Air France Debris Found, Black Box Recorder Missing

PARIS -- June 3, 11:00 am -- Paul-Louis Arslanian, director of France's Bureau of Investigation and Analysis spoke with the media today about the ongoing investigation of the tragic Air France flight 447, which went down over the Atlantic Ocean with 228 passengers, from more than 30 countries, on board.

Describing the catastrophe as the "worst in our history" Arslanian promised a transparent investigation. The inquiry, he said, will take a long time and information will be released only when the airline has something definite to say. "We will speak only when something is established," Arslanian said, "It is essential that we check everything."

Although the accident took place over international waters, the country of the airline's origin is responsible for conducting an independent investigation and Arlansian insured that their inquiry does not contradict steps taken by legal authorities. "We are coordinating with legal and state authorities," he said.

The inquiry began late Monday, the day of the accident, and involves four working groups:

1. To find the wreck's flight recorder
2. To investigate the maintenance and history of the plane
3. To investigate the operations of the plane
4. A systems study of the plane's equipment

They have found no information thus far that would suggests a structural problem with the plane.

Arlansian is not optimistic about recovering the flight recorder. "This accident took place in the middle of the Arlantic Ocean, a scene with great variations," he said, explaining that at that location of the debris field the ocean is extremely deep and the seabed is mountainous. Although the debris field has been located, he explained, "We cannot say exactly where the wreck is." The black box recorder emits a radio signal, but only for a month. And before they can find the recorder, they must locate the wreckage.

Comments

[sylevine]

For the last ten years there hasn’t been a technical reason why the digital flight recorder data isn't sent in real-time to the ground (see the BBC/Equinox video “The BOX”, 2000, on the flight recorders). Using a remote aircraft flight recorder, with-in a couple of seconds, you have the planes position/location, its attitude, velocity, etc. safely stored on the ground. This data used in real-time could have also prevented 9/11 (see http://www.safelander.com).

On June 4, 2009 the LA Times put this into LETTERS section:

“There is no technical reason why digital flight recorder data are not sent in real-time to the ground. We have the technology to do this. Then, within a couple of seconds, we would have a plane’s position, altitude and velocity safely stored on the ground. This information could be used for flight safety, aviation security and cost reduction. We don’t know what went wrong on Flight 447, but we would sure know where the plane went down, why it went down and possibly could have saved lives.”

The data used in real-time can prevent many of the fatal crashes from even initially occurring.

Sy Levine

sbcglobal.netglobal.net
wlac.eduwlac.edu

http://www.safelander.com

Remote Aircraft Flight Recorder and Advisory System (RAFT) patent #5,890,079, 3/30/1999

[iRob08]

Unimaginable. To know that your life is about to end... the horror.

Black boxes...go­od luck finding them. I'm not even sure they'll retrieve all the passengers.

[oregonbird]

Anyone else find the "Capital One" airplane crash commercial in bad taste? And they are running it 24/7 right now. Such compassionate people...

[Norge]

Doubt it will be retrievable. Probably laying on a mountain side somewhere in the deep.

[Richard2]

An interesting meteorological analysis has been developed, which discusses the stormy weather conditions found in the vicinity of the Air France plane, at the time it was lost. Feedback comments from pilots and others are also interesting. The article: Air France Flight 447: A Detailed Meteorological Analysis, can be found at: wattsupwiththat.com

[Mainbob]

To find the Black box at 22,000 feet below the sea, why not use the same
mini subs that found the titanic?

[smchp]

They will probably have to. They are really expensive though and it will probably take quite awhile to get them there.

[poster1122]

One of the problems is that the black box(es) is/are only a foot or so long. If the plane broke up in the air, the debris could be scattered over a pretty wide area. If the emergency beacon for the box is damaged, we get into serious needle-in-­a-haystack territory. Depending on the depth of the ocean at the location of the box, it could be problematic. It really depends on the area being searched and the crush depth of the submarines equipped to do this kind of search.