Air France A332 Missing over Atlantic

[Zulfiqar]

Source BBC
Brazilian aircraft searching for an Air France jet which went missing with 228 people aboard in an Atlantic storm have spotted debris on the ocean.

Plane seats and other items were sighted 650km (400 miles) north-east of Brazil's Fernando do Noronha island, the Brazilian air force said.

It could not be immediately confirmed that the debris came from the Airbus.

[AP-BGL]

Just saw on Geo news, the wreckage of the ill-fated Airbus has been found in the atlantic ocean. No details were there as this was the headline only.
Thats really sad

[raihans]

this is really a sad news in history of Airbus and Air France. And i think its the major loss after the Air France Concorde

condolence to those friends and families who lost their loved ones

[AP-BGL]

Air France also had another accident with its A343 at Toronto when their aircraft over shot the runway and burst into flames, luckily everyone survived.

[loveinlife]

They spotted some debris on the ocean but can't confirm it belong to AF447 till tommarow when one of ship reach the point and confirm that.

I heared that A330-200 had system fitted in plane which sent automated message containing location via satellite if come down in water, How come they don't have location by that system

[loveinlife]

As per BBC :-

1. 2200 GMT, 31 May: AF 447 leaves Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, bound for Paris
2. 0133 GMT, 1 June: Last radio contact with AF 447
3. 0148 GMT: Plane leaves radar surveillance zone off islands of Fernando de Noronha and enters band of stormy weather
4. 0214 GMT: Series of automated messages sent from AF 447 indicating electrical fault
5. 0220 GMT: AF 477 due to arrive in Senegal airspace but no contact received


is every flight not fly with in radar coverage all the time?

[masmoon]

Relatives and friends of Air France passengers await news about the missing plane in Rio de Janeiro. (June 1, 2009) Print

Fears were confirmed yesterday for family members of the lone Canadian aboard the Air France plane that disappeared over the Atlantic Ocean.Wind and hail from towering thunderheads, lightning, or a catastrophic combination of factors could have brought jet down

Jun 02, 2009 10:52 AM
Comments on this story (10)
MARCO SIBAJA
The Associated Press

BRASILIA, BRAZIL – Brazilian military pilots spotted an airplane seat, a life jacket, metallic debris and signs of fuel in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean on Tuesday as they hunted for a missing Air France passenger jet that carried 228 people. They found no signs of life.

The pilots spotted two areas of floating debris about 60 kilometres apart, about 650 kilometres beyond the Brazilian island of Fernando de Noronha, roughly along Flight 447's path from Rio de Janeiro to Paris, said Air Force spokesman Jorge Amaral.

"The locations where the objects were found are toward the right of the point where the last signal of the plane was emitted," Amaral said. "That suggests that it might have tried to make a turn, maybe to return to Fernando de Noronha, but that is just a hypothesis."

Amaral said authorities would not be able to confirm that the debris is from the plane until they can retrieve some of it from the ocean for identification. Brazilian military ships are not expected to arrive at the area until Wednesday.

The discovery came more than 24 hours after the jet went missing, with all feared dead.

Rescuers were still scanning a vast sweep of ocean extending from far off northeastern Brazil to waters off West Africa. The 4-year-old plane was last heard from at 10:14 p.m. (EDT) Sunday. If no survivors are found, it would be the world's worst aviation disaster since 2001.

[raihans]

Ocean search finds plane debris

Debris spotted by planes 650km (400 miles) off Brazil's coast belongs to a missing French airliner, Brazilian and French officials have confirmed.

Read more at http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/8080290.stm

Air France also had another accident with its A343 at Toronto when their aircraft over shot the runway and burst into flames, luckily everyone survived.

I mentioned it as the highest number of human life loss after the Air France Concorde crash and regarding the passengers of A343, they all survived luckily.

[AP-BGL]

Air France also had another accident with its A343 at Toronto when their aircraft over shot the runway and burst into flames, luckily everyone survived.

I mentioned it as the highest number of human life loss after the Air France Concorde crash and regarding the passengers of A343, they all survived luckily.

Raihans, I was talking about their accidents ratio in past few years. What I've observed is Air France accidents ratio is more than any renowned airline if you look at the record for past few years.

[PK777]

Its not going smoothly for AF ever since the concorde.. their brand upgrade is going to take a hit!

[AP-BGL]

AF 447 has now been declared as Crashed

Brazil -- The Air Force Airbus A330 flight (flight no AF447) that went missing last Sunday night has now been declared as crashed in the Atlantic Ocean. Earlier Brazilian airforce planes had found life jacket, seats, etc. but now they have found two more important things - 23 Foot piece of the airplane and a 12 mile oil slick.


Brazilian Defense Minister Nelson Jobim confirmed Tuesday that a 3-mile swath of wreckage, found more than 300 miles off the South American coast by military planes, came from the doomed flight. The Airbus 330-200 disappeared Sunday night in a lightning storm while cruising at 35,000 feet, carrying 228 people from Rio de Janeiro to Paris.

The crew never sent a mayday message, and automated transmissions from the cockpit suggest loss of cabin pressure and electrical failure. Jobim said the hunt for the plane's so-called "black box" voice and flight data recorders will be extremely difficult considering the wide area of the search and the ocean's depth.

"It's going to be very hard to search" because the toaster-size black boxes are under up to 2 miles of water, Jobim said.

Search crews headed to the area with some of the most advanced military and commercial technology. A sonar- and radar-equipped U.S. Navy plane arrived in Brazil on Tuesday morning with 21 crewmembers to run low-altitude search flights over the ocean. A French ship headed to the site with unmanned submersibles capable of exploring depths of up to 19,600 feet.

Source: www.usatoday.com

[raihans]

question arises that why the crew did not reverted back or even diverted to different path to avoid this thunder storm which was clearly visible through their weather radar?

can any aviation expert or pilot answer this?

[ahmedshaikhani]

Were the crew was not informed about the weather before takeoff ? If they know then why they didn't use any other way to go ?

[AirBlue]

question arises that why the crew did not reverted back or even diverted to different path to avoid this thunder storm which was clearly visible through their weather radar?

can any aviation expert or pilot answer this?

Thunderstorm clouds don't reach higher that 30,000 feet. And lightning usually strikes downwards - but in this case, there was a massive metal element close to it and the ocean under it - hence causing an arc flash - which basically is electricity jumping towards an already electrically charged body; whether it is static or kinetic.

So I think this was either a freak accident; or the airplanes wing/tail got hit by lightning.

[pakistan712]

question arises that why the crew did not reverted back or even diverted to different path to avoid this thunder storm which was clearly visible through their weather radar?

can any aviation expert or pilot answer this?

Thunderstorm clouds don't reach higher that 30,000 feet. And lightning usually strikes downwards - but in this case, there was a massive metal element close to it and the ocean under it - hence causing an arc flash - which basically is electricity jumping towards an already electrically charged body; whether it is static or kinetic.

So I think this was either a freak accident; or the airplanes wing/tail got hit by lightning.

actually thunderstorms clouds reach as high as 50,000ft