*Air France jet missing over Atlantic*

[blavatsky3]

Some notes I found on how the military did find a submerged plane...

The technique has paid off in the past. In 2007, the USNS Mary Sears used a towed underwater sonar to to locate the black boxes that were on board an Indonesian airliner that crashed on a domestic flight on January 1, 2007. The boxes for Adam Air Flight 574 - a Boeing 737 - were found at depths greater than 6,000 feet (1,800 meters).

http://trueslant.com/milesobrien/tag/cockpit-voice-recorder/

[joeyb747]

Here is another article:

http://www.comcast.net/articles/news-general/20090607/Brazil.Plane/

From article:

"Airbus recommended that all its airline customers replace instruments that help measure speed and altitude, known as Pitot tubes, on the A330, the model used for Flight 447, said Paul-Louis Arslanian, the head of the agency.

"They hadn't yet been replaced" on the plane that crashed, said Alain Bouillard, head of the French investigation."

And I find this odd...are there random airplane parts floating in the ocean??? 

"A blue plane seat with a serial number on it has been recovered, but officials were still trying to confirm that it was a seat belonging to Flight 447, which disappeared in turbulent weather a week ago during a flight from Rio de Janeiro to Paris with 228 people aboard."

[joeyb747]

Three more bodies found...that makes five so far...

http://www.comcast.net/video/brazil-finds-3-more-bodies-near-jet-crash-site/1144644206/Comcast/1143522048/

[jedgar]

This whole thing reminds me of CVR 603. Every time I read a report or something on here, CVR 603 goes off in my head.

[aevins]

This whole thing reminds me of CVR 603. Every time I read a report or something on here, CVR 603 goes off in my head.

I agree, it's also similar to Air India 182 and somewhat of the immediate aftermath of South African Airways 295, but the airspeed discrepancy is much more reminiscent of Birgenair Flight 301, which was very similar to CVR603.

[joeyb747]

This whole thing reminds me of CVR 603. Every time I read a report or something on here, CVR 603 goes off in my head.

I agree, it's also similar to Air India 182 and somewhat of the immediate aftermath of South African Airways 295, but the airspeed discrepancy is much more reminiscent of Birgenair Flight 301, which was very similar to CVR603.

Agreed. Very similar to Birgenair 301.

Here is the latest: A total of 15 bodies were found today, with 2 found yesterday, that's 17 so far.

http://www.comcast.net/articles/news-general/20090607/Brazil.Plane/

[BRAVO2ZERO]

Has anyone considered the possibility of this aircraft flying through a supercell at approx 35,000 ft, 20,000ft below the storm top hitting baseball size hail at 700 mph. Could this smash the cabin, decompress the aircraft a systematically disintegrate it?

[atcman23]

No, the cabin windows can withstand much greater force than that.  Plus, these storms aren't the typical Midwest storms you see in the U.S.  Tropical systems rarely contain hail.  And it is likely that these storms did not have hail.  Of course, we don't know that, but normal tropical thunderstorms do not produce much hail.  Also, supercell type thunderstorms don't usually form along the Equator.  There are only a few spots in the world where supercell thunderstorms form.

[avalon]

Air France Union Demands A330 Upgrades Before Flights

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=a8dY0m8FTZkI

[avalon]

Air France tail found; US helps hunt black boxes

http://www.comcast.net/articles/news-general/20090607/Brazil.Plane/

[joeyb747]

Air France tail found; US helps hunt black boxes

http://www.comcast.net/articles/news-general/20090607/Brazil.Plane/

Very nice! You beat me to it! I was just going to link to this very story! 

Disheartening to see the tail panel in the water...

[Saabeba]

No, the cabin windows can withstand much greater force than that.  Plus, these storms aren't the typical Midwest storms you see in the U.S.  Tropical systems rarely contain hail.  And it is likely that these storms did not have hail.  Of course, we don't know that, but normal tropical thunderstorms do not produce much hail.  Also, supercell type thunderstorms don't usually form along the Equator.  There are only a few spots in the world where supercell thunderstorms form.

I lived in Addis Abeba, Ethiopia, the other side of Africa, but not far from the equator.  The summer rain season that is caused by the intercontinental convergence regularly sends marble sized hail to the ground at ground level.  You have to find shelter.

[vianded]

they are talking about 21/22 days till the batteries on the black boxes run out of juice. is that just for the "pinging" or after the 30 days all data is lost? lets say they don't find them in that time frame but they keep looking and are found at a later time... is the data still safe? and I know about a bunch of other variables but will loosing battery power make you loose data? sorry if I'm being redundant

[MathFox]

they are talking about 21/22 days till the batteries on the black boxes run out of juice. is that just for the "pinging" or after the 30 days all data is lost? lets say they don't find them in that time frame but they keep looking and are found at a later time... is the data still safe? and I know about a bunch of other variables but will loosing battery power make you loose data? sorry if I'm being redundant

The 30 days is the minimum time the box should ping to pass certification... It makes sense to listen out for pings a few days past the month.

[joeyb747]

24 bodies found now...

"But some Air France pilots aren't waiting for a definitive answer. With investigators looking at the possibility that external speed monitors iced over and gave dangerously false readings to cockpit computers in a thunderstorm, a union is urging pilots to refuse to fly Airbus A330 and A340 planes unless the monitors — known as Pitot tubes — are replaced."

http://www.comcast.net/articles/news-world/20090607/Brazil.Plane/