Accident at Sharm-El-Sheik on 3 January 2004

The first stage of the technical investigation into the accident that occurred at Sharm-El-Sheik on 3 January, an accident that cost the lives of 148 people, including 134 French citizens, was centered on mobilizing the means required to survey the accident site and locate the airplane’s two flight recorders.

The joint efforts of all those participating in this phase of the investigation, in particular the French Navy and France Telecom, have just enabled the Flight Data Recorder (FDR) to be brought to the surface. The recorder was handed over to the President of the Egyptian Commission of Inquiry.

The FDR will be analyzed in Cairo, in collaboration with investigators from the BEA and the NTSB. The search is continuing to recover the second recorder, the Cockpit Voice Recorder (CVR), whose analysis will make it possible to correlate information with that contained in the FDR.

It is to be noted that the investigation is the responsibility of Egypt, the country on whose territory the accident occurred. A Commission of Inquiry was set up with this in mind. The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB), the investigative body of the United States, the State of Manufacture of the airplane, and the BEA are participating in this investigation.

Annex 13 of the Convention on International Civil Aviation and French Law No. 99-243 of 29 March 1999 specify that the sole objective of the technical investigation is the prevention of future accidents or incidents. This activity is intended neither to apportion blame, nor to assess individual or collective responsibility.