Air France passenger jet vanishes from radar

[SterlingSilver]

This is upsetting. I found this link regarding a very detailed meteorological report. Fascinating.

http://www.weathergraphics.com/tim/af447/

Once the US Navy gets involved they will be able to locate the black box.

[Roo]

Here's a couple graphics on this situation:

[Baby Boo]

this is sooo sad

[Roo]

[Roo]

http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2...?section=world

Grief, confusion as plane search continues

Posted 1 hour 30 minutes ago
Updated 1 hour 2 minutes ago


Nicolas Sarkozy: 'It's a tragic accident. The chances of finding survivors are tiny' (Reuters: Guillaume Baptiste)

Brazilian and French authorities are combing the Atlantic Ocean as hopes fade for survivors of an Air France flight that disappeared after hitting wild weather on Monday.

The plane was carrying 216 passengers of 32 nationalities, including seven children and one baby, Air France said. Sixty-one were French citizens, 58 Brazilian and 26 German. Twelve crew members were also on board.
All 228 people on board are feared dead.

Relatives are struggling to come to terms with the disaster as theories about the cause of the disappearance spread.

France and Brazil sent military planes and ships to scour a vast area of ocean where the Airbus A330 jet may have come down during the flight from Rio de Janeiro to Paris.

Brazil's air force said it was investigating a report that a jetliner flown by Brazilian carrier TAM had spotted debris in the ocean in Senegal's air space on a flight from Europe to Brazil. Brazil's Vice-President Jose Alencar also mentioned the report, saying the TAM pilot may have seen "something on fire" in the ocean.

"A TAM airlines plane from Brazil supposedly saw something on fire in the Atlantic Ocean. This was an airplane that landed today," he said.

"The government and all ministries are available to help the families, because if there's anything we can do, we will."

TAM was not immediately available for comment.

The navy said the ships would not arrive at the last known position of the aircraft, 800 km (500 miles) northeast of the city of Natal, until Tuesday night, and aviation experts said it could take a long time to locate the black box.

"It seems the zone has been identified down to within 10 nautical miles," Senior French minister Jean-Louis Borloo said on France 2 state television.

Relative's anguish

If no survivors are found, it would be the worst loss of life involving an Air France plane in the carrier's 75-year history. An Airbus A330 has never been lost during a commercial airline flight and it is extremely unusual for an airliner to be brought down by storms.

Tearful relatives were led away by airport staff in Paris to a private area where psychologists assisted them. In Rio, relatives rushed to the international airport early in the morning seeking information about the flight.

Vazti Ester Van Sluijs, 70, said that at the last minute she had changed plans to see her 40-year-old daughter Adriana at the airport, where the plane's number was displayed for hours as simply "delayed."

"Just before boarding, she called me asking where I was. I only had time to tell her that she was the best daughter in the world," she said, adding she still had hope for her survival.

One of the Brazilians on board was Pedro Luis de Orleans e Braganca, a direct descendant of Dom Pedro II, the last emperor of Brazil, a spokesman for the royal family told Reuters.

Executives from French tyre company Michelin, the Brazil unit of German steelmaker ThyssenKrupp, and Brazilian mining giant Vale were also among the passengers, said company officials and family members.

Mystery fault

The Air France jet flew into storms and heavy turbulence four hours after take-off from Rio and 15 minutes later sent an automatic message reporting electrical faults, the airline said.

"It's a tragic accident. The chances of finding survivors are tiny," French President Nicolas Sarkozy said at Paris's Charles de Gaulle airport after meeting passengers' relatives.

There was no sign that the crew had sent a mayday message, nor any indication that signal-emitting emergency locaters had activated on impact, as is normally the case in crashes.

The company said a lightning strike could be to blame and that several of the mechanisms on the Airbus 330-200, which has a good safety record, had malfunctioned.

But aviation writer Tom Ballantyne says neither lightning or electrical faults should have brought the plane down so quickly.

"This plane was flying at 35,000 feet. It appears to have been quite a cataclysmic accident, otherwise the pilots, who have the ability right across the Atlantic on high frequency radio to contact air traffic control, to even contact their home base in Paris - appeared not to have even had time to issue a mayday or have any communication," he said.

Mr Ballantyne says Airbus 330 have a very high safety record.

But the disappearence has renewed scrutiny surrounding a Qantas A-330 flight which was forced to make an emergency landing in Western Australia after suddenly losing altitude.

That incident is still being investigated by the Australian Transport Safety Bureau, but Mr Ballantyne says he understands it was a problem with the automatic pilot.

"My understanding is that the problem was with a circuit within the automatic pilot on the aircraft. So it was nothing to do with maintenance of the plane - it was a unique thing that hadn't happened before, and hasn't happened again since, that I understand," he said.

Adapted from a report by Meredith Griffiths for the World Today

[TXGirlie]

Here is the route shown on the IFR chart, right before the ITCZ. (click for a larger view)

AF447Crash1-1.jpg

[TXGirlie]

Originally Posted by SterlingSilver

This is upsetting. I found this link regarding a very detailed meteorological report. Fascinating. http://www.weathergraphics.com/tim/af447/ Once the US Navy gets involved they will be able to locate the black box.

Thanks for that! I was wondering what the conditions were since it's not too great at this time of year.

[Vegas Long Legs]

Originally Posted by HauteMama

Why?? Surely there must be some reason to suspect this, as it didn't even seem to be a possibility in all the coverage I've heard. And why would anyone target a plane bound to Paris from Rio? While you could certainly be right (other people have far more knowledge/insight/information about this than I do), I would imagine that if terrorism were suspected someone might have brought it up to the media by now.

It was mentioned on CNN cause John Nance said 50/50 chance of explosion. The plane was there one minute & then it was gone is why he said it. Not trying to be right, just bringing up possibilty.

Why would a plane get blown up over Locerby Scotland? Sorry don't follow your logic. Terrorists don't care, they operate where they can. They don't give up, they just move.

Problems in France & their security is tight. Brazil security not so tight, flight to Paris next best thing.

[ILoveMyBug]

Lots of reports of wreckage being found in the right area

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/8079122.stm

Brazilian aircraft searching for an Air France jet which went missing with 228 people aboard in an Atlantic storm have spotted debris on the ocean.
Plane seats and other items were sighted 650km (400 miles) north-east of Brazil's Fernando do Noronha island, the Brazilian air force said.
It could not be immediately confirmed that the debris came from the Airbus.
The jet was heading from Brazil to Paris when it vanished about four hours into its flight, early on Monday.

Air Force spokesman Jorge Amaral said the seats had been spotted by search planes early on Tuesday.
Also spotted were small white pieces of debris, material that may be metallic and signs of oil and kerosene, which is used as jet fuel.
"The search is continuing because it's very little material in relation to the size [of the Airbus A330]," Mr Amaral added.
Officials, he said, needed "a piece that might have a serial number, some sort of identification" to be sure it came from the missing jet.
French Defence Minister Herve Morin has stressed there is still "no evidence whatsoever" as to the cause of the plane's loss
"We cannot, by definition, exclude a terrorist attack, because terrorism is the main threat for all Western democracies," he added.
Turbulence
Plane crews from Brazil, France and other countries had narrowed their search to a zone half-way between Brazil and west Africa, hoping to pick up signals from the Airbus's Argos beacons.
In his last radio message, at about 0200 GMT on Monday, the captain of Flight AF 447 reported entering turbulence, French media say.
Up to a dozen reports of electrical failures were sent automatically from the plane before it vanished over the ocean just after.
Most of the missing people are Brazilian or French but they include a total of 32 nationalities. Five Britons and three Irish citizens are among them.
Crisis centres have been set up at Charles de Gaulle airport in Paris and Rio's Tom Jobim international airport.
One of the Brazilians on board was Pedro Luis de Orleans e Braganca, a direct descendent of the last Brazilian emperior, Dom Pedro II, a spokesman for the family said.

[twochubbycheeks]

this is such an awful tragedy. I felt really sad hearing this news.. imagine being in a middle of nowhere and have no idea what was about to happen.. so scary. =(

[karo]

This is soo sad. A real tragedy.
I've read that ten salesmen from CGED, an electrical distributor, were on the plane with their spouses after winning a vacation to Brazil. This was an award to the best workers.

[lostnexposed]

It's such a tragic accident!
I don't think they had any time to react to what was going on at all!

[tresjoliex]

So sad. Can't stop thinking about what was going on inside that plane.

How scary, knowing you are going to die.

If they hit crazy turbulence, they probably got really scared, and since there was no mayday call, it probably just happend so fast.

Wow, cherish life.

[Jahpson]

Originally Posted by redney

His case was much different since he was flying a single engine plane visually at much lower altitudes at night and it is thought he became disoriented (due to the lack of differentiation of the sea & horizon line) and misjudged the location of his plane relative to the water and crashed into it, likely not knowing until the last second. He also was wearing a cast on his foot at the time of the accident, thus complicating his ability to control the plane since there are foot controls on single engine Pipers. (My SO is a pilot and knows one of JFK Jr's flight instructors and this is what is speculated in the flying community). The AF jet was flying at 35,000 feet and from what many news reports and other posters are saying, there seems to have been a catastrophic malfunction with the plane's electrical system. Very horrible and tragic for the people and their families.

of course. I was just saying that because his plane also disappeared from radar and no one knew what happened.

[Megs]

So very sad... keeping all families and the people on the flight in my thoughts