EgyptAir flight MS804: Pilot DELIBERATELY sent plane plummeting to put out on board flames

MORE mystery surrounded the doomed EgyptAir flight last night as aviation experts claimed the pilot DID make a distress call to traffic control.

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Initial reports claimed Mohamed Said Shoukair lost all contact before the passenger jet plunged into the sea – killing all 66 on board.

Audio released by Egyptian officials reveals the co-pilots checking in the traffic controllers in Zurich, Switzerland, as it passed over – just hours before it made its final descent into the Mediterranean sea.

Everything on-board appeared to be fine as Mr Shoukair talks down the radio "Good night," before switching off.

But Parisian officials claimed the pilot did make another distress call as the Airbus A320 plunged on Thursday morning – sparking fears of a cover up.

Officials said a "conversation several minutes long" amounted to "a distress call," the Sun reported.

Mr Shoukair is believed to have steered the plane into a rapid descent aimed at putting out a fire that had broken out onboard.

If effective, the manoeuvre can clear smoke from the cabin – and the suggestion tallies with a leaked report that claimed there may have been a fire in the flight deck.

Forensics found evidence of smoke on-board before the jet crashed – although the source is still unclear.

The deliberate nosedive may account for the plane's sharp swerves and dips as it dropped 37,000ft.

But the general consensus remains that a bomb was planted on the plane – which had visited five of the most dangerous spots in the world before making its ill-fated evening flight to Cairo.

Fears of an inside job are growing after it was revealed that more than 50 airport workers at Paris' Charles de Gualle airport who had access to aircraft were recently struck off after the shock discovery they were on the terror watch list.

And disgruntled aviation workers at Cairo airport reportedly defaced the 13-year-old plane with the chilling message "we will bring this plane down".

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