was just an act of graffiti. No, that's an act of tampering with an aircraft which in the United States carries a prison sentence.

So I think that there's a little difference in what areas of the airport you're looking at. And I would want to look at the parts of the airport where people report to work without going through security. COSTELLO: OK. So let's talk about the hand off, Les, right? Because

the airplane was going from Greek air space into Egyptian air space, and that's when air traffic controllers from Egypt, they couldn't get ahold of the pilot. So why is that space of time one so important, right? So urgent for pilots to communicate, and, two, does that present an opportune time for something to happen?

ABEND: Well, I'm not sure we can draw any significance from that. I mean, this is a routine flight that knew they were going to be handed off into Egyptian air space. Could something nefarious -- if somebody wanted to do something nefarious, would that be the time to do it? You know, at this point you know, we're talking probably a difference of 30 minutes. I don't know why they would pick that opportunity.

It's really hard to say. It's pure speculation. I don't really see a lot of significance in the fact that they were just about to enter Egyptian air space.

COSTELLO: What do you say, Mary? Does that make any difference?

SCHIAVO: I agree with Les. You know, we focus on that because of Malaysia Airlines 370 because whatever happened to that plane happened right before they had the handoff to Ho Chi Minh City and to Vietnamese airport control. I think, and I always go back to previous accidents or crashes that I have worked or studied, and I go back to Pan Am 103 and a couple other terrorist attacks where they had planned to bring the plane down over water, and they did that because they wanted to make it extremely difficult for the investigators, but Pan Am 103 had a delay so it came down over Lockerbie, Scotland, instead of over the Atlantic where it was planned.

Here I think the significance -- if it's terrorism, it may not be, but here I think the significance is that it was over water. I think that this part of the flight is the flight over water, and if it's a terrorist attack, they might have been aiming for that, and certainly as we see it makes it much, much, much more difficult going into water.

[10:10:09] COSTELLO: Word is, Mary, that searchers did find two large pieces of debris. Now they know kind of where the plane went down. They know when it went down. Will they find more debris quickly or will it take them a minute?

SCHIAVO: Well, if this is from the plane, and as we -- from Malaysia 370, I mean, there's just an awful lot of trash in the world's waters. And so once they confirm this is part of the plane, if it is, if it's part of the plane within, you know, a very short time frame of time, you know, maybe within minutes but certainly within hours, a lot more will surface as things come off the plane that float. Food carts, baggage, shoes, pieces of the wing, pieces of the seat. Those kinds of things float readily and for a long time.

COSTELLO: All right. Mary Schiavo and Les Abend, thank you so much for being with me.

And we just got word that the U.S. Navy is assisting in the search. They're providing search planes so we'll keep you posted.

Still to come in the NEWSROOM, navy ships, military planes and helicopters, all searching for that missing flight. Two floating objects as I said were found in the sea. Not clear if they're from that missing plane. We'll have the latest.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[10:15:32] COSTELLO: We are following breaking news for you this morning. The first clues in the search for EgyptAir Flight 804 are slowly trickling in. A Greek naval ship has found two pieces of red and white plastic floating in the ocean off the coast of Crete. It's not yet clear if those items are from that missing EgyptAir plane.

Right now search conditions in the area are clear. That's good. Some experts say crews could find the crash site within the next 24 hours. The U.S. Navy is now helping in the search. They're providing aircraft. Greece is leading the search efforts right now. It's part of a trilateral endeavor, including Egypt and France.

Elinda Labropoulou is live on Parga, on Greece's Mediterranean coast.

Elinda, what can you tell us about the search?

ELINDA LABROPOULOU, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, the search continues, and there is this information coming in about possible debris have been found but authorities are being very cautious about what's the floating objects that have been identified may be and whether they can be linked to the missing plane, so that information is only just coming in and there are no clear links yet.

The authorities have been working together for a very long time, both Egypt, France are assisting Greece in these operations. The weather in the area is good and there are a number of ships. There's a frigate from the Greek side operating, military aircraft, and even helicopters standing by on one of the Greek islands, the island that is closest to where we now know that we last had any kind of signal from the airplane.

The Greek Defense minister came little earlier today, and he said that as far as the Greek authorities know they can confirm that the plane descended very firmly just after crossing into Egyptian air space. It descended from 37,000 feet then to 15,000 feet then to 10,000 feet all before disappearing from the Greek authorities, the radars. And all this is located very much in the area where these operations are under way now.

Now, because of the time of year, because of the good weather, the first information that we have is that if there are survivors, then it is likely that they could have remained, that we could have survivors after all these hours since the airplane disappeared. The Greek authorities have said that the operations will continue for as long as possible, so we expect they will continue into the night as this information about possible debris is the first indication that's coming in that maybe directly link to the missing aircraft. COSTELLO: Elinda, this area in which they're searching, was there

ship traffic there? Anybody who could have witnessed what might have happened to this plane?

LABROPOULOU: Well, there is. It's an area where there is a lot of traffic. So theoretically we could expect that there should be -- you know, this is something that wouldn't have gone unnoticed, but we're now looking at over 12 hours since the first information about this aircraft missing, and we don't have yet information of anyone stepping forward and saying that they have seen anything linked to the missing aircraft.

Only earlier we had a possible merchant marine -- a captain come out and say that he saw a ball of fire, but this is unconfirmed information, and as you can understand, you know, local media reports are very much on top of this. They're trying to get any kind of information coming in, so we have to be very cautious about really what is actual information that can really be linked to this story.

COSTELLO: All right, Elinda Labropoulou in Greece. Thanks so much.

We're getting more information from our reporters on the ground here in the United States. We understand that U.S. intelligence is in contact with French and Egyptian counterparts regarding the loss of this airplane. That includes sharing flight manifests for checks against U.S. terror watch lists. So as you can see, the intelligence community across the globe is working on trying to figure out if there was any suspected person on board that plane.

[10:20:04] We did get word earlier from authorities that they -- that most of the passengers had been cleared. Nothing was said, though, about the pilot, the co-pilot, or the crew on board. Of course, we'll keep you posted.

Jim Sciutto is working his sources. We'll be along directly when he has more information.

Still to come in the NEWSROOM, officials say terror is more likely to have brought down that EgyptAir flight. We'll have more information on that when we come back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ANNOUNCER: This is CNN Breaking News.

COSTELLO: And good morning. I'm Carol Costello. Thank you so much for joining me. A tragic story to tell you about this morning.

[10:25:02] An EgyptAir plane has crashed into the Mediterranean Sea. It crashed just as it passed into Egyptian air space after taking off from Charles de Gaulle Airport in France, in Paris. It just simply disappeared from the radar. It made several strange sharp turns and then authorities feel it fell into the ocean. Egyptian authorities now saying that terrorism is more likely the cause than any technical error. Jim Sciutto has been digging into his sources in the intelligence

community and intelligence officials from across the globe are working on this.

Jim, what can you tell us?

JIM SCIUTTO, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Hi, good morning, Carol. I'm told by U.S. intelligence officials that the U.S. is in touch with both its Egyptian and French counterparts on this, strong relationships with both of those countries. And one of the first things they'll be doing is checking the flight manifest, the list of passengers, against U.S. terror watch lists which are among the most comprehensive.

And I would say that's something they do very quickly and something they're likely to know already, whether there was anybody on this plane that they were aware about with potential terror ties. And just a caution, as you said, it is early, Carol. No one knows at this point if it is terrorism, but we do know that that is the operating -- I don't want to say assumption, but an operating leading theory here because of the fact that the plane fell out of the sky, cruising altitude, 37,000 feet, with no other apparent warning or call for distress from the cockpit.

Another thing I'll mention is that the U.S. is also involved in the search now. It's deployed an EP-3 Orion. This is a surveillance aircraft. Got very good ability to look at the surface of the water to find debris. As we know Greek -- the Greek military, which has already joined the search, has seen -- spotted some debris in the area of the crash, but they haven't concluded yet if that is debris or if those floating objects are connected to the plane.

COSTELLO: Yes. You know, we were just wondering during a break and having a conversation because the Egyptian authorities, you know, specifically the Civil Aviation Ministry, had been hesitant to say that this crash was in any way terror related, and then suddenly -- and it wasn't long after he said that publicly in a news conference that he came out and said that it's probably terrorism over some technical glitch. Why do you suppose he changed his mind like that?

SCIUTTO: Well, it's hard to say. One thing I will say is it's unusual because you may remember in the Sinai crash when a Russian jet, the Metrojet, a passenger jet crashed in the Sinai leaving Sharm el-Sheikh, the resort, you had Russians, you had others saying relatively early that it looked like terrorism. Of course, it turned out to be a bomb placed in the hold of the aircraft, and the Egyptians resisted that explanation for some time.

In this case -- and if you go all the way back to 1999 when you had the Egypt airplane crass off the coast of the U.S., which the U.S. determination was it was crash by suicide by the pilot, Egyptian authorities still to this day contend that that was more likely mechanical than the pilot's fault. So you had resistance with those two previous events. This one very quickly mentioning the word terrorism.

It's hard to say why this plane took off from France, it did not take off from Egypt. That could be a factor, but it is certainly unusual.

COSTELLO: All right. Jim Sciutto, thanks so much.

France's president has convened an emergency meeting vowing to work closely with the Egyptians on the investigation into that missing plane. Investigators will be looking at the backgrounds and movements of ground personnel like baggage handlers at Charles de Gaulle airport in France.

You might remember the airport fired numerous baggage handlers and airport staff last year after they were suspected of having links to radical Islam.

Our senior European correspondent Jim Bittermann is in our Paris bureau with more on that. Hi, Jim.

JIM BITTERMANN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Hello, Carol. Yes, in fact, the (INAUDIBLE), the top police officer at the airport is in fact, going through the list of the people who had any kind of contact with that EgyptAir flight before it took off last night. Looking for someone who might be suspect and questioning him further, taking a look at their cell phone records and that sort of thing if necessary, but there's also the possibility that it was not related to the airport, Charles de Gaulle. The plane was at four other airports yesterday, and something could have been placed aboard it at some other stop along the way. It only spent about an hour on the ground here at Charles de Gaulle.

Now just something we've learned in the last hour here, Carol, is the French have also joined in the air search that's going on. They have put up a Falcon jet, the French Navy has put up a Falcon jet which has an autonomy of five hours or so that can go up and in fact it's normally used to look for boatloads of illegal immigrants coming into Europe but has been pressed into service for this case for some surveillance for the debris.

So they're involved to that extent, but the French accident investigators, who certainly will be involved here because it was an Airbus constructed in France and because it was -- the point of departure was the French airport and there are 15 French on board. For those reasons the French accident investigators will almost certainly get involved but they have not been called yet.