Air France Flight 447

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Air France Flight May Join Aviation Mysteries

Crash likely to remain a puzzle as ocean currents shift debris over a vast area

(Newser) - As shifting ocean currents spread debris from Air France Flight 447 over a wider area, the chances rise that it will become one of aviation's unsolved mysteries. CNN rounds up some other biggies:
  • Amelia Earhart disappeared over the Pacific in 1937 while on a round-the-world flight.
  • Numerous aircraft have crashed
...

Airbus Sends Warning on Speed Sensors

Faulty readings may have played a role in Air France crash

(Newser) - The maker of the Air France jet that crashed in the Atlantic issued a warning to pilots on how to respond when speed sensors malfunction, buttressing a belief that faulty readings played a role in the disaster, Reuters reports. An Airbus memo also says the company is replacing all such...

Recovered Debris Not From Air France Crash

Officials say pallet found in crash zone was just 'sea trash'

(Newser) - Brazilian officials say debris they earlier believed was from Air France Flight 447 was actually just "sea trash," the BBC reports. A wooden pallet found 600 miles off Brazil's coast in the area where the jet is thought to have crashed probably came from a ship, and an...

First Debris Retrieved From Flight 447

Air France tells families no one survived the crash

(Newser) - As Brazilian crews begin retrieving the first pieces of Air France flight 447, the airline has told families that nobody survived, the AP reports. A helicopter pulled a cargo pallet and two buoys from the Atlantic, 340 miles northeast of Brazil's Fernando de Noronha islands. As theories about the crash...

Air France Jet Was Moving Too Slowly

Airbus to give thrust guidelines today

(Newser) - The crashed Air France jet was flying too slowly, insiders have told Le Monde. Airbus, which built the plane, plans to notify airlines of the right thrust levels for flights in bad weather today, the Daily Telegraph says. Whether speed could be at fault for the jet’s series of...

Intense Winds May Have Doomed Plane

(Newser) - Extremely high winds may have set off a chain reaction of mechanical problems that took down Air France Flight 447, the Wall Street Journal reports. The series of automated messages sent by the plane, typically intended to alert maintenance crews to mundane issues, reveal a cascade of failing systems—flight-control...

Jet Likely Broke Apart in Mid-Air

(Newser) - The first Brazilian navy ship arrived on the scene where Air France flight 447 is thought to have gone down, but aviation officials aren't holding out much hope of finding the black boxes, reports the BBC. "We cannot rule out that we will not find the flight recorders,"...

Searchers See More Debris From Air France Crash

Weather alone can't explain crash: aviation analyst

(Newser) - Searchers spotted more wreckage today from Air France Flight 447, which crashed into the Atlantic Ocean earlier this week with 228 people aboard. A team of international aircraft discovered four fields of metallic debris and a 12-mile fuel slick some 220 miles off the Brazilian coast, the Washington Post reports....

How to Find a Missing Plane
 How to Find a Missing Plane 
Jun 3, 2009 8:20 AM CDT

How to Find a Missing Plane

(Newser) - How will authorities go about finding Air France Flight 447? Essentially, it'll take a lot more planes, Slate explains. Most of the jet’s location gadgets, like its emergency locator transmitters, are unlikely to work underwater. The flight recorders have sonar devices attached that can transmit from 14,000 feet...

Air France Flight Held Up by Bomb Call Last Week

(Newser) - An Air France flight scheduled from Buenos Aires to Paris was delayed last week because of a phoned-in bomb threat, according to Brazilian media. Authorities searched the plane for 90 minutes before allowing it to take off. Nothing was found. The delay occurred just three days before Air France flight...

Brazil Confirms Debris Came From Fallen Jet

(Newser) - Brazil's defense chief today made the grim news official: Debris found along a 3-mile stretch of ocean belongs to the Air France jet that went down in a storm, reports the BBC. "It confirms that the plane fell in this area," said Nelson Jobim, referring to a swath...

Air France Black Box Recovery Could Take Months

Key devices could be beyond reach of deep-sea divers

(Newser) - The black boxes from the missing Air France jet are crucial to determining what brought the plane down, but locating the devices could present the most daunting challenge since the Titanic mission, Reuters reports. “You are looking for a needle in a haystack,” said one industry specialist, guessing...

Brazil Spots Aircraft Debris in Atlantic

(Newser) - Brazilian air force planes have spotted seats and other debris floating in the ocean under the path of Air France flight 447, and the military is scrambling to confirm the material is from the missing airliner, Reuters reports. "The command center needs to have at least one piece of...

Air France Tragedy Stumps Investigators

Pilot on separate flight may have seen fire in ocean

(Newser) - As French and Brazilian military aircraft continue to search the Atlantic Ocean for signs of lost Air France Flight 447, investigators are mulling a range of possible explanations—lightning, bad electronics, a pilot error, or a combination of the three. Late last night the Brazilian airline TAM said its pilots...

Only Certainty in Air France Crash: Catastrophic Failure

(Newser) - We might never know what brought down Air France Flight 447 early today, but aviation expert Miles O’Brien believes it was either an exceptionally unlikely event or a series of cascading failures, he writes for True/Slant. A lightning strike, widely reported as a factor, could only have sent the...

Sarkozy: Chance of Finding Jet Survivors 'Very Small'

(Newser) - A missing Air France jet hit thunderstorms over the Atlantic, likely crashing and killing all 228 people on board, the AP reports. Half an hour after falling out of Brazilian radio contact, the Airbus A330 "crossed through a thunderous zone with strong turbulence”; Nicolas Sarkozy told families of those...

Air France Jet Presumed Lost
 Air France Jet 
 Presumed 
 Lost  
UPDATED
Jun 1, 2009 10:20 AM CDT

Air France Jet Presumed Lost

(Newser) - The Air France flight that disappeared over the Atlantic Ocean early today after leaving Rio de Janeiro for Paris is believed to have crashed, Reuters reports. Mechanical malfunctions kept the aircraft's crew from keeping in touch with air-traffic controllers after they reported serious turbulence about 4 hours into the flight....

'No Hope' for Air France Plane
 'No Hope' for Air France Plane 
Jun 1, 2009 8:19 AM CDT

'No Hope' for Air France Plane

Lightning strike feared

(Newser) - There is "no hope" for the 228 people onboard the Air France plane that disappeared en route to Paris from Rio de Janeiro this morning, says an Air France official. An automatic message sent at 2:14am GMT reported a short circuit, which authorities believe means it was struck...

Air France Jet Missing; 228 Onboard

Was headed to Paris from Rio de Janeiro

(Newser) - An Air France plane carrying 228 people to Paris from Rio de Janeiro is missing, the BBC reports. “We are very worried,” an official told AFP. “The plane disappeared from the screens several hours ago.” He said a transponder problem is possible, but unlikely. Flight AF-447,...

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