No Hope For 228 Passengers And Crew Feared Dead In Air France Catastrophe

London Times ^ | June 01st 2009

[Steelfish]

June 1, 2009

No hope for 228 passengers and crew feared dead in Air France catastrophe

Philippe Naughton and Charles Bremner in Paris

All 228 people on board an Air France jet are feared to have been killed after the packed aircraft went missing over the Atlantic Ocean.

The flight from Brazil was probably brought down by a lightning strike after hitting a fierce storm, the airline said today, as it faced up to the worst disaster in its history.

Flight AF447, which had 228 people on board, took off from Rio de Janeiro at 7.03pm local time yesterday bound for Charles de Gaulle airport in Paris, where it was due at 11.15am today (9.15GMT).

Air traffic controllers had their last contact with the aircraft about four hours into the flight, when the pilot said that he had hit severe turbulence.

15 minutes later, seven hours before it was due in Paris, the aircraft's systems sent automatic error messages reporting multiple electrical faults and, according to a statement from the Brazilian air force, lost cabin pressure.

[Blood of Tyrants]

Lost?

[Perdogg]

Orações

[HereInTheHeartland]

“multiple electrical faults and, according to a statement from the Brazilian air force, lost cabin pressure.”

Obviously no hope then, sounds like a breakup.
I had a slim hope that possibly there could be people in life rafts after a successful water landing.

[silverleaf]

Wow, they don’t even need an accident investigation
They already know the whole story

How many airliners have been brought down by lightning vs terrorists?

(the bit about a high ranking al Qaeda operative being arrested in Brazil last week-—only a coincidence)

[ASOC]

The authorities will still do a fly over, just in case.

Wouldn’t that be a miracle?

[Oldexpat]

Up until I retired, I put on many many miles in the tropics and hit a lot of storms, but had confidence in those Boeing’s. When the fly by wire plastic Airbus hit the scene, I never felt comfortable in one of them. In the smaller planes the hydraulics sound like they are going to fail any second and the gear noises really shake the lighter planes. Having flown thru electrical storms near typhoons with static discharges flickering out on those wings..I wonder how they handle that in a composite construction. Boeing is going that way with the Dreamliner, but I still prefer flying a 747..or 777.
There is nothing like riding business class upstairs in the 747..better than first class up front.

[DieHard the Hunter]

How do they know it wasn’t a jolly terrorist attack? Lightning doesn’t sound at all likely or convincing. Terrorism, on the other hand...

[HereInTheHeartland]

“The authorities will still do a fly over, just in case.
Wouldn’t that be a miracle? “

I'm sure they will try to recover anything floating at least.
Maybe black boxes if the technology (underwater recovery) somehow would allow?

[scooter2]

This is the same aircraft that Nothrup-Grumman and EADS wanted us to buy as a new refueling tanker?

[Jeff Chandler]

The black box will be at the bottom of the sea.

Which "black box"?

[Jeff Chandler]

Maybe black boxes

Thank you.

[Chi-townChief]

Bermuda Triangle???

[diamond6]

This makes me want to cry, what a terrifying thing to go through, especially for the little children.

Prayers!!

[rightwingextremist1776]

Well...I doubt the lightning BS...When I was flying in KC-130s in the Marines we were struck twice....the second one put a hole in the radome the size of a fist....but I’m still here to talk about it. No, something other then a lightning strike brought this aircraft down.

[Robe]

I am retired box hauler...many many miles in Convair 880’s,DC-8 Heavy's, DC-10’s and 747’s. By far the 747 was pussycat to fly, it would shake rattle and roll in heavy turbulence but never once did I fear a in flight breakup.
You haven't lived if you haven't seen a 747 completely covered with St Elmo's fire.

[pepperdog]

They are gone. Prayers for the families.

[Gatún(CraigIsaMangoTreeLawyer)]

I suppose.

[Just another Joe]

The flight from Brazil was probably brought down by a lightning strike after hitting a fierce storm

Ah yes, lightning strike - act of G*d - no insurance payouts - high fives all around

I know I'm being cynical but that is how I see it going at Air France and the insurance companies.

[Wally_Kalbacken]

It's not often that I recommend something from Vanity Fair - but every once in a while they have some great stuff - and on flying, I have found William Langwiesche's writing to be about as good as it gets. He wrote in depth about the collision between a 737 and an Embraer Legacy 600 corporate jet that was on a shakedown flight prior to delivery in the U.S. It's a fascinating story, very depressing when you think of the sheer improbability of the accident. Does not reflect well on the Brazilian air traffic system - which is a branch of the military there.

http://www.vanityfair.com/magazine/2009/01/air_crash200901