Yesterday the world saw the disappearance of an A330 Air Frane during a trans Atlantic flight between Rio to Paris
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- Initial search and reports
- Aerial search, ships dispatched
- Conflicting debris reports
- Bodies, debris recovered
Search and recovery
Colour bathymetry relief map of the part of Atlantic Ocean into which Air France Flight 447 crashed. Image shows two different data sets with different resolution.[Note 1] Initial search and reportsBrazilian air traffic controllers contacted air traffic control in Dakar at 02:20 UTC, when they noticed that the plane had not made the required radio call signaling its crossing into Senegalese airspace.[14] The Brazilian Air Force then began a search and rescue operation from the Brazilian archipelago of Fernando de Noronha,[14] and at 19:00 UTC on 1 June, Spain sent a CASA 235 maritime patrol plane in search and rescue operations near Cape Verde.[39] French reconnaissance planes were also dispatched, including one Breguet Atlantic from Dakar,[40] and the French requested satellite equipment from the United States to help find the plane.[41] Brazilian Air Force spokesperson Colonel Henry Munhoz told Brazilian TV that radar on Cape Verde failed to pick up the aircraft over the Atlantic Ocean.[14] Early on, officials with Air France and the French government presumed that the plane had been lost with no survivors. An Air France spokesperson told L'Express that there was "no hope for survivors,"[42][43][44] and French President Nicolas Sarkozy told relatives of the passengers that there was only a "minimal" chance that anyone survived.[41] Late on 1 June, the deputy chief of the Brazilian Aeronautical Communications Center, Jorge Amaral, confirmed that 30 minutes after the Air France Airbus had emitted the automatic report, a commercial pilot had reported the sighting of "orange dots" in the middle of the Atlantic, which could indicate the glow of wreckage on fire.[45][46] This sighting was reported by a TAM Airlines crew flying from Europe to Brazil, at approximately 1,300 km (800 mi) from Fernando de Noronha.[45][46] Another similar sighting of "something flashing brightly over the ocean then taking a descending vertical trajectory" was reported by the Spanish pilot of Air Comet Flight 974[47] flying from Lima to Madrid. The Brazilian newspaper O Globo reported that wreckage debris was discovered off the Senegalese coast, but that its origin was still uncertain.[48] EarthTimes and news.com.au reported that the crew of the French freighter Douce France spotted debris floating on the ocean in the area earlier indicated by the TAM crew.[49][50]
On 2 June two French Navy vessels, Foudre and Ventôse, were en route to the suspected crash site. Also among the ships sent to the site was the French research vessel Pourquoi Pas?, equipped with two mini-submarines that can descend to 6,000 m (20,000 ft)[56] – the area of the Atlantic in which the plane went down may be as deep as 4,700 m (15,000 ft).[57] A United States Navy Lockheed Martin P3 Orion MR submarine-hunting aircraft was also deployed in the search due to its low altitude endurance and patrol capability, sonar and magnetic anomaly detector (MAD) sensor suite.[58] On 3 June the first Brazilian Navy ship, the patrol boat NPa Grajaú, reached the area in which the first debris was spotted. The Brazilian Navy has sent a total of five ships to the debris site; the frigate F Constituição and the corvette Cv Caboclo were scheduled to reach the area on 4 June, the frigate F Bosísio on 6 June and the replenishment oiler NT Almirante Gastão Motta on 7 June.[59][60] On 5 June, French defence minister Hervé Morin announced that the nuclear submarine Émeraude was being sent to the area, to assist in the search for the missing flight recorders which might be located at great depth.[61] The submarine will use its powerful listening devices to search for the homing signal broadcast by the black boxes.[62] Conflicting debris reportsOn 4 June the Brazilian Air Force claimed they had recovered the first debris from the Air France crash site, 340 miles (550 km) northeast of the Fernando de Noronha archipelago.[63] On 5 June, around 13:00 UTC, Brazilian officials announced that they had not, in fact, recovered anything from Flight 447, as the oil slick and debris field found on 2 June could not have come from the plane.[64] Ramon Borges Cardoso, director of the Air Space Control Department, said that the fuel slicks were not caused by aviation fuel but were believed to have been from a passing ship.[65] Even so, a Brazilian Air Force official maintained that some of the material that had been spotted (but not picked up) during earlier searches for Flight 447. Poor visibility, however, had prevented search teams from re-locating the material.[66] Bodies, debris recovered
Recovery of Flight 447's vertical-stabilizer and rudder assembly by the Brazilian Navy. On 6 June, five days after Flight 447 first disappeared, it was reported that the Brazilian Air Force had located both "bodies and debris" from the missing aircraft, after they had been spotted by a special search radar-equipped aircraft.[67] The bodies and objects were reportedly found at 08:14 Brazilian time (11:14 GMT), and "experts on human remains" were sent to investigate. The Brazilian Air Force Colonel Jorge Amaral stated that "We confirm the recovery from the water of debris and bodies from the Air France plane. Air France boarding passes for Flight 447 were also found. We can't give more information without confirming what we have."[68] Later it was confirmed that two male bodies were found along with a seat, a nylon backpack containing a computer and vaccination card and a leather briefcase containing a boarding pass for the Air France flight.[69][70][71] Authorities also corrected the misunderstanding about earlier debris findings: except for the wooden pallet, the debris did come from Flight 447, but rescue aircraft and ships had made the search for possible survivors and bodies a priority, delaying the verification of the origins of the other recovered debris.[72] As of 9 June 2009 (2009 -06-09)[update] a total of 24 bodies had been recovered.[6] Four additional bodies have been pulled from the ocean bringing the total to 28. The first 24 bodies have been transported to shore. On 8 June search crews discovered the Airbus' vertical stabilizer. The French authorities hope that this debris will be helpful for the investigation.[6] Directory: groups groups -> What is ascaa? groups -> Tiger Leaps Progress Update from Tenafly High School March 28, 2012 English groups -> Personal Data: Name : Prasanna. S educational Qualification groups -> Traffic alert and Collision Avoidance System or tcas groups -> 1980s Type Card Master List from Standard Catalog 1980 Burger King Phillies groups -> Lima Site 85 Personnel List groups -> General knowledge groups -> Kenneth pomeranz the great himalayan watershed groups -> Christina Maria Bergqvist Download 271.93 Kb. Share with your friends:
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