282 passengers on flight from Paris to Shanghai diverted to Siberia - stuck there since Sunday!

Just an immense screw up or is this there more to this?

While Trump was in Paris and got the thumbs up from Putin a flight from Paris to Shanghai with 282 passengers on board got diverted to Irkutsk in Siberia (Russia). Incredibly the passengers are still stuck there. What is going on?

The passengers of the Air France Paris-Shanghai flight, which had to land urgently Sunday in Irkutsk, Siberia, are still stranded on site.

This is all google translated from french as I can't find any updates to this story in english.

The tribulations of Flight AF 116 began on Sunday afternoon (local time), when the captain decided on an emergency landing after detecting a pungent smell and a light smoke on board a few hours before arriving at his destination. . Technical failure and safety precaution. Do not panic ! Air France plans a new takeoff on Monday morning aboard a Boeing 777-300 ER dispatched urgently from Paris .But, in the morning, unpleasant surprise, the flight is postponed until the evening to allow the crews to rest, according to the rules of the airline. 

They finally board in the middle of the night, under police escort, believing themselves out of the woods.

problem of "hydraulic pressure" is detected. Is it due to frost? the question remains unanswered. After a long white night on the tarmac, the captain must admit defeat and evacuate the aircraft, triggering the anger of a passenger, who takes to the crew. The pilot blames the Russian authorities for refusing the arrival of a rescue plane from neighboring China. Only possible option: a third Boeing must be sent from Paris to the rescue on the small Russian airfield.

On Tuesday, the passengers received by e-mail a new flight plan announcing a take-off Wednesday morning at 7:50 am on flight AF 4192 and an arrival in Shanghai at midday, with a third crew.

Article in french: Les naufragés du vol AF 116 Paris-Shanghai

Timing is everything, bad things happen for a good reason. Too cold, too hot, too little rest

a reply to: MindBodySpiritComplex

Planes break. It happens. There's an American Airlines returning to Philadelphia right now because it broke after takeoff.

a reply to: Zaphod58

They sent a plane there, wich also had problems. Now they need a third plane.

Is that also in the norm?

a reply to: Zaphod58

1) Smoke in cabin (reason for landing in Irkutsk)
2) 1st rescue fail - crew needs to rest ( like they didn't know that when they announced the time for it)
3) 2nd rescue fail - hydraulic pressure fail
4) 3rd rescue fail - Russia refuses "arrival" of plane from China
5)4th rescue attempt - scheduled for tomorrow morning - success tbd

a reply to: MindBodySpiritComplex

Smoke in the cabin is not unheard of.
Crew wound up not getting into crew rest on schedule.
Replacement aircraft have broken before and will break again in the future. They're no different from any other flight.
Again, has happened before. It's up to the government in charge to make the call. They may have required more time to clear paperwork on the aircraft coming in than they were given.

a reply to: samuelsson

It's not unheard of. What's the difference between that flight and any other?

Just a few of the smoke events that have happened in the last year or so.

www.militarytimes.com...

www.theportugalnews.com...

www.usatoday.com...

www.washingtonpost.com...< br />
www.inc.com...

www.scmp.com...

AF is having a tough week.

A380 out of LAX for Paris had to divert to DEN also. Not a mechanical though, but rather a medical.

a reply to: Zaphod58

Which is exactly why it is such a fantastic... wait for it... SMOKESCREEN.

I have a different explanation that I am exactly 11.11 percent serious about:

a reply to: MindBodySpiritComplex

Oh right, I keep forgetting that the logical explanations aren't acceptable. Terribly sorry about that.

a reply to: Zaphod58

Here is a bit more information from a different article:

Here, the Russian authorities forbid us to take an internal flight. No solution was found between AF and the authorities to leave with a partner flight.

"We are going back to the hotel, our passports are confiscated at customs, same process as 48 hours ago",

link (french)

a reply to: MindBodySpiritComplex

It was an unscheduled flight. It takes hours to clear a plane for overflight. Flights have been denied before because of paperwork. Not even close to proof they were after someone on the plane.

To Siberia, though?

That seems a bit out of the way for a diversion...?

I mean, Singapore is waaaay down there, or over there if you prefer the flat earth model, and Irkutsk is waaaaay up there, or yonder thataway in the aforementioned flat earth scenario...

I'm guessing there's a good reason for it, but it seems a bit strange.

a reply to: seagull

The flight was out of Paris, bound for Shanghai. Siberia is more or less in line.

a reply to: Zaphod58

Well i have heard about planes malfunctioning, its just weird that 2 planes brake downd a third one on the way?

Is it standard procedure to take away passports from passangers while things like these happens?

a reply to: samuelsson

It's unusual but not unheard of.

Yes. They're unscheduled passengers that don't have Visas to be in country.

Looks to be just some unfortunate bad luck. However, I'm curious of passenger list names and once they get a functional plane to their destination will all 282 debark.

www.aviation24.be...

a reply to: seagull
Flight routings seldom take a straight line. On a flight from Tokyo back to London we went up over the Sea of Japan, followed by hours of endless snowy wasteland - Siberia - then down the coast of Norway, across Poland, along the coast of Germany then down the North Sea back to dear old Blighty..
Having a good window seat made it an interesting flight, albeit a looooong one.

a reply to: Britguy

Great circle routes I think they're called...I always forget about those when looking at my flat earth map...