THE PLANE CRASH – AT 11:41 A.M. ET:  The case of the Russian airliner that crashed in the Sinai desert with the loss of 224 souls gets curioser and curioser. 

The Russians now say that the fuselage of the plane disintegrated in the air, scattering debris over a very wide area.  The Russians also say that the air crew sent out distress signals before the plane broke up.

Wrong, say the Egyptians, on whose territory the plane crashed.  There is no record of any distress calls.  The plane simply disappeared from radar.  From CNN:

Russian media outlets said that the pilot reported technical problems and requested a landing at the nearest airport before the plane went missing, but Egyptian authorities disputed that claim.

Air traffic control recordings don't show any distress calls, Egyptian Civil Aviation Minister Hossam Kamel said at a news conference.

"There was nothing abnormal before the plane crash," he said. "It suddenly disappeared from the radar."

CNN aviation correspondent Richard Quest said it was "unusual" for an aircraft to go down after around 20 minutes in the sky.

"At this point, a plane is on autopilot. It's reaching its initial cruising altitude, and there is little that can or should go wrong," he wrote in an analysis.

COMMENT:  ISIS claims that it brought the plane down with a missile.  That claim has been widely discounted.  The shoulder-launched missiles used by ISIS only reach 14,000 feet, and the plane was at 30,000 feet when it disappeared from radar.  Anti-aircraft missiles that can reach 30,000 feet require an extensive ground installation, something ISIS doesn't have in the Sinai area.

However, that doesn't rule out the possibility of a bomb on board. 

We may never know the answer.  Neither Russia nor Egypt are dependable sources for crash information.  They will report what is good for their side.

November 1,  2015