NTSB Opens Public Docket On 2004 Loss Of B737

French and Egyptian investigators sharply disagree on what caused a Flash Air Boeing 737 to crash into the Red Sea after taking off from Cairo more than two years ago. The two sides published both of their opinions in a 1,300-page report on the crash issued on Saturday.

Both French and Egyptian teams say the captain of that flight was disoriented when he lost control of the aircraft as it departed the Egyptian seaside resort town of Sharm el-Shek. Both sides also agree that, seconds after take-off, there was a malfunction of some sort in the plane's autopilot. Where French and Egyptian investigators differ, however, is over whether the pilot was to blame... or technical problems for which the crew had not been trained and for which the manuals provide no information.

The Egyptian team says four factors could have contributed to the crash -- a problem with the 737's ailerons, a control malfunction in the left spoiler, some kind of wing problem related to lift, and a problem with the autopilot. French investigators maintain the aircraft was flyable at all times... and suggest the Egyptian pilot of the 737 should have been able to cope with whatever forced him to take control from the autopilot just seconds into the flight.

The National Transportation Safety Board, which also participated in the investigation as the entity of the country that manufactured the airliner, opened the public docket on the accident investigation Monday.

The crash killed all 148 people on board... most of them French tourists on their way home to Paris from a seaside holiday.

FMI: Download The NTSB Public Docket Files On The Flash Air Accident (PDF Reader Required)