Posted on 06/03/2009 7:34:01 AM PDT by Clive
PARIS -- Brazilian and French navy vessels rushed on Wednesday to reach wreckage of an Air France flight that plunged into the Atlantic, but investigators warned the truth behind France's worst air disaster may never fully emerge.
The doomed Airbus was carrying 228 passengers and crew en route from Rio de Janeiro to Paris when it crashed into the ocean early on Monday after the pilot reported heavy turbulence.
Debris was sighted by a spotter plane more than 24 hours later about 745 miles (1,200 km) northeast of the Brazilian coastal city of Recife, and the Brazil navy has dispatched four navy ships with recovery equipment to the area.
France prepared to send a boat with an unmanned submarine aboard that can explore as deeply as 6,000 metres (19,680 ft) and will try to locate the Airbus's black boxes, which could shed light on the mysterious disaster.
Paul Louis Arslanian, the head of France's air accident investigation agency, said he was not totally optimistic that the black boxes would ever be recovered and said the probe might not reveal all the reasons behind the crash.
"I cannot rule out the possibility that we might end up with a finding that is relatively unsatisfactory in terms of certainty," Mr. Arslanian told reporters.
"But we will do our best to limit the uncertainty," he said.
A first report will be ready by the end of the month, with the investigation led by Alain Bouillard, who took charge of the probe into the crash of an Air France Concorde in 2000.
(Excerpt) Read more at nationalpost.com ...
Yup.
I fit was a bomb, they probably wouldn’t have had time to send a distress signal.
Thanks.
I don’t know about US Government spy satellites looking down on the surface of the earth might see but I suspect most everything that goes on is recorded for military defense. There is radar that also looks for unknown aircraft as part of defense.
Anybody know about what the Department of Defense, Air Force and other groups might know?
The site search is rather simple for an old oceanographer. Tow 250KC side looking sonar in a search pattern until the major aircraft parts are found. Then launch a submersible with a reticulated arm and pick up what is required (small pieces) and to take close up pics of interesting items. Buoy the site and determine the GPS positions. Then hire a ship with heavy lift capabilities and get to work.
I doubt if they will find any bodies.
“Maybe, but I dont think so.
Typically, that only happens when the jet was previously damaged and not repaired properly.”
Wrong. Airlines streer clear of thunderstorms because of the violent winds that exceed the aircraft’s structural limits. Where did you get the idea that “...only happens when the jet was previously damaged and not repaired properly”?
Agreed but so do terroists bombs. We discount things at our peril
Obviously a lightning strike ...../sarc
“Anybody know about what the Department of Defense, Air Force and other groups might know?”
Well, they don’t record everything as they don’t see everything. They can see what they want to for the most part, but global coverage 24x7 isn’t a reality.
There most likely would not have been any sensors looking in that area specific enough to see an aircraft break apart and crash. There are, however, sensors capable of looking for the wreackage now that the DoD knows there is a plane down in the area.
Being a military pilot for 20 years.
The storm was ugly but not that bad.
Articulated = having a joint or joints; jointed: an articulated appendage.
They have thirty days before the "Black Boxes" stop pinging, they'd better get a move on!
Regards,
GtG
PS I know you knew that but I just couldn't help myself.
The storm was ugly but not that bad.
I'll bet you never flew a "fly-by-wire" aircraft that was glued together from composites either. (They just don't build'em like they used too!)
Regards,
GtG
I don't fly commercial as much as I used to but I'd never get on an "AirBus".
“that was glued together from composites either”
Some were, at least partially. Far too much duct tape.
This is the quote from an avherald.com article about the faults yesterday:
“New information provided by sources within Air France suggests, that the ACARS messages of system failures started to arrive at 02:10Z indicating, that the autopilot had disengaged and the fly by wire system had changed to alternate law. Between 02:11Z and 02:13Z a flurry of messages regarding ADIRU and ISIS faults arrived, at 02:13Z PRIM 1 and SEC 1 faults were indicated, at 02:14Z the last message received was an advisory regarding cabin vertical speed. That sequence of messages could not be independently verified.”
Your sequence sounds very plausible; some initiating event (structural failure, fire, bomb, mass electrical problem, whatever) causes the autopilot to disconnect and the flight computers to go haywire, and things spiral (perhaps literally) from there.
}:-)4
“The storm was ugly but not that bad.”
Did you check the weather observations on that storm. We did. It was very ugly and the size of Florida.
“Being a military pilot for 20 years.”
I don’t know of a single military aircraft rated for thunderstorms. Which ones have you flown through a thunderstorm?
“I dont know of a single military aircraft rated for thunderstorms.”
Then you haven’t looked
“Which ones have you flown through a thunderstorm?”
A Soufa (and you might want to look up what that name means in Hebrew).
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