French investigator says 400 pieces of Flight 447 found, no conclusions so far

September 4th, 2009 Black boxes from Yemenia Airways flight damagedPARIS — A Comoran investigator says the black boxes from a Yemenia Airways flight that crashed into the Indian Ocean in June are damaged. Mohamed Ali Abdou says investigators are still trying to recover the information held in the flight's black boxes.

August 28th, 2009 Comoros: Yemenia flight data recorder is foundMORONI, Comoros — An international team on Friday retrieved a slightly damaged flight data recorder from a Yemenia Airways flight that crashed in the Indian Ocean on June 30, killing 152 people, Comoros-based officials said. The black box was picked up underwater off the coast of the island nation's capital, Moroni, according to a statement released by the Comoros-based investigation team.

August 20th, 2009 French end search for Flight 447 black boxesPARIS — French investigators said Thursday they have abandoned a second round of search efforts for the black box flight recorders from Air France Flight 447, believed to be resting in the depths of the Atlantic. The Airbus jet crashed into the ocean June 1 en route from Rio de Janeiro to Paris, killing all 228 people aboard.

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 7th, 2009 Sarkozy: Plug air traffic gaps over AtlanticPARIS — French President Nicolas Sarkozy, denouncing "black holes" in air traffic controls, said Tuesday that officials are working out ways to avoid surveillance gaps over the Atlantic Ocean after the crash of Air France Flight 447. Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner and Cooperation Minister Alain Joyandet were heading to Dakar on Tuesday to meet with Senegalese officials and discuss how to make sure "there is no more black hole" in air traffic control, Sarkozy said.

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 4th, 2009 Yemen says plane wreckage recovered off ComorosSAN'A, Yemen — A Yemeni aviation committee says pieces of wreckage from the passenger jet that crashed off the Comoros islands have been recovered. The committee overseeing the investigation says divers brought up pieces of the Airbus 310's fuselage.

July 3rd, 2009 Brazil: Senegal took control of doomed flightBRASILIA, Brazil — Brazil's air force has released a recording it says proves it handed over control of Air France Flight 447 to Senegalese authorities before it crashed. The audio has been posted on the air force Web site after a French official said air traffic controllers in Dakar, Senegal, never officially took control of the flight.

July 3rd, 2009 PARIS - The Air France flight that crashed into the Atlantic Ocean last month, killing all 228 people on board plunged vertically from the sky so suddenly that passengers and crew on board did not even have time to inflate their life jackets. The Telegraph quoted investigators as saying that the Airbus "descended vertically" and dropped 35,000 feet in a matter of seconds, hitting the water in its exact flying position.

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.

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.

June 17th, 2009 French: 400 pieces of Air France debris foundLE BOURGET, France — Search teams have recovered more than 400 pieces of debris from Air France Flight 447 but investigators still do not know why the plane crashed into the Atlantic, the French accident chief said Wednesday. Paul-Louis Arslanian, head of the French air accident investigation agency BEA, expressed "a little more optimism" about the investigation as the discovery of so much debris has narrowed the vast search zone off the northeast coast of Brazil.

June 17th, 2009 Autopsies suggest Air France jet broke up in skySAO PAULO — Autopsies have revealed fractures in the legs, hips and arms of Air France Flight 447 victims, injuries that — along with the large pieces of wreckage pulled from the Atlantic — strongly suggest the plane broke up in the air, experts say. The president of France's Senate said Thursday he was sure that friction between experts from his country and Brazil will soon be resolved and assured victims they would be indemnified.

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 French confirm sighting of Air France plane debrisFERNANDO DE NORONHA, Brazil — French officials say debris found in the Atlantic is that of missing Air France Flight 447. French military spokesman Christophe Prazuck says French military planes surveyed the remains initially spotted by Brazilian planes, and determined that the debris "corresponds to this plane." Prazuck says it is time to move to a "naval operation" to collect the remains and then "a submarine one" to try to find the plane's black boxes.