The families of several of those killed in an EgyptAir plane crash caused by an on-board fire have filed a lawsuit against Apple, alleging that the fire started when one of its devices — perhaps an iPad mini or iPhone 6S — overheated.
An EgyptAir jet (flight 804) crashed into the Mediterranean on May 19, 2016, killing all 66 people aboard. As noted by 9toMac, smoke had been detected in both a forward bathroom and the avionics bay beneath the cockpit.
No definitive cause of the fire has been identified. Speculation has included explosives, a fire in the avionics bay and a cockpit fire started in the area where one of the pilots stored his Apple devices. However, the safety editor of Flight International magazine told the Telegraph that this was an unlikely cause. He said:
Firstly, pilots don’t leave objects on the dashboard because they know the they will end up in their lap when they take off or on the floor and they’ll get airborne in turbulence and could jam the controls […]
But the key point is while there were warnings about the window heating systems, there were also smoke alarms in the toilet and avionics bay under the floor. How would the fire have got under there? It doesn’t make sense.
Apple has issued a statement to several sites denying its devices caused the crash.
We haven’t been contacted by GTA or any authority investigating this tragic event. We have not seen the report but we understand there is no evidence to link this event to Apple products.
If investigators have questions for us, we would of course assist in any way we can.
We rigorously test our products to ensure they meet or exceed international safety standards.
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