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Early Start with John Berman and Zoraida Sambolin

EgyptAir Paris-to-Cairo Flight Disappears. Aired 4-4:30a ET

Aired May 19, 2016 - 04:00   ET

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

[04:00:17] ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.

BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN ANCHOR: Breaking news this morning: an EgyptAir flight heading from Paris to Cairo vanishes. A desperate search for the plane and its 66 people on board. It's happening right now.

CNN is tracking the latest information coming in from around the world.

Good morning and welcome to EARLY START. I'm Boris Sanchez.

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN ANCHOR: I'm Christine Romans. It is Thursday, May 19th. It is 4:00 a.m. in the east.

We welcome all of our viewers here in the U.S. and around the world.

Our breaking news this morning: an Egyptian passenger jet has disappeared over the eastern Mediterranean. EgyptAir MS804 dropped from radar overnight en route from Paris to Cairo about 175 miles off the coast of Egypt. And just hours ago, EgyptAir reported there was a distress call from the general vicinity of the plane.

For the very latest, I want to bring in our Ian Lee live at Cairo's International Airport.

You have been gathering more information for us. We're seven hours now into the disappearance of this aircraft. What do you know, Ian?

IAN LEE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Boris and Christine, right now, the main goal, the focus of this search is trying to find where this plane is. Now Egyptian officials, despite being over seven and a half hours since this plane disappeared from the radar, they still have not called it a crash. But they are searching an area in the Mediterranean, 175 miles off the Egyptian coast.

We know that the Egyptian air force is involved, as well as the Egyptian navy. They are on the site of the area where they last detected the plane. We also know, we're hearing that there was an emergency signal of some sort, we're being told.

This happened two hours after the plane had disappeared from radar. We heard this from two sources within the Egyptian government, although the military has come out and said that they did not receive a signal. So, we are still trying to verify exactly what that signal is. We talk to the vice president of EgyptAir. He said that that signal could have been from a plane -- from the plane after it had gone down, that it is possible to detect a signal after plane has crashed.

But he is not saying that for sure, that the plane has crashed. But really, right now, they are in the investigating stage. They are looking for this plane, trying to figure it out, where it is. And exactly what happened. And we need to remember that there were 66 people on board this flight when it disappeared. There were 56 passengers, include two infants and one child. There were also ten crew members, including three security personnel on board this plane. Which raises questions really, what happened to this plane?

We're told by EgyptAir that it had regular scheduled maintenance. The pilots had thousands of hours of experience in the air. The pilot in particular had over 2,000 hours on this Airbus 320, which was flying. So, right now, a lot of questions that need answers.

ROMANS: Thanks, Ian Lee. The investigation just beginning, quite frankly. Watching every single person who had access to that plane in Cairo and Paris and in the days past and all the safety records.

All right, Ian, thank you for that.

SANCHEZ: EgyptAir MS804 left Charles de Gaulle Airport in Paris just after 11:00 last night local time. EgyptAir says there were at least 15 French nationals on the plane, and, of course, the plane was made in France by Airbus. This means there will likely be extensive involvement of France in the search ahead.

Joining us with more on that, Jim Bittermann in our Paris bureau.

Jim, what do we know about the leads that French officials are looking for at the Charles de Gaulle Airport?

JIM BITTERMANN, CNN SENIOR EUROPEAN CORRESPONDENT: Well, at the airport they have launched an official investigation, which is to say they're going over the records of everyone who had contact with the plane, the baggage handler, the security people as well as the catering carts for example. Anyone that would have anything to do with that plane is going to be talked to by police. And their cell phone records may be seized. All kinds of things that go on.

You know, the problem is now, as they try to determine what is the cause of the crash and this conflict over the distress signals and the kind of confusion we're hearing from Egypt is giving authority here is some problems as well as the fact that they have yet to be summoned to send people from their main crash investigating team here, the BEA, which always investigates crashes.

[04:05:05] They're still on standby, waiting to see whether or not the Egyptian authorities are going to say come help us out in this investigation. Of course, they should be involved because as you mentioned, the plane took off from here, as well as the fact the plane was made here. It was an Airbus A320. So the fact is a lot of French involvement here. But as of yet, the crash investigators have not left for Cairo.

They're still waiting to hear. The French president has had a conversation by phone with the Egyptian president this morning. He said France was standing by to offer any help. The French have military assets in that part of the Mediterranean that could be brought to bear if it's needed in the search effort.

So, the French are trying to cooperate as much as they can. But the fact is that they're not getting those kind of signals from the Egyptians just yet. They have set up a crisis center here out of the airport for the families of the potential victims of this crash. If they want to go to the airport, most of them left probably as they said goodbye to their relative three hours before, they're probably not at the airport. But they do want to go back to get the latest information there is also a crisis set up at the foreign ministry.

So, a lot of things going on here sort of related to the search. But before the wreckage is found, it's kind of ambiguous as to what the French can do really on the ground negotiation.

SANCHEZ: Certainly a very difficult time for those families ahead. Jim Bittermann reporting live from Paris -- thank you, Jim.

ROMANS: And as Jim just said, before the wreckage can be found, there is really no confirmation that there has been a crash. That is the assumption. But authorities are not calling it a crash. They are saying this flight has disappeared. EgyptAir Flight 804 dropping off of radar.

For the latest, let's go to CNN anchor and aviation correspondent Richard Quest in our Beijing bureau.

Richard, tell us what this interesting reporting could be about some sort of distress signal. The military saying, the Egyptian military saying the aircraft did not issue a distress signal. But you're hearing reports two hours after the plane disappeared, there was some sort of distress signal from where the vicinity of the plane could have been.

RICHARD QUEST, CNN AVIATION CORRESPONDENT: Yes, when we heard about this, it all sounded a little strange. You immediately think of a distress signal as being some sort of mayday from the aircraft and from the pilots. But what it's starting to sound more like is some form of signal from one of the aircraft's emergency locator beacons, the ELTs, or indeed one of the beacons that might be on a raft or something that's become dislodged.

What it doesn't sound like is a mayday or some form of distress call from the pilots. It sounds much more as if what you're talking about is the plane has crashed into the water, and there are various transmitters which are designed to activate and send out an emergency signal immediately either on impact with land or water.

What I find a little bit strange is that it's taken two hours. These contraptions, first of all, they're not terribly reliable. The history of them going wrong is quite legendary. But secondly, there is this two-hour gap. The plane crashed, then the satellite company responsible for receiving that sort of data would have got it immediately.

So, I think we have to put this along with everything else that's coming from Egypt at the moment well and truly with a degree of skepticism. I'm not saying it hasn't happened. But what I'm hearing, you know, I'm hearing them talk about there was nothing in the cargo bay, there is no distress signal. I'm hearing them talking about the passenger list.

Frankly, they can't know all these facts this soon. It's too soon for the collation of the detailed information to make any form of conclusion.

SANCHEZ: Richard, at this stage, what would be a clear indicator to you? What piece of information would be require that stage still very early to say definitively that this was some kind of planned attack that would indicate this is more than perhaps just an accident.

QUEST: All right. So, the phase of flight is what I hang the hat on initially. Was it takeoff? Was it landing? The two more risky parts of flight.

No. This was in the cruise. Flight level 370, 37,000 feet.

Now, in the past, when you have incidents happening at this sort of altitude, there is usually or potentially a strong security bomb device, terrorist possibility. Where I think we have to be much more careful now is as a result of things like AirAsia, the crash that happened in the south, in Asia, in the Java Sea a couple of years ago, or Air France 447.

[04:10:04] Those sorts of incidents where you have had a mechanical incident and the pilots have flown the aircraft improperly and it led to an accident.

Now, I don't know in this case. I'm not going to speculate. I would simply say any form of crash at altitude in the cruise is very rare because it is the safest part of the journey. Therefore, you have to put terrorism on the table. You have to put mechanical -- serious mechanical failure on the table and you have to put the way the plane was being flown on the table.

ROMANS: All right. Richard Quest for us in Beijing this morning. We'll let you go. You keep working your sources here.

Again, 4:10 in the East, 10:10 in Egypt. Stay with CNN. More breaking news of the disappearance of EgyptAir flight 804. We'll bring you all of the breaking details next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[04:15:00] ROMANS: All right. Welcome back to CNN's breaking news coverage of disappearance of EgyptAir Flight 804.

Here's what we know so far: the Airbus A320 was traveling are Paris to Cairo when it vanished from radar over the Mediterranean Sea. Now, there were 66 people on board, including ten crew members. The aircraft 37,000 feet moments after crossing into the Egyptian air space.

The Egyptian military is searching for the jetliner right now. Authorities in Cairo believe the plane crashed into the sea. They say they detected a distress signal from the general vicinity where the plane was last detected.

I want to bring in CNN's Nic Robertson. He is tracking the very latest developments for us live from London.

And we are 7 1/2 hours into this incident and still trying to gather as much information to figure out what happened to this flight.

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: There does seem to be conflicting information from the Egyptians. This is not a new problem for them. The issue of whether or not there was a distress signal. It appears that if it was, it came two hours after the aircraft disappeared from radar.

So, that raises the question. Was this an emergency locater transmitter activated when the aircraft hit the water. The army, the Egyptian army is saying that it is not confirming that it has picked up any kind of distress signal.

What we do know is the Greek authorities about a minute before the aircraft passed from their air space from Greek air space to Egyptian air space, the Greek authorities spoke to the aircraft. We don't know if they were speaking to the pilot or the copilot.

What would be important to learn at this stage, and we haven't heard this from the Egyptian yet is, as that aircraft passed into Egyptian air space, it would be normal for communication between Egyptian air traffic controllers and the aircraft. We have not heard if that communication took place.

According to the flight tracking data, the aircraft appears to have been on a correct flight path. But again, we don't have confirmation from Egypt air. Had the aircraft begun to stray from its predicted and planned flight path. That's an important piece of information at this time.

And, of course, a concern is focus on whether or not this was a terrorist incident. All mechanical avenues will be explored and investigated as much as they can at this early stage. But in the meantime, the passenger manifest, the security video footage of passengers going through security at Charles de Gaulle Airport will be scrutinized, the background of the passengers. We know there were three Egyptian security staff on board as part of the flight crew. And, of course, anyone that came in contact with the aircraft in Charles de Gaulle Airport, and in Cairo or any other airports it may have been on that day -- Christine.

ROMANS: All right. Nic, thanks for that. MARQUEZ: Yes, you can certainly expect a huge investigation on the

way. The ambiguity of the distress signal has to be a major concern, because you can imagine if the pilots did not have time to send a distress signal, if it didn't come from the pilots, it must have been something abrupt to cut off communication between them and people on the ground.

Bringing his expertise is a veteran air pilot to our discussion of EgyptAir 804's disappearance. We have Captain Desmond Ross. He's a principal at DRA Professional Aviation Services. He joins us live from Istanbul this morning.

Captain, good morning to you.

We know this was an Airbus A-320. Historically, what do you know about the reliability of these planes?

DESMOND ROSS, PRINCIPAL, DRA PROFESSIONAL AVIATION SERVICES: The A- 320 is one of the work horses of the sky, that along with the Boeing 737. They're very reliable. They have had issues over the years, but, you know, these are work horses. There are thousands in the skies at any given time.

And you can assume that they are properly maintained with an airline like EgyptAir which is actually a respectable airline. I don't think you can question their intent to maintain their aircraft probably. The crews at which they were in the crew, there's no particular reason to consider maneuvering or doing something unusual with the aircraft that can cause a problem. The riskiest of any flight is the landing and the takeoff. Cruise is normally pretty safe.

My gut feeling is there has been some cataclysmic event. We're getting sort of unconfirmed reports of people sighting things. But if you consider the Mediterranean, that area where it's gone down, there is a lot of marine traffic. At the moment, there is more traffic than usual because of the refugee crisis, et cetera, when you move toward Greece and Turkey.

So, somebody is going to see something. If that aircraft has gone into the water, I'm confident somebody will spot it. Before this day is over, we wild have evidence of an actual crash if that's what's happened. Somebody will find debris on the surface.

Just a question of the emergency signal, it almost sounds to me as though there's been an emergency locator transmitter go off.

[04:20:08] And that may only be a brief signal. They operate on impact under g-forces, that ELT will be activated. If the aircraft hit the water, it would be activated if it is operating correctly. Unfortunately, it would then sink with the aircraft and t signal would be -- could be terminated in deep water or at least weaker signal. Now, that's a failing in the system.

Military aircraft have detachable beacons. So, if a military aircraft goes down the water, the bacon will be ejected from the wreckage and crash and it will float, thereby enabling searchers to hone in on the location. Civil aircraft don't have that capability at the moment.

Did the pilot say something? They are telling us no. No mayday call from the cockpit. Did he have time to set up emergency code on the transponder? That's possibility. He may have been able to dial in the correct numbers for the transponder which indicates that aircraft is in emergency situation, the air traffic control or the military surveillance could see that immediately.

We don't know this yet. You know, we are speculating. Everyone is speculating at the moment until we find some hard evidence.

ROMANS: Captain Desmond Ross, principal at DRA Professional Aviation Services, a veteran of this aviation -- thank you so much for joining us.

And again, a lot of questions this morning. We do know that Greek authorities and Greek air traffic control talked to this aircraft, either the pilot or the co-pilot before it crossed over into Egyptian air space. But we don't know if Egyptian controllers talked to that plane.

Again, we are going to bring you the very latest developments. A lot happening here on this plane that vanished on the way from Paris to Cairo. What we know about the flight path and weather in the area. We've got that for you, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[04:26:25] ROMANS: You are watching CNN's breaking news coverage of the disappearance of EgyptAir Flight 804.

Here what is we know: The Airbus A320 was on the way from Paris to Cairo when it vanished off radar over the Mediterranean, 66 people on board.

For the latest on the flight track and if the weather could have played a role in its disappearance, I want to bring in meteorologist Derek Van Dam. He is in the CNN Weather Center.

It looks as though the skies were clear at that time, Derek.

DEREK VAN DAM, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Yes, that's right, Christine. In fact, euro control confirming there was no weather-related issues right before the last moment of contact with EgyptAir MS804.

I checked all the weather variables that could potentially be catastrophic to an airline or aircraft. Thunderstorms in the vicinity, turbulence, clear air turbulence, there was nothing in this eastern Mediterranean region that the areas and the investigators are focusing in on. And so, now, as we start to look towards the potential, the high likelihood of a search and rescue operation, we have to think about water temperatures and the forthcoming weather in the next foreseeable future.

Currently, water temperatures over the eastern Mediterranean running between 65 and 72 degrees Fahrenheit. Think about our body temperatures, running about 96 degrees. So, any amount of time submerged in water that's colder than your core temperature is going to impact your health.

But it's going to depend on how healthy you are, how young or how old you are. Bottom line is that an unhealthy young person or elderly individual has a survival rate in this water temperature between 60 to 70 degrees of roughly two to seven hours. If you're healthy young adult for instance, you could survive in water temperatures like this up to 40 hours in good health.

So, easily, just under a day and a half. So, what will the weather unfold over the next 24 to 48 hours? We expect the clear skies to continue today.

But as we head into Friday frame, a storm system will pick up the winds across that region. That means waves will start to build across the eastern Mediterranean. That will hamper the search and recovery efforts. And also, we do anticipate clouds and even a bit of weather to move in as well. So, something to consider if there are indeed hopefully survivors.

SANCHEZ: Yes. Certainly, we hope the weather continues to be clear to help in the investigation and not hinder it in anyway.

Derek Van Dam from the CNN Weather Center -- thank you.

Breaking news right now in the disappearance of EgyptAir Flight 804. The president of Egypt calling an emergency meeting of his national security council. We have live team coverage, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)