(CNN) —
Once again, the world is transfixed by an aviation disaster, after a Cairo-bound EgyptAir flight carrying 66 people disappeared over the Mediterranean early Thursday.
Right now, there are more questions than answers to what happened to Flight 804 after it took off from Paris’ Charles de Gaulle airport on Wednesday night.
Here are the top questions about the disaster that were searched for in Google – and the best answers we have at this early stage in the investigation.
The disappearance of EgyptAir Flight 804: Live updates
The flag carrier for Egypt has a checkered safety record, having been the victim of no fewer than eight hijackings, according to the Aviation Safety Network’s safety database.
The most recent occurred just two months ago, when a man took an EgyptAir A320-232 hostage with a fake explosive belt, forcing the plane to divert to Cyprus.
The man was motivated by personal, rather than political, issues. He wanted to be reunited with his ex-wife, a Cypriot.
There were no victims of that incident, but a hijacking in November 1985 resulted in 50 passengers losing their lives.
Gunmen said to have links to the Abu Nidal Organization, a Palestinian terror group, diverted the plane after takeoff from Athens. It landed in Malta, where a raid by Egyptian commandos resulted in the deaths of 50 passengers and six hijackers.
In 1999, an EgyptAir pilot flying a Los Angeles-to-Cairo route crashed the plane deliberately into the Atlantic Ocean, killing all 217 people on board.
Reports that the plane’s wreckage had been found proved to be false.
An airline official told CNN earlier Thursday that wreckage was found in the Mediterranean Sea. But searchers determined it did not come from the plane.
01:09 - Source: CNN
EgyptAir Flight 804's final moments in 1 minute
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Courtesy GEWI Fotografie
An aviation photographer took this photo of the missing EgyptAir A320 jet on June 11, 2015.
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A relative of a passenger who was flying aboard an EgyptAir plane that vanished from radar in route from Paris to Cairo overnight cries as family members are transported by bus to a gathering point at Cairo airport on May 19.
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This August 2015 photo shows EgyptAir Airbus A320 with the registration SU-GCC taking off from Vienna International Airport in Austria.
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The EgyptAir Airbus A320 registered as SU-GCC is seen here on June 11, 2015.
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The Paris-to Cairo-flight was at 37,000 feet when it lost contact overnight above the Mediterranean, shortly before the aircraft was scheduled to exit Greek airspace and enter Egyptian airspace.
