AirFrance Crash Update | 06/05/2009 8:35 am

AirFrance Crash 'Debris' Found in Ocean Just Trash; Pilots Battled to Save Flight

There is still little information about the whereabouts of remnants of Flight 447, but new information chronicles more of the tragedy.

By The Staff at wowOwow.com

Image: Amadeus Photography/Flickr

It turns out there are even fewer clues about what happened to AirFrance Flight 447 than originally thought.

Debris found in the Atlantic Ocean earlier this week, which was thought to be from the Airbus 330, wasn’t from the missing plane after all, according to the Brazilian air force. Nor was that oil slick seen in the ocean a result of the downed vessel. The debris picked up was plain old trash.

"No material from the airplane was picked up," Brig. Ramon Borges Cardoso told reporters.

That means searchers have to start from scratch in trying to figure out where, exactly, to start looking for remains of the plan. The area being searched is the size of the country of Uruguay or the state of Missouri. "It’s bad news," said French Transport Minister Dominique Bussereau.

As to what happened to the plane after it took off from Brazil en route to France, we still don’t know. But there are signs that the plane lost cabin pressure and suffered from electrical failure. A report in France suggested the pilots may have flown into a violent thunderstorm at the "wrong speed" before going down. Flight data messages leaked to the Telegraph indicate that the pilot reported hitting turbulence before reaching Senegalese airspace, and was going at an "erroneous" speed as computers providing altitude, speed and directional data malfunctioned. Just to be safe, Airbus warned airline crews to follow standard procedures if they suspect speed indicators are faulty.

We’re still hoping the families and loved ones of those aboard get some answers soon.

15 Reader Comments (so far…) Sign In or Register to comment

Wow! Flew through at the wrong speed. That is scary. I didn’t know there was a specific speed. Any pilots out there to shed a little light on this concept?

By S G on 06/05/2009 8:42 am

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Yeah…………I fly quite a bit ‘cause it’s the only way to get anywhere in a timely manner — but, I don’t enjoy flying — now I have a whole new thing to worry about…………..

By MK P on 06/05/2009 9:31 am

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A possibility is that they stalled out. In violent storms there are updrafts and downdrafts, which have the effect of pushing the plane up or down, sometimes hundreds of feet - but horizontal windspeed can shift rapidly too, and that can be worse. If the plane has too little forward airspeed, the wing stops generating lift and stalls - and the plane drops. Also, the forces generated in a storm can do some damage to your lift surfaces or controls.

By Lila Kuh on 06/05/2009 2:14 pm

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Thank you Lila that helps make sense of it:)

By S G on 06/05/2009 2:18 pm

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Oh, actually, click on the "Flight data messages leaked to the Telegraph" link in the article here. Sounds like they were having instrument problems and did not have a good airspeed reading… and things went from bad to worse. Pilots are trained to notice if one or more instruments seem not to be working (the other instruments can give clues) but these new commercial airliners sound computerized to the max, which I think might have actually contributed to the problems here.

Especially if they were too fast or slow, the storm could have done this. What I wrote above still applies.

By Lila Kuh on 06/05/2009 7:38 pm

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Thanks Lila:) I will check out that Telegraph link:)

By S G on 06/06/2009 1:58 pm

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OMG. Check this link too. Apparently the Airbus planes are REALLY computerized… this article describes not even having a control yoke in the cockpit, just a little joystick (I looked up Airbus A 330 cockpit pics on the internet and they are BIZARRE). Unlike in a Boeing, the Airbus pilots are totally dependent on the computers to send commands to the control surfaces. If the computer really glitched… and it’s sounding like it may have… the pilots could not have done a thing to fly the plane. I only have a weenie little private pilot’s license, but I would be VERY uncomfortable not having real, physical contact with the actual controls. In fact - I will be more careful which commercial planes I fly on from now on. Depending on computers to that extent is the wrong answer. Give me a human pilot any day.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/us_and_americas/article64462…

By Lila Kuh on 06/06/2009 5:52 pm

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Your description of the cockpit sounds like it was designed for video gamers, the same kind of pilots flying the Predators.

I think the term you want to search for is “fly-by-wire”.

I might also note that the Airbus 330 is the basis for Northrop-Grumman/EADS K45 candidate for the next generation of Air Force air tankers. Boeing based their offering on the 767.

This little revelation is just one more reason I would pick Boeing.

http://www.upi.com/Security_Industry/2009/04/28/US-Air-Force-needs-Boeing-and-Northrop-Grumman-air-tankers/UPI-33871240960285/2/ http://www.seattlepi.com/business/boe202.shtml

By Zera Lee on 06/07/2009 5:26 am

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YES. I had heard the term before but this is the first time I have really focused on all the implications of "fly by wire." And YES, I think Boeing rates more highly for making the pilot the final authority, rather than a computer. I did not know, before this incident, that the Airbus has no control yoke! And that is truly scary. Here’s another good article:

http://www.seattlepi.com/business/boe202.shtml

By Lila Kuh on 06/07/2009 5:51 am

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Yikes that is scary. Give me a beater with a pilot who can over ride stuff and use his common sense. Computers have way too many glitches for me to put my life in ones hands. Thanks for the info.

By S G on 06/07/2009 6:06 pm

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What saddens me is to think of the terror the people on board must have felt in their final moments. Many years ago, I was on a flight that lost cabin pressure due to extreme turbulence…it was probably the most terrifying moments of my life. There were grown men on that plane screaming and bawling for their lives…and I was only 18 at the time. Many people passed out due to the lack of oxygen, before the masks were deployed. Needless to say, everyone on that flight thought we were going to die. I was actually relieved when we arrived in Houston and found that my connecting flight had already left…I didn’t have the emotional energy to get on another plane that night. I still remember one guy that literally kissed the floor in the airport terminal, and said he would take the bus home. Once I arrived back home, it was many years before I could fly again.

By Elizabeth Newman on 06/05/2009 9:56 am

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I thought that Jaque Cousteau(sp) developed a thing that you could go into and explore the bottoms of oceans. Why not ask to use that?

By Beth Cornell on 06/05/2009 11:41 am

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Beth, C. Hardy had said they were going to use one of those subs like they did to check out the titanic.

By S G on 06/05/2009 1:50 pm

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Wow Liz that is awful. I had a similar thing happened to me many years ago. I was just outside of Houston and there was a horrific thunderstorm, the plane just dropped, the flight attendants were injured, I just closed my eyes and prayed. When we landed, that is when it hit me and I just cried. I had no choice but to get on the connecting flight.

By Sherry Dale on 06/05/2009 6:23 pm

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I also did a search on videos of Air France Cockpit view. This is very weird looking for the inside of a planes cockpit. http://www.opps.se has the pics but I will put the link up for the video of air france to make it easier to find. That has lots of news and weird articles about europe so worth a look too for sure.

http://www.opps.se/airfrance-24-bodies-found.htm

By leigh girl on 07/18/2009 8:26 am