Air France crash: ‘black box signals located’

July 30th, 2009 French begin new search for Air France black boxesPARIS — A French oceanographic survey ship has begun scanning the Atlantic Ocean floor, a new phase in the hunt for Air France Flight 447's black boxes now that they are no longer emitting signals, investigators said Thursday. The Airbus 330 crashed into the Atlantic en route from Rio de Janeiro to Paris on June 1, killing all 228 people onboard.

July 10th, 2009 Ships ending search for Air France black boxesRIO DE JANEIRO — Two ships using U.S. listening devices to search for the black boxes of Air France Flight 447 were ending their hunt Friday, an American commander said.

July 7th, 2009 Yemen: 8 bodies in Tanzania may be from air crashNAIROBI, Kenya — Eight bodies that have washed ashore in Tanzania may be from a plane that plunged into the Indian Ocean with 153 people onboard, Yemeni authorities said Tuesday. Only one 12-year-old girl survived the crash.

July 7th, 2009 Official: Comoros black boxes too deep for diversNAIROBI, Kenya — Investigators have concluded that the black boxes from a plane that plunged into the Indian Ocean with 153 people onboard are too deep to be reached by divers, a French official said Tuesday. Yemenia Airways Flight 626 crashed into the Indian Ocean north of the Comoros Islands a week ago.

July 5th, 2009 LONDON - Experts have rejected the earlier investigation report of the Air France jet that crashed into the Atlantic, by saying that many of the 228 people on board could have been alive when an intact AF447 hit the water. Two separate trails of bodies and debris more than 50 miles apart suggested a high-altitude break-up of the Rio-to-Paris flight on June 1, in which passengers would have died instantly.

July 4th, 2009 Correction: France-Crash Investigation storyLE BOURGET, France — In a July 2 story about the probe into the crash of Air France flight 447, The Associated Press erroneously quoted Charles-Henri Tardivat, a lawyer for the victims' families, as saying the phase of grief had passed. Tardivat said families "started concentrating on their families, their grief, and how to be able to put a close on at least that part of their life" once they realized how little was available from the investigation.

July 2nd, 2009 French investigators release report on Flight 447LE BOURGET, France — French investigators on Thursday will present their initial findings into what caused Air France Flight 447 to drop out of the sky in the middle of the Atlantic a month ago, prompting one of history's most challenging plane crash investigations. The Airbus A330-200 plane flying from Rio de Janeiro to Paris went down with 228 people on board in a remote area of the Atlantic, 930 miles (1,500 kilometers) off Brazil's mainland and far from radar coverage.

July 2nd, 2009 PARIS - The Air France Airbus A330-200 that crashed into the Atlantic one month ago was not destroyed in flight, an official with the French Office of Accident Investigation (BEA) said Thursday at Le Bourget airport near Paris. Alain Bouillard, who is in charge of the investigation, said an analysis of the fragments of the plane that have been recovered suggests that "the plane seems to have hit the surface of the water in the line of flight with a strong vertical acceleration".

June 30th, 2009 Flight 447 black box search goes on past deadlinePARIS — French investigators say the search for the black boxes of Flight 447 is continuing although they are no longer certain to emit signals. The flight's voice and data recorders are guaranteed to emit signals for 30 days after an accident.

June 27th, 2009 Search ends for bodies from Air France crashSAO PAULO — Brazil has ended the search for more bodies from the Air France jet that crashed into the Atlantic Ocean last month, calling the task "impossible," but the search for the jet's flight recorders will go on. Brazilian and French searchers have recovered large chunks of debris and 51 bodies from Air France Flight 447, which disappeared with 228 people on board late May 31.

June 25th, 2009 Air France: Flight 447 pilot's body retrievedPARIS — Search crews in the mid-Atlantic have retrieved the bodies of the chief pilot of Flight 447 and a flight attendant, Air France said Thursday. The two are among 50 bodies pulled out of the ocean in the international search for remains of the 228 victims and wreckage of the May 31 crash.

June 23rd, 2009 Report: Signals heard from Flight 447 black boxesPARIS — The French newspaper Le Monde reported Tuesday that French military ships have detected a signal from the black boxes of Flight 447 in the Atlantic depths. The report says a mini research submarine, the Nautile, dived Monday to search for the boxes based on a "very weak signal" from the flight recorders picked up by the French ships.

June 23rd, 2009 Official: No black box signals from Flight 447 PARIS — A French official says sounds detected by search teams in the Atlantic depths are not those of Flight 447's black boxes. The aide to France's top transport official, Jean-Louis Borloo, says the "black boxes have not been detected." The aide spoke on condition of anonymity because she was not authorized to be publicly named.

June 23rd, 2009 MOSCOW - Signals from the flight data recorders of the Air France jet that crashed into the Atlantic killing all 228 people on board have been located, a media report said Tuesday. The Le Monde newspaper said French naval vessels had picked up a weak signal from the flight recorders at the site of the June 1 crash.

June 22nd, 2009 SAO PAOLO - Brazilian authorities have identified 11 victims, three weeks after an Air France jet carrying 228 people crashed on its way to France, a news report said. The forensics department in the port town Recife identified 10 Brazilians, among them five women, and one foreigner, whose bodies were among the 50 recovered after the Airbus A330 crashed June 1 off Brazil's coast.