AirFrance Recovery | 06/15/2009 11:10 am
AirFrance Probe: 49 Bodies Found So Far, Still No Black Box or Answers
More pieces of Flight 447 found in the ocean, including luggage of nine passengers; all articles brought to Brazil for examination.
Image: Flickr
Investigators may be getting closer to determining what exactly caused the crash of AirFrance Flight 447 after it took off from Brazil en route to Paris, France, two weeks ago.
The Brazilian military says The Gammagas, a merchant ship traveling between Uruguay and the U.K., found a "medium size" piece of debris from the crash site in the Atlantic Ocean, reports Bloomberg. A Brazilian Navy ship brought 13 recovered parts of the plane, including nine bags belonging to the passengers, to Recife, Brazil, today, for examination. Bad weather stymied searchers over the weekend, but a total of 49 bodies out of 228 have been found so far, the Brazilian navy said Sunday, including six found by a French navy ship. Officials said identification of the bodies may take up to two months. Meanwhile, AirFrance has upgraded all airspeed monitors on some of its planes. It’s thought that Flight 447 was flying either too slow or too fast as it plunged into stormy weather, causing the crash, because of faulty speed monitors. The plane’s black box still hasn’t been found.
Read more about: AirFrance, Black Box, Bodies, Brazil, Crash, Data Recorder, Flight 447, France, Insurance, investigation, News, Paris, Recife, Recovery, Speed, Tail, World, Wreckage
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It’s unfair to say that computers on planes have too many bugs. There is a staggering amount of hours in testing the [IFCS ["Intelligent Flight Control System"]. The number of possible events tested are also huge. Of course, every computer is only as good as its programmer.
Boeing could have programmed the 777 with total computer control [as did Airbus] but decided that the pilot should make the final decision. The 777 fully digital fly-by-wire system also incorporates flight envelope protection, a system which guides pilot inputs within a computer-calculated framework of operating parameters, acting to prevent stalls and overly stressful maneuvers. This system can be overridden by the pilot in command if deemed necessary.
In the end it’s my belief that as each new plane is designed it will take away more and more of the pilot overrides. Why?
1 - FBW means that the plane is electrically controlled with no hydraulics. Hydraulics are heavy and are the cause of much more jet fuel.
2 - FBW is safer.
The A330-200 has numerous backup systems and is considered to be an exceptionally safe plane. The PITOT tubes had not yet been replaced; this could be part of the reason for the accident.
I’d get on the A330-200 tomorrow without any reservations.