Results tagged “airfranceflight447”

According to Sky News, "Two passengers with names linked to Islamic terrorism were on board the Air France flight which crashed with the loss of 228 lives... While it is certain that there were computer malfunctions, terrorism has not been ruled out...There is a possibility the name similarities are simply a 'macabre coincidence', the source added, but the revelation is still being 'taken very seriously'." In the meantime, a French nuclear submarine has joined the search for the black boxes and the Brazilian island of Fernando de Noronha, usually a tourist destination, has been transformed into a staging ground for search-and-recovery operations.

According to French investigators, Air France Flight 447 had sent 24 error messages before disappearing over the Atlantic Ocean after departing Rio de Janeiro for Paris last Sunday. BBC News reports, "Investigators...said the plane's autopilot was not on, though they do not know if it had been switched off or was not working." Investigators also said the plane, an Airbus 330, was scheduled to have it parts of its speed sensors replaced, after Airbus had warned that there could be issues with them, but investigators also said it was "far too early to conclude" they may have been cause of the accident. The search also continues for the planes' black boxes; while ships from Brazil, France and the U.S., plus a nuclear powered sub from France, are looking for the black boxes' "pingers," which send out signals of their locations, the pingers could have been detached. Update: Brazil says two bodies were recovered where the flight is believed to have crashed.

Brazilian air force officials say that debris found in the Atlantic Ocean does not belong to Air France Flight 447, which disappeared after departing Rio de Janeiro for Paris on Sunday night. Brigadier Ramon Borges Cardoso said, "It has been verified that the material did not belong to the plane. It is a pallet of wood that is utilized for transport. It is used in planes, but on this flight to Paris, there was no wooden pallet." Additionally, the oil slick seen in the water was not from the flight either—it was larger than the amount of oil from the flight. A French official said, "The clock is ticking on finding debris before they spread out and before they sink or disappear." The cause of the plane's disappearance hasn't been determined, but Airbus warned about "malfunctioning speed indicators" yesterday. And a Spanish pilot said he saw an "intense flash of white light, which followed a descending and vertical trajectory and which broke up in six seconds."

According to the AP, Air France told relatives of Flight 447 passengers that the jetliner broke apart either in mid-air or when it hit the ocean and that "they must abandon hope that anyone survived." A service was held at Notre Dame in Paris for relatives and Air France employees; French President Nicolas Sarkozy also attended. More debris was apparently found in the Atlantic Ocean yesterday, about 55 miles from the wreckage initially spotted. The NY Times reports the search for the black boxes, which transmit beeps for about 3.1 miles, may be difficult, "The ocean is more than four miles down in some parts of the area, and, while water is an excellent transmitter of sound, the sound waves are reflected at boundary layers where the water changes temperature." The Times also refers to former former Air Force meteorologist Timothy Vasquez's Weathergraphics info at the time of the crash. Vasquez said, "I don’t see anything unusual about these storms. Planes have flown through a lot worse; I’ve seen worse squall lines in Kansas and Missouri." On the other hand, some analysts suggest the weather could have been overwhelming.

Paul-Louis Arslanian of France's accident investigation agency was "not optimistic" that the black boxes belonging to Air France Flight 447 would be recovered. Wreckage believed to be from the Paris-bound Airbus 330, which disappeared hours after taking off from Rio de Janeiro on Sunday and was carrying 228 people, was found in the Atlantic Ocean yesterday, about 410 miles from a chain of islands (map). The water in that area may be over 13,000 feet deep. Arslanian added there were no signs of plane trouble before take-off while Air France said the plane did experience heavy turbulence and its automatic message system signaled that "several pieces of aircraft equipment were at fault or had broken down." A NYC couple, Yu Lan Xu and De Qiang Chen, are grieving because their son Charles Chen, who attended Seward High and graduated from Baruch, was on the flight. Xu, who runs a dry cleaning business on the Upper East Side with her husband, thought he might have flown on Saturday, but the airline confirmed he was on the Sunday flight, "I don't want to live anymore. There is no hope. I want my son back."