French family sues Air France over plane crash investigation

July 18th, 2009 Co-pilot's mom sues in LA over fatal SC jet crashLOS ANGELES — The mother of a co-pilot killed in a plane crash that seriously injured former Blink-182 drummer Travis Barker and DJ AM has sued the plane's manufacturer, operators and tiremaker. Suellen Lemmon of Washington state sued Bombardier Inc., Learjet Inc., Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co.

July 9th, 2009 Remains of Flight 447 en route to France for probePARIS — More than 600 pieces of Air France Flight 447 are being sent from Brazil to France by ship to be studied further for clues into the June 1 crash, Airbus said Thursday. The disaster overshadowed a meeting of Air France-KLM shareholders on Thursday, with pilots saying the company didn't do enough to prevent the plane from crashing into the Atlantic Ocean.

July 7th, 2009 Divers, investigators in Comoros search for planeNAIROBI, Kenya — A Comoran official says little debris and no bodies from the crashed Yemenia Airways plane have been found, but predicts that will change once the exact location of the plane's black boxes are pinpointed. One 12-year-old girl survived by clinging to floating debris for up to 13 hours after the June 30 plane crash, but 152 other passengers and crew are still missing from Flight 626.

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 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 Plane with Comoros crash survivor arrives in ParisLE BOURGET, France — A young girl believed to be the only survivor of an Indian Ocean plane crash flew back to Paris from the Comoros Islands on Thursday to the waiting arms of her father and siblings. Bahia Bakari, 14, was brought back to France on the plane carrying a government minister and other French officials.

July 2nd, 2009 French: Air France Flight 447 fell intact into seaLE BOURGET, France — A French investigator says Air France Flight 447 did not break up in flight but plunged vertically into the Atlantic Ocean. Alain Bouillard, leading the investigation into the June 1 crash for the French accident investigation agency BEA, also says life vests found among the wreckage of the plane were not inflated.

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".

July 2nd, 2009 French say sensors not cause of Flight 447 crashLE BOURGET, France — A French investigator says speed sensors were a factor but were not the cause of the crash of Air France flight 447. Alain Bouillard, leading the investigation into the June 1 crash for the French accident investigation agency BEA, says the sensors, called Pitot tubes, were not the only factor.

June 7th, 2009 Obama pledges support on Air France probeCAEN, France — President Barack Obama says the United States has authorized all of the government's resources to investigate an Air France plane that disappeared off the coast of South America. Obama told French President Nicholas Sarkozy on Saturday that Americans offer their thoughts and their prayers to the French, particularly those who lost family members in the suspected crash.

June 7th, 2009 SAN PAULO - The bodies of two men from the Air France plane that crashed in the Atlantic Ocean off Brazil have been found by search teams. "We confirm the recovery from the water of debris and bodies from the Air France plane," Sky News quoted Brazilian air force spokesman Colonel Jorge Amaral, as saying.

June 4th, 2009 French say Air France plane speed not knownPARIS — The French agency investigating the crash of the Air France jet over the Atlantic says automatic messages received from the plane have failed to show exactly how fast the aircraft was flying. The Accident Investigation Agency says only two findings have been established.

June 3rd, 2009 French uncertain whether chief pilot at controlsPARIS — A French accident investigator says it is unclear whether the chief pilot of Air France Flight 447 was at the controls when the plane crashed into the Atlantic Ocean. The head of France's accident investigation agency, Paul-Louis Arslanian, also says he is "not optimistic" that rescuers will recover the plane's black boxes miles (kilometers) under the water.

June 3rd, 2009 Organization of the Air France crash probeThe French accident investigation agency, known by its French acronym BEA, is in charge of the inquiry into what happened to Air France Flight 447, which crashed with 228 aboard en route from Rio to Paris. The man in charge of the investigation, Alain Bouillard, led the probe into the 2000 crash of the Concorde supersonic jet.

June 3rd, 2009 French: No sign of problem with Air France jetPARIS — A French accident investigator said Wednesday there were no signs of problems with Air France Flight 447 before takeoff and it was unclear whether the chief pilot was at the controls when the plane plunged into the Atlantic Ocean. The head of France's accident investigation agency, Paul-Louis Arslanian, also said he was "not optimistic" that rescuers will recover the plane's black boxes, believed to be on rugged terrain miles (kilometers) under the sea.