French investigators release report on Flight 447
LE 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.
A burst of automated messages emitted by the plane before it fell gave rescuers only a vague location to begin their search, which has failed to locate the plane’s black boxes. The chances of finding the flight recorders are falling as the signals they emit fade. Without them, the full causes of the tragic accident may never be known.
The French air accident investigation agency, the BEA, will present its preliminary report to journalists at its headquarters in Le Bourget, outside Paris.
Families of the victims are meeting with BEA and Air France officials at the French Transport Ministry just beforehand, according to Christophe Guillot-Noel, head of an association for victims of Air France Flight 447.
“The families are hoping to have all the facts, above all to be able to avoid this eventually happening again,” he said.
“We have just one demand: transparency. We have just one expectation: the truth,” he said.
Lacking the crucial evidence the black boxes contain, the BEA’s initial findings will be based on the automated messages sent by the plane minutes before it lost contact, and clues from the wreckage and the remains of 51 people that have been recovered by investigators.
One of the automatic messages emitted by the Air France plane indicates it was receiving incorrect speed information from external monitoring instruments, which could destabilize the plane’s control systems. Experts have suggested those external instruments might have iced over. Air France has now replaced the monitors, called Pitot tubes, on all its Airbus A330 and A340 aircraft.
Emergency beacons attached to cockpit voice and data recorders are built to emit strong “pings” for 30 days after a crash before fading away, though experts said they could continue for as long as 45 days.
The search for the Flight 447 black boxes is continuing even though the 30-day mark has past and there is no certainty they are still emitting signals. Brazil has ended the search for more bodies.
The black boxes — which are in reality bright orange — are resting somewhere on an underwater mountain range filled with crevasses and rough, uneven terrain.
The remote location, combined with the mystery of what happened to the plane — the pilots had either no time or no radio frequency to make a mayday call — makes the inquiry exceptionally challenging.
The families’ association addressed a letter to the CEO of Air France, Pierre-Henri Gourgeon, demanding answers to several questions about the plane.
In the letter, published in Le Figaro on Thursday, the families ask for a detailed explanation of the flurry of automated messages sent by the plane before the crash; whether the messages arrived in chronological order or in order of importance; what procedures Air France has in place for planes entering storm zones; and how much freedom pilots have to change routes in case of menacing weather.
Investigators should have an easier time recovering debris and clues in the crash of a Yemeni Airbus 310 with 153 people on board that went down Tuesday just nine miles (14.5 kilometers) north of the Indian Ocean island-nation of Comoros.
Vandore reported from Paris. Associated Press writer Angela Charlton in Paris contributed to this report.
Related News
French experts say black boxes from downed Yemenia Airways plane damaged in Comoros crashSeptember 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.
French investigators halt underwater search in Atlantic for black boxes of Flight 447August 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.
Underwater robots reach site of Yemen plane's crash in Indian Ocean nation of ComorosAugust 20th, 2009 Underwater robots reach site of Indian Ocean crashPARIS — France says a ship carrying an underwater robot has arrived at the Indian Ocean nation of Comoros to retrieve the flight recorders from the Yemenia Airways plane crash. One girl survived the June 30 ocean crash and the other 152 people aboard the Comoros-bound flight were killed.
French ship scans Atlantic seafloor in hunt for Air France Flight 447's black boxesJuly 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.
French navy pinpoints location of black boxes of Yemenia Airways plane crashed near ComorosJuly 23rd, 2009 French navy homes in on Comoros crash black boxesPARIS — A French navy vessel has pinpointed the location of the black boxes of a Yemenia Airways plane that crashed into the Indian Ocean near the Comoros Islands, the ship's captain said Thursday. Comoran and French authorities are still investigating the cause of the June 30 crash that left a 12-year-old girl as the only known survivor out of 153 people aboard.
Air France Flight 447 debris arrives in France for further examination by crash investigatorsJuly 15th, 2009 Flight 447 debris returned to FrancePARIS — Debris from Air France Flight 447 has been brought to France for further examination, the agency investigating the crash said Wednesday. Flight 447 crashed into the Atlantic Ocean, more than 900 miles (1,450 kilometers) off Brazil's northeastern coast, on June 1 as it flew from Rio de Janeiro to Paris.
2 ships ending search for Air France black boxes; French submarine continuesJuly 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.
Black boxes in Comoros plane crash too deep for divers, French official saysJuly 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.
Air France crash plane not destroyed in flight: OfficialJuly 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".
French investigators: Search for Flight 447 black boxes continuing even as signals set to fadeJune 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.
French official says sounds detected in Atlantic are not from Flight 447 black boxesJune 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.
Report: Signals detected from Air France flight 447 black boxes in Atlantic OceanJune 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.
Air France crash: 'black box signals located'June 23rd, 2009 PARIS - Signals from the flight data recorder, or the black boxes of the Air France flight that crashed into the Atlantic ocean killing all 228 passengers onboard, has been located. "A French naval vessel has detected a weak signal from the flight data recorders, and a mini submarine was dispatched on Monday to try and find the black boxes at the bottom of the ocean floor," The Telegraph quoted a French newspaper Le Monde.
Sounds detected in Atlantic but no 'pings' from Flight 447 black boxes, French officials sayJune 23rd, 2009 Officials: No black box signals from Flight 447PARIS — French military ships searching for the black boxes of Flight 447 have detected sounds in the Atlantic depths but they are not from the Air France plane's flight recorders, French officials said Tuesday. The officials and French investigators denied a report on the Web site of the French newspaper Le Monde that French ships had picked up a signal from the black boxes.
French investigators unsure of Air France 447 speed as plane hits storm over AtlanticJune 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.
Loading ...