Originally Posted by d0lphin:
“Unless it was put on board in one of the airports it had previously been at - I have asked a few times and not had an answer but does anyone know what checks there are inbetween flights?”
It depends on the airport and airline. Any carrier I've worked with in the UK has had a "secure clean" done which basically means every overhead bin, seat pocket, cupboard, underseat area etc is checked by the cleaning team (who would be searched as they entered and exited the plane) and again by the cabin crew both in and out (if there is a crew change between flights). The cargo and baggage hold areas would get a similar check too. I'm not sure how much of it is industry standard, but I'd be surprised if such checks were not done in Paris and at the home base of Cairo, even more surprised if the plane had been to these places on previous days meaning a full check would surely have been done each night at least or morning.
The idea that it could have been flying around with an explosive device on board for several days unnoticed is frightening. Personally I doubt this is the case as it raises too many whatifs. For example, was it detonated by someone on board who knew it had been placed there previously or on a random timer? Presumably the person who put it on board would have been on the inside and known where the plane was going as aircraft rotations are often planned 2 or 3 days in advance, but then again delays happen and planes can obviously be swapped around for any reason. So there would be no gaurantee of the person who set it off of even being on the same plane, unless a network or bombers booked on to several flights and the one who was "lucky" was the one in Paris. That is quite IS like, but then they have not said a thing about this crash, which is not like them.
If this was a previously placed device then it could have been timed to go off much earlier in the flight, the fact it went off so close to landing is a bit strange. Just a few minutes later and the plane would have been below 10,000 feet anyway and unpressurised so maybe wouldn't have suffered so much, or it could have happened on the ground, where there are fueling trucks and pipelines and other planes so could have caused even more damage. It just doesn't seem likely this is what has happened.
From the looks of things I would maybe suggest some undisclosed or improperly packed dangerous cargo (or something inside a bag) was aboard which has caught on fire and out of control. The smoke under the avionics panel would suggest coming from the forward holds and filling the cabin suggests there was no decompression as if a bomb went off then there would be no smoke as it'd all be sucked out. The flames could have rendered the controls useless. This could be another case simmilar to
ValuJet 592 or
Swissair 111 where inflight entertainment cables caught fire and slowly burned away before causing a catastropihc fire and crash. The aircraft certainly seems to have acted similar to Swissair 111 anyway. If this is the case then cargo preparation needs to be looked at at CDG as it would mean a serious lack of awareness.
Everyone who comes in to contact with baggage, from a check in agent to a baggage loader to the person who drives the forklift truck has to undertake intensive dangerous goods training set by IATA and ICAO which can even be added to by local governments and the airlines themselves can have even stricter rules too (no one can override or contradict something IATA set), so for this to happen would be totally negligent, but would at least show there was no terrorism involved. The rules are updated regularly and everyone has to resit the whole course at least every 2 years and pass an exam. Varying levels of dangerous goods training applies to different roles, but cargo and baggage handlers get pretty much the highest level.