Swiss had banned both crash airline's planes

Swiss aviation inspectors found faults with both airliners operated by the Egyptian airline whose Boeing crashed into the Red Sea on Saturday killing all 148 on board, it was revealed today.

As the search for the fuselage and flight data recorders continued today, Swiss officials said inspectors found serious faults and maintenance failures in both Boeing 737 jetliners operated by Flash Airlines more than a year before the crash.

The Swiss Federal Office for Civil Aviation, which disclosed on Sunday that it had found problems in one of the aircraft in October 2002, added today that it had found similar faults in the other plane six months earlier.

It stressed it was drawing no conclusions about the cause of Saturday’s crash.

Swiss authorities, acting as part of a Europe-wide programme, inspected a Flash Airlines plane on April 27, 2002, the office said.

Inspectors found that documentation for the on-board navigation system was missing, the calculations for the fuel reserves did not follow international standards and the signs for the emergency exits were in part unsuitable.

“In addition, there were clear failures in maintenance of the undercarriage, power unit and steering systems,” the office said in a statement.

The Swiss agency wrote to Flash Airlines demanding that these problems be fixed before the next flight to Switzerland.

The second inspection, on October 11, showed up identical problems on the other plane. On October 16, Switzerland said Flash Airlines could only land again if it provided independent confirmation from the Egyptians authorities that the planes were in perfect condition.

A few days later, a request for permission to land was refused because this confirmation had not been received, the office said.

The office said it informed Egyptian authorities of its decision on October 22. It also told the head of the European inspection programme that the company was forbidden to land. The report on the inspection of the two planes was placed on a database that was available to the other countries taking part in the European system.

The office said it had decided to make the general details of its confidential findings public following widespread media speculation.

French Transport Minister Gilles de Robien has said that France carried out three checks on Flash Airlines following the Swiss report, but determined that the airline was fit to fly.

Body parts recovered from the Red Sea so far bore no burns, suggesting there was no explosion on the 737 that went down minutes after takeoff on Saturday, said French Deputy Foreign Minister Renaud Muselier.

The crash came amid world wide fears that terrorists would use an aircraft to stage an atrocity. But Muselier said: “There is no reason to believe there was an attack.” He added he thought the crash, which killed 133 French citizens, was an accident.

Egyptian officials say the crash appears to have been caused by a mechanical problem.

The French have dispatched a surveillance plane equipped with radar to help search for debris and bodies, along with 16 military scuba divers, a frigate and a robot submarine, called Achilles after the ancient Greek hero.

They had hoped the sub would have been operational today but, said a French official, “ “It’s been held up at the airport due to formalities.”

Later, the French Embassy said the submarine had cleared Egyptian customs.