we have breaking news this morning on "world news now." the search for a missing flight now feared to have crashed in the mediterranean sea. >> the egyptair flight 804 was heading from paris to cairo before disappearing from radar. the search is on for the wreckage at this hour in the med ter and ian sea. 66 people on board. it's unclear what caused that crash. we have full coverage on this thursday, may 19th. >>. >> announcer: from abc news, this is "world news now." good morning, everyone. i'm kendis gibson. >> and i'm diane macedo. we, of course, begin with the breaking news. new details now about the disappearance of an egyptair jet over the mediterranean sea. >> our abc correspondent alex marquardt is on his way

charles de gaulle airport where this flight took off about 11:59 local time six hours ahead of the east coast. it was expecting to land some four hours later in cairo. it disappeared shortly before landing there. oh alex, you're on your way there. what are you learning from your point? >> reporter: good morning, kendis. that's right. we've just gotten word moments ago from egyptair the airline flying this plane there was a distress signal that is now being analyzed by the military search and rescue teams. it's just a signal. it's very important to differentiate between that and a call. so far no indication any sort of distress call was made. the last aviation authorities had contact with this plane were the greeks as they left greek air space across the mediterranean and headed towards egypt. the greek air traffic controllers said this plane just vanished. we know from radar that the plane disappeared around ten mi

still flying at 37,000 feet. shortly before the plane was due to land about three hours and 40 minutes into the flight when it disappeared. we know that there were 66 people on board. ten of them were crew. 56 of them passengers. the majority 30 were egyptian and 156 them were french families. now, what we know about the plane is that it's an anxiety 320 which is quite a reliable plane. was just 13 years old built in 2003. and we know the pilot had quite a significant experience around 6,000 hours of flying time. we also know that the weather off the coast of egypt was quite good, quite clear. so right now, it's anybody's guess as to what brought this plane down. it simply disappeared from that radar shortly before it started its descent towards cairo airport. >> alex, one major concern this morning obviously is was this terror

but one of them is the fact that the plane left from paris. given the attacks happened just in november, we know they've stepped up security tremendously there. what can you tell us about that part of things? >> reporter: well, charles de gaulle airport is a very secure airport. one of the most tracked airports in the entire world. it would be on the same level at jfx or l.a.x. this is not like the egyptian airports which are lax. we saw the plane that took off from sharm he will sheik. that many plane was brought down by an explosion claimed by an isis linked group in the sinai. obviously there are going to be some suspicions this was terrorism. what we can assume from 37,000 feet the altitude that this plane was flying at was that a terrorist group in egypt would not be able to reach it with some sort of rocket or missile. so was there som

explosive device on the plane or was it a mechanical error or pilot airer? we know that because there was no distress call that the pilot either weren't able, didn't have time or incapacitated and were not able to send out any sort of distress call. that could indicate some sort of catastrophic failure. as i said, right now it's anyone's guess. it this plane has completely disappeared. we do know from its emergency system it, did put out a distress signal. >> alex, you were last at charles de gaulle airport i think you mentioned a month ago. how on alert would you say the authorities were there? generally in paris to a possible attack. >> reporter: well, authorities across paris whether it's in the center of town at all the tourist sites, museums, at sensitive sites like the airports certainly in the wake of the brussels attack at the end of march which targeted the brussels airport, you can be sure they were at a very

security officials are very visible. heavily armed police as well as soldiers dressed in camouflage and patrolling with automatic weapons. so there would be very significant security at charles de gaulle airport and across paris, certainly more significant than at the egyptian airport we were just talking about. i traveled through many times over the course of the past few years and they are quite easy to get through the with sort of just these notional patdowns. you'll remember back in march, an egyptair flight was diverted to cyprus after a man they said was psychologically unstable used -- got a fake suicide vest through the metal detecters past plane officials and diverted that plane to cyprus in order to try to win back his ex-wife. that highlighted the lac

security at egyptian airports and embarrassed not just egyptian airport officials but egyptair, as well. >> alex, given that, is there any concern about who should lead up this investigation and that the egyptians are taking the lead right now? >> reporter: well, it's an egyptair. it's the national care xwrerpz it happened inside egyptian air space. the egyptian military were the first to respond. i imagine in the course of next few hours, we'll be getting most of our answers from the egyptian i'll be at charles de gaulle shortly. europe is just waking up now. hopefully the french would be able to shed some light on what happened, as well. so far every piece of information we've gotten has either been from the egypt air airline, usually through twitter in fact or from egyptian aviation officials. the french haven't said anything. there

and egyptian president abdel fatah el sisi offered condolences to each other as i mentioned a short time ago. most of the passengers on that plane of the 56 passengers there were 15r french families, sorry, 15 french citizens and 30 egyptian citizens. so families in both countries sad and disturbed, scared and looking for answers this morning. >> to diane's point, you recall with the metrojet crash that took place last fall in, the days and weeks after that, it took awhile for the egyptian authorities to get stories straight. to know they'll be heading up this investigation, i'm sure there are many people in paris and other parts of europe ho had citizens on board this plane who are a little concerned this morning. >> reporter: well, that's why we hope we'll be able to get answers from nonegyptian authorities whether it's from independent aviation authorities

who we've noted were the last ones to have contact with this plane. egyptians were like you said, notoriously slow after that metrojet crash for a number of reasons. egypt frankly is in a mess right now. its economy is in tatters. its tourism industry has been absolutely decimated. one of the main reasons they took their time or so cagey with information last time is because they didn't want to declare that that was a terrorist attack. they are really hanging on by a thread when it comes to tourism. american tourists, european tourists have completely fallen off. so the turks and the russians are really the few country who's were still going to egypt to take advantage of its gorgeous sites and gorgeous beaches and that sort of thing. you're absolutely right in the wake of that attack, yeah, the attack that perhaps the that killed

very little information. there was a lot of the conflicting information and in the end, it was from the russians that we first got word that it was an explosive dwigs that brought that plane down. >> what does that do for the fames? you're headed to the airport in paris now. you've got 15 people on board that flight. i imagine their family members many of them will be at the airport trying to get answers. what is that dynamic like having covered situations like this before. >> 15 french citizens. >> it's just before 9:00 right now and they're going to be waking up to this horrible news. we imagine they would have been contacted either by the french authorities and or by the airline. and will be making their way to the airport or city waiting for any more sell of information. i imagine that they will be able to get more information than the egyptian families down in cairo. there was also a smattering of other nationalities, sudan niece,kr

they're just going to be waiting on tinder hooks for any sort of information. it has now been several hours since this is plane disappeared. despite the fact we've just heard there was a distress signal analyzed by 9 military, one has to assume the worst into that's the troubling news this morning right now. a plane has crashed and the mystery is how it went down. alex, thank you for joining us. >> that egyptair has said they are doing everything they can to help the families at this time. they have a toll three number and translators and doctors on the ground. >> we'll be right back. we're going to continue our coverage after this. ground. >> we'll be right back. we're going to continue our coverage after this.

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this live image of the charles de gaulle airport. the egyptair counter. 55 passengers checked in there last night. they were joined on board with ten others for what would have been a routine flight. it never landed in cairo. >> we are updating that breaking news on that flight this morning. egyptian officials are now saying an egyptair flight again 66 on board crashed that the mediterranean. john nance we spoke to nor his analysis on the investigation. >> i know it's tough at this point with such little information but what can you tell us about what information is coming out about this and how to go about finding out what

>> well, basically, we've got quite a bit of tracking up to the point that it so-called dispraerpd when we say disappeared that means the last thing we heard from the airplane electronically from the transponder was at 37,000 feet and cruise speed of about 3500 miles an hour. there are unconfirmed reports that the what we call the skin paint or basically a shadowy return from the airplane itself when the transponder is not operating kind of faded away on air traffic control but we have to have confirmation of that. the aircraft, of course, did not arrive. there was apparently no contact between the pilots and the air traffic control after the point at which the transponder went silent. the things that you can glean from that are first of all, the possibility that there was some sort of a catastrophic electronic failure or shutdown and that they made an emergency descent. in tha

shown up some place or called and many different ways they could get information out of there. second is the possibility the aircraft broke up from cause. >> do we hear about airplanes just disappearing some place. >> we had mh-370 that disappeared. how unusual is this. >> these things not only do happen every day they are infinite tes malwhen they happen. in the u.s. we have 32,000 scheduled flights a day. while this is certainly something we all take seriously and the loss of life if that's what happened here, but the fact is commercial airliners are not falling out of the sky on a regular basis even from terrorist causes. >> there seems to be a large focus on the altitude, 37,000 feet which means the plane was cruising. explain why it's important. >> 37,000 feet is krus altitude. things are nice a

if you had anything really go wrong of an anticipated nature, an engine failure, a major let's say a fire in the electronics compartment, we know how to handle those things. the first thing you would be doing is making an emergency descent and talking to everybody you could talk to. in other words, air traffic control, let them know what you're doing and that's all pro forma. the fact there was no contact even in the case of an unexpected electrical shut down but where the aircraft is still operating, is still flying we should be able to hear from them after they get the situation under control. 37,000 feet and a sudden cessation of transponder is a very bad indication. it indicates that one of the possibilities not a probability necessarily but one of the possibilities is that the airplane came apart at that point. and, of course, the most -- the most common cause for instinct like that and common is the wrong word to use because it's so seldom would be some sort

an incendiary guahis absolutely. >> john, i want to talk a little bit about that weather radar map. it looks like fairly clear skies. what does that tell new terms of possibilities here? >> well, it tells me that that is one thing that is highly highly unlikely to be in any way form or fashion a factor. when you have severe weather and you've got an airplane that has come to grief or disappeared, then you've got a fingerprint of possible weather involvement and as we saw in the indonesian accident as i say about i think about a year and a half back, now to be a result of the pilots essentially mishandling the airplane once they got into the severe turbulence. that's kind of an oversimplify indication. in this case, no weather. we're over water, not over a war zone. no possibility of it being shot down by anything there on the surface. so basically, you ends up at this particular

strange the possibilities. >> so what happens now as far as the investigation goes at this point. >> looking they're looking for traces of the airplane on the surface of the water in one form or another. that's number one. there's always the outside hope that maybe the airplane was ditched in an emergency and the possibility of survivors would certainly be there. you may recall it was an airbus a-320. >> u.s. airways. >> that sully sullenberger ditched in the hudson. there's always hope. stranger things have happened. at least at this point in time, the sudden cessation of a track which admittedly comes 0 from the transponder is a chilling possibility that this was catastrophic. >> our thanks to john nance there. we're going to collect other headlines after this. >> announcer: "world news now"

>> a top "uss general says isis may be changing tactics in iraq. this follows a series of bombings. joseph votto may be trying to distract iraq's leaders already facing a number of challenges. and one of the nigerian school girls kidnapped by boko haram has reportedly been reunited with her mother. the girl described by an uncle as traumatize was found wandering with her baby. more than 200 girls are still missing after being kidnapped two years ago. house republicans have pushed through a $622 million bill to battle the zika virus setting is up a showdown with the senate as well as the white house. the vote broke mostly along party lines as democrats lined up in opposition. the senate has cleared the way for a much larger funding package, just over $1 billion and the white house has threatened to vet

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so your love for dark clothes will never fade. woolite darks. ♪ back now to our continuing coverage of missing egyptair flight 804 which disappeared over the mediterranean with 66 people on board. 56 passengers and ten crew members. we are looking right now at the egyptair counter at cairo airport where the plane was heading after taking off from paris. of course, never arrived at its destination. >> so you can see from that that is at charles de gaulle. it was a relatively small operation that egyptair has out of paris. you can see the media gathering there. you can also see this scene. an all too familiar one at many airports after a disaster. those are family members of those who were on board and police there at charles d

giving them the very latest news and news that no doubt they do not want to hear at this hour that the plane has crashed. we believe that it has crashed near a greek island of carpathos. there is an all out armada searching for the plane. you see the map. >> not only are egyptian officials involved in the search, good evening officials have gone in with search and rescue teams of their own. the french prime minister is offering to send planes and boats to help search for the missing flight. the last contact with the pilots of the ship came with the flight came when the plane was at 37,000 feet. cruising speed which is raising many questions about what may have gone wrong. the flight's emergency equipment also sent a distress signal. a little later on to military personnel. they are now analyzing that signal, as well. again important to stress, it was not a distress scowl from the

it was an emergency call from the plane's equipment itself. whatever went wrong, is pilots did not have time to tell radio control what the problem was. >> you have terrorism officials all across the world paying attention to in this morning. worried about the ramifications of all of this. the u.s. embassy in cairo sent out a tweet saying it is following the developments. we should note at least from the passenger manifest that we've received there were no americans on board. there were some 15 french citizens and 30 egyptian citizens on board. >> the other point of concern that we tend to look at in these situations is the experience of the pilots. egyptair says the pilot at the helm had more than 6,000 hours of flying experience. the co-pilot nearly 3,000 hours of flight experience. analysts are ruling out inexperience as a factor in all of this. weather radar shows clear skies at this time. many more questions than answers at this time. >> and with the daylight hours which it is right now

mediterranean, they hop

breaking news this morning on "world news now." the search for a missing flight now believed to have crashed into the sea. >> the egyptair flight was headed from paris to cairo before it disappeared from the radar around 2:45 a.m. local time. the search is now on for the wreckage of that flight in the sea. the flight had 66 people on board. that's 56 passengers, seven crew members and three security officers. but investigators are still trying to figure out what caused this crash into we have full coverage on this thursday, may 19th. from abc news, this is "world news now." >> good morning on this thursday morning. i'm kendis gibson. >> and i'm diane macedo. we have breaking news for you this morning. new details about the