Flight AF 447

Air France plane broke up over 'number of

minutes'
The Brazilian Air Force said bodies from flight AF 447 had been picked up from locations more
than 50 miles apart – supporting the theory that the plane did not simply plummet into the ocean.
A reanalysis of the plane's last automatic transmissions also indicates that many parts had
malfunctioned before it disappeared, and that the first parts to show problems were those
measuring air speed.
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Four hours into the flight from Rio de Janeiro to Paris, the Airbus A330-200s three speed
sensors, or pitot tubes started providing "incoherent" readings.
A faulty air speed indicator could mislead pilots into flying faster than the aircraft could withstand,
or faster than it should be flown into turbulence two circumstances that could lead to the craft
coming apart in flight.
Air France has promised to replace all first-generation Thales sensors on its 34 long-haul A330
and A340 planes "within days", but the airline's director general, Pierre-Henri Gourgeon, said
today that he was "not convinced" that the sensors caused the crash.
"This (replacement) programme has been accelerated because we know that when the accident
happened there were problems with the speed indicators," he said, before adding: "I am not
convinced that the sensors were the cause." Air France launched a programme to replace its old
probes on April 27, after recording several icing problems on the speed sensors in May 2008.
"We did this because we thought it would reduce the number of non-catastrophic accidents," said
Mr Gourgoeon.
It now transpires that the first batch of new probes arrived just three days before the crash of
flight AF 447 on June 1.
Airbus today denied a French newspaper report that it was considering grounding its fleet of A330
and A340 planes in the wake of the disaster, reiterating a European Aviation Safety Agency
statement that they were "safe to fly".
Meanwhile, two terror suspects who died alongside 226 other passengers on the stricken jet have
been ruled out as a cause of the disaster.
The two individuals only "shared the same name" as known Islamic radicals, posthumous security
checks found.
France's interior ministry confirmed that a "deep and wide-ranging investigation has allowed us to
clear them", despite the fact that their bodies are yet to be recovered.
The announcement came as the race to locate the flight's black boxes was boosted by the arrival
of a French nuclear attack submarine.
Emeraude, nicknamed "golden ears" due to its highly powerful sonar, will trawl 13 square miles a
day, in an attempt to pick up the boxes' acoustic beacons – whose signal will fade in three weeks'
time.
A tugboat fitted with underwater listening devices has also reached the crash site.
If they find a signal, a French mini-sub already used to search the Titanic will be deployed to
recover the boxes with a robotic arm.
The voice and data recorders could provide vital information to help unravel the cause of the
worst aviation accident since 2001.
Brazilian searchers in charge of recovering floating bodies and debris say strong ocean currents
have led them to widen the surface search area into Senegalese waters.

Details have emerged of the moments leading up to the disappearance of flight AF 447 with 228
people on-board, with error messages reportedly suggesting the plane was flying too slowly and
that two key computers malfunctioned.
Flight data messages provided by an Air France source show the precise chronology of events of
flight AF 447 before it plummeted into the sea 400 miles off Brazil on Monday.

These indicate that the pilot reported hitting tropical turbulence at 3am (BST), shortly before
reaching Senegalese airspace. It said the plane had passed through tall, dense cumulonimbus
thunderclouds.
At this stage, according to a source close to the investigation cited by Le Monde, the Airbus
A330-200's speed was "erroneous" - either too fast or too slow. Each plane has an optimal speed
when passing through difficult weather conditions, which for unknown reasons, had not been
reached by flight AF 447.
Airbus is expected to issue recommendations today to all operators of the A330 model to
maintain appropriate thrust levels to steady the plane's flight path in storms.
At 3.10am, the messages show the pilot was presented with a series of major failures over a four-
minute period before catastrophe struck, according to automatic data signals cited by the Sao
Paulo newspaper, le Jornal da Tarde.
At this time, the automatic pilot was disconnected – either by the pilot or by the plane's inbuilt
security system, which flips to manual after detecting a serious error.
It is unclear whether the pilot wanted to manually change course to avoid a dangerous cloud zone
– an extremely difficult manoeuvre at such high altitude.
At the same moment, another message indicates that the "fly-by-wire" electronic flight system
which controls the wing and tail flaps shifted to "alternative law" – an emergency backup system
engaged after multiple electricity failures. This system enables the plane to continue functioning
on minimum energy but reduces flight stability. An alarm would have sounded to alert the cabin
crew to this.
Two minutes later, another message indicates that two essential computers providing vital
information on altitude, speed and flight direction ceased functioning correctly.
Two new messages at 3.13am report electricity breakdowns in the principal and auxiliary flight
computers.
At 3.14am, a final message reads "cabin in vertical speed", suggesting a sudden loss of cabin
pressure, either the cause or the consequence of the plane breaking up in mid-air.
Despite the precise details, sources close to the investigation contested the chronology and
denied that the two computers providing altitude, speed and directional data malfunctioned.
The suggestion that the pilot gradually lost control of the plane appears to counter reports that the
plane exploded in mid-air.
These were lent more weight today after a Spanish pilot in the vicinity at the time reported seeing
an "intense white flash".
"Suddenly we saw in the distance a strong and intense flash of white light, followed by a
downward, vertical trajectory which broke up into six segments," the chief pilot of an Air Comet
plane from Lima to Madrid told the Spanish newspaper, El Mundo. He has reported his
observations to investigators.
Some experts have supported the theory that the plane exploded, given the wide area where
debris has been found.
However, Brazil's defence minister, Nelson Jobim, said an explosion was "improbable" given the
13-mile trail of kerosine spotted on the sea. "If we have fuel slicks, it's because it didn't burn," he
said.
Paul-Louis Arslanian, the head of the French air accident bureau in charge of the investigation,
also said there were other possible reasons for wide debris area, such as high winds and choppy
seas.
Yesterday he warned against hasty "speculation" and said that the search would take time.
Four naval vessels and a tanker are in the area around 400 miles off Brazil's northeastern coast.
Some 11 spotter planes are searching for more debris, after finding a seat and a 23-foot metal
object thought to be part of the fuselage. A French mini-submarine will arrive in the zone next
week.
French air crash: cause of disaster may
remain a mystery
Flight AF 447 was heading from Rio to Paris with 228 people on board on Monday when it was
lost over the ocean.
Brazilian and French officials confirmed said there was no doubt that debris spotted 400 miles off
Brazil's coast was from the missing plane. At least three navy vessels are converging on the area.
But it will be very difficult to recover the cockpit voice and flight data recorders given the depth of
the ocean – more than 10,000 ft – and its mountainous floor, according to Paul-Louis Arslanian,
chief of the French civil aviation ministry's bureau of investigation.
Investigators have around 30 days to find these boxes – which will give the clearest information
about what happened – after which their homing devices will cease to function.
"Without them it will be very difficult to reach established fact, but we can reach a possible
explanation," said Mr Arslanian in a press conference outside Paris.
"This catastrophe – which is the worst that our country has witnessed in terms of aviation, took
place in a very difficult region... so the investigation will not be easy... but we are not giving up."
There had appeared to be no problems with the flight before take-off, he added.
Mr Arslanian also there was no way of knowing it the chief pilot was in the cockpit when the plane
went down, as pilots on long-haul flights often take turns at the controls to stay alert.
"We don't even know the exact time of the accident," he said, adding that he would not be party to
speculation and that it was "essential we check and verify everything".
The plane lost contact with ground controllers after leaving Rio de Janeiro for Paris on Sunday
night. The crew made no distress call before the crash, but the plane sent an automatic message
just before it disappeared, reporting lost cabin pressure and electrical failure.
The reason for the crash remained unclear, with tropical thunderstorms, lightning and heavy
turbulence or a combination of all three as possible theories. According to French magazine Le
Point, the plane's data messages also indicated that outside sensors were affected by ice.
The investigation's first findings should be released by the end of the month.
France will hold religious ceremonies to remember the missing, while three days of national
mourning have been declared in Brazil.
Most of those on-board the Airbus A330-200 were Brazilian or French but they included a total of
32 nationalities. Five Britons and three Irish citizens were among them.