-- Greek controllers tried to reach EgyptAir Flight 804 about 10 miles before it left the country's airspace and for about 90 seconds after and received no response, the head of the Hellenic Civil Aviation Authority told Greek broadcaster ANT1 TV.
At 2:27 a.m., shortly before the aircraft was scheduled to exit Greek airspace, controllers tried to reach the pilots to transfer control to Cairo authorities. Despite repeated attempts, they received no response, the Hellenic Civil Aviation Authority said.
Radar soon lost the plane's signal, just after it entered Egyptian airspace, the authority said.
At some point before dropping off radar, the plane swerved 90 degrees to the left, and then made a 360-degree turn to the right before plunging first to 15,000 feet, then 10,000 feet, Kammenos, the Greek defense minister, told reporters.
Weather conditions were clear at the time, CNN meteorologist Pedram Javaheri said.
More about the flight
The flight left Charles de Gaulle Airport in Paris at 11:09 p.m. Wednesday for what should have been about a 3½-hour flight.
The passengers were predominantly Egyptian -- 30 in all -- but also aboard were 15 French citizens, including an infant; two Iraqis; and one from each of the following: Britain, Belgium, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Chad, Portugal, Algeria and Canada, according to Fathi, the Egyptian aviation minister.
The government of Canada said two of its citizens were on the plane. The reason for the discrepancy wasn't clear.
Australian Foreign Minister Julie Bishop said the British passenger also was an Australian citizen. It is unclear whether any other passengers were dual citizens.
The Airbus A320 had routine maintenance checks in Cairo before it left for Paris, an airline official said. Earlier Wednesday, the jet was also in Eritrea and Tunisia, data from flight tracking websites show.
There was no special cargo on the flight and no notification of any dangerous goods aboard, according to Adel of EgyptAir.
The plane has been part of EgyptAir's fleet since November 2003, according to Adel. It had about 48,000 flight hours. The plane's captain had about 6,000 flying hours, he said.
A distress signal was detected at 4:26 a.m. -- about two hours after the jet vanished -- in the general vicinity where it disappeared, Adel said. He said the distress signal could have come from another vessel in the Mediterranean. Egyptian armed forces said they had not received a distress call.
