3 Most-likely Causes of Air Algeria AH 5017 Crash

[LequteMan]

According to French Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve, weather conditions are the most likely cause of Thursday’s crash of Air Algérie flight AH 5017 in Mali.

“We think this plane crashed for reasons relating to meteorological conditions,” Cazeneuve told RTL radio on Friday.

But “no hypothesis can be ruled out as long as the inquiry has not come up with results”, he added, before suggesting the following hypotheses.

• The weather - the plane changed course because of poor visibility caused by a storm and is reported to have broken up on hitting the ground;
• Technical problems – at 18 years old the McDonnell 83 was relatively old but aviation officials say it was inspected two or three days ago and was in good condition;
• A missile – Armed Islamists are active in the area but are not believed to have surface-to-air missiles.

The wreckage was found at Gossi in northern Mali near the frontier with Burkina Faso

France’s Defence Ministry on Friday said that it was located by a French drone but General Gilbert Diendéré, who is in charge of Burkina Faso’s search efforts, told RFI that Burkinabé helicopters found it and the French military later confirmed the discovery.