Air France passenger jet vanishes from radar

[Jahpson]

Originally Posted by lostnexposed

I don't know. everything now is just so vague and weird. If they did explode in midair, would there still be hope to recover some sort of debris? is there any possibility that they crashed somewhere else?? I know that they disappeared from the radar around that area, and that other people saw something there. then there's reports that this lady is calling her husband's phone and it's ringing-meaning it's on, so if the phone is intact somewhere, can't they work with cellphone carriers to figure out a location? And this guy rarely ever has his phone on. so if he actually turned the phone on, maybe he was trying to contact someone, or he managed to leave a goodbye message in it.

excellent point.

my cell phone bill always indicate where my phone is when I make calls.

if just if the plane is on land, the cell phone carriers would be able to tell. If they cannot tell then we would know that they are indeed lost at sea. I love the way you guys think!

also, a phone that continue to ring could mean that his phone doesn't have service. However, that doesnt mean anything.

My friend once lost her cell phone in the river (she was crewing) and when she called her phone, it kept ringing as well until it went to voicemail

[ILoveMyBug]

Just because the pallet and the oil slick weren't from the plane it doesn't mean that the seat and the 7m long bit of metal weren't. It just means that the boats haven't picked them up yet. Sadly I think it probably is the case that the plane broke up/exploded in the air and the pieces are now over a wide area since it's been almost a week.
As ever, my thoughts are with all the families.

[Jahpson]

Originally Posted by ILoveMyBug

Just because the pallet and the oil slick weren't from the plane it doesn't mean that the seat and the 7m long bit of metal weren't. It just means that the boats haven't picked them up yet. Sadly I think it probably is the case that the plane broke up/exploded in the air and the pieces are now over a wide area since it's been almost a week. As ever, my thoughts are with all the families.

they say it wasn't.

Quote:

On Wednesday, searchers recovered two debris fields and had identified the wreckage, including an airplane seat and an orange float as coming from Flight 447. Officials now say that none of the debris recovered is from the missing plane.

http://www.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/americ...ash/index.html

[ILoveMyBug]

It's not totally clear that article is it? From what I understand all they've pulled out the water is a pallet and some bouys, both of which have come from ships. Have they got the seat out of the water?

ETA: here's what the BBC says http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/8083474.stm

[Jahpson]

Originally Posted by ILoveMyBug

It's not totally clear that article is it? From what I understand all they've pulled out the water is a pallet and some bouys, both of which have come from ships. Have they got the seat out of the water? ETA: here's what the BBC says http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/8083474.stm

honestly, this whole disappearnce thing is not really clear. Your right, that article doesn't say much.

Either information is being withheld or this case is truly a mystery

Quote:

Teams found buoys and a wooden pallet and spotted a fuel slick, and are now searching for an airline seat and a chunk of metal seen earlier this week.

so wait, they didn't pick it up when they spotted it the first time????

[ILoveMyBug]

As I understand it, the planes spotted the seat and the sheet of metal, but obviously they couldn't pick them up at the time and the boats hadn't arrived at that point. The boats are now there but the debris had drifted/sunk and now can't be found.

[Jahpson]

Originally Posted by ILoveMyBug

As I understand it, the planes spotted the seat and the sheet of metal, but obviously they couldn't pick them up at the time and the boats hadn't arrived at that point. The boats are now there but the debris had drifted/sunk and now can't be found.

oh ok. It looks like it might be worse. According to that article you gave (thanks btw) there is more bad weather expected in that area.

perhaps that is why everything is still mysterious? Searching and finding is being delayed by the weather?

[chris7891]

My heart goes out to the families. I can't imagine what they are feeling right now.

[ILoveMyBug]

It sounds like a really difficult search area in general. It's so easy to think of it just being the ocean, something you fly over, until something like this happens, and you need to find items that have sunk in what is literally miles deep water. There's not even daylight at the bottom it's so deep.

The storms that are forecast will no doubt move the floating debris over a wider area too

[Jahpson]

Originally Posted by ILoveMyBug

It sounds like a really difficult search area in general. It's so easy to think of it just being the ocean, something you fly over, until something like this happens, and you need to find items that have sunk in what is literally miles deep water. There's not even daylight at the bottom it's so deep. The storms that are forecast will no doubt move the floating debris over a wider area too

yes, I heard during the first go round it was hard to see anything because of the very alert waves and high winds.

[annanas]

i'm not at all surprised if they haven't found anything yet, the search area is thousands of cubic kilometres of water

[LemonDrop]

Originally Posted by Florasun

^^^It makes me nervous too. If you crash on land there is a chance you may get out alive. If not they can at least find your body. Crashing in the middle of the ocean in a storm - even if you are alive help is not close at hand and you may be too injured to save yourself. For some reason this crash gives me the chills.

It's not as much about the crash as the options. Over the ocean pilots have fewer options. What might be a simple (but scary) emergency landing on land becomes a crash landing on water. Not all pilots are a Captain Sully who can land on the water. With some mechanical issues a plane might have 20 minutes or so to land. Over land a pilot could find an airport, military base or something. Over water - it's really up to fate.

PS i wasn't responding just to you - more the general topic of fear of flying over water. :-)

[Jahpson]

Originally Posted by LemonDrop

It's not as much about the crash as the options. Over the ocean pilots have fewer options. What might be a simple (but scary) emergency landing on land becomes a crash landing on water. Not all pilots are a Captain Sully who can land on the water. With some mechanical issues a plane might have 20 minutes or so to land. Over land a pilot could find an airport, military base or something. Over water - it's really up to fate. PS i wasn't responding just to you - more the general topic of fear of flying over water. :-)

and then there is dehydration and lack of food. Its very scary.

[caffeineaddict_]

I commend the searchers for being so brave as well. I couldn't possibly imagine searching the waters for 200+ dead bodies (don't they float up?)

[annanas]

i don't think there's anything left of the bodies two pilots and a passenger reported seeing something like a white flash that then broke up into six pieces, which would suggest an explosion (the telegraph article i link to mentions a spanish pilot, but i know i've read somewhere that another pilot and a passenger reported it too). so if the plane not only exploded but then hit the water at great speed (rather than a glide which could otherwise have been possible had the problem been something like failed engines or running out of fuel/problem with the fuel supply. it wouldn't have been anything like a captain sully glide considering the weather conditions and the fact that it would have been dark, but something like a glide nonetheless.) it must be extremely unlikely for them to find anything resembling human remains. even if there was no explosion but the plane hit the water at anything too far from a glide the bodies would be severely damaged. water is hard as concrete when you hit it at high speed, it's nothing like when you just jump in. (this is all speculation on my part and i have no other qualification than having seen every episode of air crash investigations at least once.)

also, there's this article suggesting the pilots might have had faulty speed data: http://www.aviationweek.com/aw/gener...20Speed%20Data

which i believe could explain a stall, i'm sure you learn to tell how fast you're flying with experience but in the dark and in bad weather it's probably impossible.

another article on similar lines: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worl...ht-AF-447.html