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Early Start with John Berman and Zoraida Sambolin

Search for EgyptAir Flight 804. Aired 5-5:30a ET

Aired May 19, 2016 - 05:00   ET

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

BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN ANCHOR: And I'm Boris Sanchez. We are at 5:00 a.m. here on the East Coast. It is about 11:00 a.m. in Egypt.

But we are following breaking news this morning.

[05:00:02] 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.

Just a few hours ago, EgyptAir reported there was a distress signal from the general vicinity of the plane. Just in the last hour: Egypt's president called a meeting of his national security council.

And for the latest, let's bring in our own Ian Lee. He's live at Cairo's international airport.

Ian, we understand you've spoken to family members at a command center that's been set up at the airport there. What are they telling you?

IAN LEE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's right, if you can see behind me, we've had family members, dozens of them, coming through here behind me, coming to get the latest, to find out what exactly happened to their family members, to their loved ones, and what they're telling us right now is that Egyptian officials are very uncertain about how the plane went down, but what they're telling them, that it did in fact hit the water. It crashed into the Mediterranean.

Now, this is different from the official line we were getting from various government officials saying that they are not saying that this plane has crashed yet, even though it's eight and a half hours after it disappeared from radar, the officials still haven't said it's crashed, although we're hearing from family members a different story. They are telling us that officials are saying that the plane crashed into the Mediterranean.

But right now, the main focus is on that strip of water, 175 miles north of the Egyptian coastline. That's where we have the Egyptian military searching the area. Air force jets scouring the area, the navy is out there, the coast guard's out there. They're cooperating with the Greeks, really trying to find what's left of that plane and, against all hope, if possible, survivor.

But right now, this still very much is a search and rescue operation. And the families behind my just waiting to hear the latest updates. They're expressing frustration, and rightfully so. But right now, answers are few. CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN ANCHOR: And I know, Ian, eight hours after this

flight disappeared now, the Egyptian foreign ministry, the French foreign ministry have shared condolences over what the Egyptian foreign minister is calling the fallen airliner, but we just don't know any more than that. They haven't ruled out any kind of cause here at all.

LEE: That's right. It's still very much open to what could possibly bring down this plane. What we do know is the record of this aircraft and the pilots. EgyptAir has released that this is a plane that received regular maintenance. There were no problems that were detected on this plane. The pilot didn't tell them of any issues that he had come across.

The other issue, they're looking at the pilots. These are very experienced men. They have over, one of them. The pilot had over 5,000 hours of experience on a plane, over 2,000 hours on this particular Airbus 320. The co-pilot also having thousands of hours of experience.

So they're trying to look at all the variables here, all the possibilities, but as far as EgyptAir is telling us right now, they don't believe there's anything technical, or they don't believe there's anything to do with the pilots, but really, they're not ruling anything out at this moment.

SANCHEZ: Ian Lee reporting from Cairo where the families of those on board MS804 are gathering to try to find more information. Ian, thank you.

ROMANS: All right. EgyptAir MS804 left Charles de Gaulle Airport just after 11:00 p.m. last night. You can see the flight path there, 11:00 p.m. local time. EgyptAir says there were at least 15 French nationals. The plane was made in France by Airbus.

France is already cooperating closely with Egypt, and the French government held a crisis meeting to discuss the disappearance of this flight.

For more on all of this, senior European correspondent Jim Bittermann is in our Paris bureau.

You know, this news that Egypt and France have exchanged condolences for the fallen aircraft. The first confirmation that this plane not only disappeared but there could be fatalities here.

JIM BITTERMANN, CNN SENIOR EUROPEAN CORRESPONDENT: Exactly. And in fact, the foreign minister said this morning that after that crisis meeting that the first priority for the French government are the families of the victims, basically, assuming that there are victims that no one survived this crash, it's yet to be confirmed. But there are 15 French aboard, as well as Egyptian families and other families here.

[05:05:00] So, they've set up a crisis center at the airport. Some of those families have been trickling in. They would have said good-bye to their families last night at 11:00 at night. But they've returned to the airport in some cases for psychological and medical assistance, if it's necessary and also to get the latest news. There's also a crisis cell set up at the foreign ministry.

Airbus has come forward expressing their regrets. This airplane is one of the hot sellers for Airbus, 6,000 of them in service around the world. Two million people fly on Airbus 320s each day.

So it's an extremely reliable aircraft. And so they're looking into every other aspect, out of the airport. They're going through the records of anybody who would have had contact with this EgyptAir flight, including the security people, the baggage handlers, the maintenance people and anybody that for instance that loaded the food service carts. All that sort of thing is being investigated now.

Until they find the wreckage, it will give them a better indication of what the cause may have been, they're taking every single step they can think of to look into what could have happened on this end to have brought the plane down -- Christine, Boris.

ROMANS: Jim Bittermann for us in Paris -- thanks, Jim.

Let's get more now from CNN anchor and aviation correspondent Richard Quest. He is live in our Beijing bureau.

You've been hearing this information coming in. What are you hearing? What kinds of questions are you asking your sources this morning?

RICHARD QUEST, CNN AVIATION CORRESPONDENT: I think you have to start with when this incident took place, 37,000 feet, which is the safest part of the flight, no distress warning. No call from of mayday.

And if you look at the flight profile, as you can see online in places like FlightAware and FlightRadar24, you see the plane's profile just coming to a stop. The flight is at 36,900 feet, give or take. It's flying. The speed increases very slightly, but there's nothing abnormal about that profile. No warnings, and then just suddenly nothing.

And not only that, we also don't even see the descent. Quite often with FlightRadar24, the monitoring the ADS-B monitoring tools you will see the plane descend. You'll see the rate of descent that will often be up to 10,000 feet a minute, if not more.

What this is telling me is that obviously, whatever happened was sudden, dramatic, instantaneous, probably complete and utter destruction in that sense and a complete power loss so that the plane stopped communicating.

ROMANS: Now, Richard, I wanted to ask about the track record of EgyptAir. What kind of incidents have they had in the past? And, frankly, do they have the capacity to move forward with an investigation like this?

QUEST: Oh, yes, well, first of all, don't forget shall the Egyptian authorities did the investigation into MetroJet. Now, the Egyptian authorities having said for a long time that there was no bomb or no nefarious activity finally come out in the report and say yes. So, I have confidence in the Egyptian authorities to do a good job in getting to the grips of what happened once they've got the night recorders.

As for EgyptAir itself, a remarkably stalwart, reliable, it's been around for years, EgyptAir, a member of Star Alliance. It's had its economic woes, to be sure, and it's tried to grow the network, and it tried to create more connections over Cairo, but the core point is, it's safe. There have been two or three incidents in the last 30 years. The most famous of which was the 767 out of New York to Cairo, which is widely believed to be a case of pilot suicide.

Other than that, there's nothing notice profile of flights over the last 30 to 40 years that would give an eyebrow raise. It's a well- run, experienced, the pilots know what they're doing, the maintenance is good. So far there's no reason to doubt.

ROMANS: And we know there were three security personnel as part of the crew on board that flight, too. A group of 10.

QUEST: Yes.

ROMANS: All right. Richard Quest, thank you so much for your expertise this morning.

SANCHEZ: Yes, we're continuing to follow breaking news right now, an EgyptAir flight from Paris to Cairo missing with 66 people on board. Authorities in Paris and Cairo lamenting the fallen aircraft. We're breaking down the latest information next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[05:13:55] SANCHEZ: It's been more than eight hours since EgyptAir Flight 804 disappeared from radar and here's what we've been able to confirm so far. The Airbus A320 was travelling from Paris to Cairo when it vanished from the radar over the Mediterranean. There were 66 people on board, including 10 crew members. The aircraft went missing at 37,000 feet at the safest phase of flight.

Moments after cruising into Egyptian air space, it disappeared. Egyptian and French authorities have exchanged condolences over what they're calling the fall of the aircraft. The Egyptian military is searching for the jetliner right now and they say they detected a distress signal from the general vicinity from where the plane may have gone down.

ROMANS: Joining us to help put this into context, aviation expert Julian Bray, by Skype for us this morning from Peterborough, England.

From what you have heard so far, sir, what do we know about what likely happened to that flight? At 37,000 feet, the safest part of the flight trajectory, in calm weather and clear skies.

JULIAN BRAY, AVIATION EXPERT: Yes, as you say, calm weather, clear skies and a very mild sea. [05:15:04] So, it is looking at though it could be a catastrophic

failure. Now, this is pure speculation. We have to wait for the officials to tell us what happened. But there are messages that a distress signal from the vicinity of the aircraft have been received.

Now, this could well be the location responder from the black box. When it hits water, it automatically pings off a sound. Now, if the aircraft has hit water and has sunk, obviously, as it is sinking, the beacon would go off and it would get fainter and fainter. That might be the origin of the distress call.

ROMANS: That might be the origin of the distress call. We have to get more information, including eyewitness information from the area. We know, sir, that there's a lot of marine traffic there, boat traffic. We know search and rescue are there now. We know there is a lot of migrant traffic, refugee traffic in the vicinity.

I mean, that is the next step to see if there is eyewitness to help locate where the flight is.

BRAY: Already, again, there are conflicting reports. There is a message that the captain did see something and he has reported occurrence back to the authorities.

Now, you have to remember the military are already in the area. It is heavily policed, shall we say. There are lots of communication channels open.

So, they probably know what has happened to this plane, but they are not telling us yet. Now, I understand there are helicopters on the way. There is an overhead AWACS, which is a radar aircraft. Helicopters and ships, there's a frigate on the way. They are all looking for a debris field it has come down.

They are saying it possibly has come down, but nobody is confirming it. It is still search and rescue rather than recovery. And we should hold on to that.

SANCHEZ: Certainly.

We know there are at least three security personnel on board the flight. Is that typical? Do you know if these security officials by chance are armed?

BRAY: I don't know. It is quite usual these days to have security on board aircraft. We do live in a dangerous world. And so, they take addition security precautions. They try not to tell us what they're doing.

But the point is you have to remember that we all have to be very, very careful now and take extra care with our luggage and keep it with us and try to make sure give anyway to do us harm any opportunity.

ROMANS: All right. Thank you, sir, so much. Aviation expert Julian Bray from Peterborough, England, thank you for that. For some perspective and context this morning, we are tracking this information on the missing EgyptAir flight vanished on the way from Paris to Cairo.

What we know about the flight track, about the weather in the area, all the new information, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[05:22:42] ROMANS: All right. Welcome back.

It has been more than eight hours since EgyptAir flight 804 disappeared. The Airbus A320 was en route to Cairo from Paris when it fell off radar over the Mediterranean Sea moments after entering Egyptian airspace. There were 66 people on board this flight. Egyptian and French authorities exchanging condolences over what they call the fall of the aircraft.

Egyptian military planes and boats are searching for the plane right now. They confirm now, there was a distress signal from the vicinity where the plane may have gone down.

SANCHEZ: Yes. For the latest on the flight track of this jet and if the weather could have played any role on its disappearance, let's bring in meteorologist Derek Van Dam in the CNN Weather Center.

Derek, no indication that there any problems with the weather when the plane was playing in that area.

DEREK VAN DAM, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Yes, that's correct, Boris and Christine. In fact, euro control confirming that there were no weather-related issues with the disappearance of the EgyptAir flight. I myself as a meteorologist checked all the weather variables that could potential be catastrophic to an aircraft. Thunderstorms, turbulence were not present at the last moments of contact with this particular aircraft.

Now, we need to focus on the attention of the high likelihood of search and recovery effort. We look towards water temperatures over the eastern Mediterranean. This is important, because if there are survivors of the potential crash, this is a factor -- 65 to 72 degrees. Think about the body temperature of 96 degrees. So, if you're submerged in water, below that temperature, that's going to impact your core body temperature. Of course, that could have potential health hazards going forward.

Very quickly, all dependent if you are a healthy and fit individual, elderly or young or just a young adult. You have survival time anywhere from two hours to upward to 40 hours. The weather going forward is a factor for the search and recovery efforts. We do have a system that's going to move across the eastern Mediterranean. That will not take place until the Friday time frame. That's when winds pick up and potentially starting to push around the open waves. That could be an impact quite detrimental for the search and recovery efforts.

One thing I want to show you. We have been talking about the abrupt end to the communication. What we've done is we highlighted the flight path and put a three dimensional perspective with Google Earth. [05:25:05] And I want you to see how it does indeed come to an abrupt

end. That tells me that there were a few options here. There was obviously potentially a loss of power. Some sort of catastrophic failure and perhaps maybe even somebody turned off the communication devices.

But this picture, I believe, leaves a lot of open-ended questions here as the investigation --

ROMANS: It sure.

SANCHEZ: Yes, many potential scenarios for investigators to look at.

Derek Van Dam, thank you.

ROMANS: That EgyptAir flight from Paris to Cairo, missing with 66 people on board. This is a desperate search and rescue right now. Live team coverage with the latest information next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.

SANCHEZ: Breaking news this morning: an EgyptAir flight from Paris to Cairo vanishes. A desperate search now for the plane and 66 people on board. CNN is tracking the latest information coming in from the around the world.

Welcome back to EARLY START. Thank you for joining us. I'm Boris Sanchez.