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Mr. Linsky BusTalk's Offical Welcoming Committee
Joined: 16 Apr 2007 Posts: 5071 Location: BRENTWOOD, CA. - WOODMERE, N.Y.
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Posted: Fri Jul 03, 2009 12:06 am Post subject: 'DID AIR FRANCE 447 BREAK UP ON IMPACT?' |
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Associated Press July 2nd. 2009
French investigators trying to find out why an Air France plane crashed in the Atlantic say they believe it broke up on contact with the water, not in the air.
They also found that the plane's speed sensors had been "a factor but not the cause" of the crash.
All 228 people aboard flight 447 were killed when it plunged into the ocean en route from Rio de Janeiro to Paris on June 1st.
Teams looking for the plane's flight data recorders will continue operations for another 10 days.
Alain Bouillard, of France's BEA accident investigation agency, said the crash will be an extremely difficult one to understand.
"Between the surface of the water and an altitude of 35,000ft [10,700m], we don't really know what happened," Mr Bouillard said. "In the absence of the flight recorders, it is extremely difficult to draw conclusions."
But he said an examination of the recovered wreckage led them to believe the plane probably hit the water intact "in the direction of flight and with a strong vertical acceleration".
BBC transport correspondent Tom Symonds said if the plane had broken up in the air, pieces of the fuselage would have been found twisted in a variety of directions.
Instead they showed signs of compression in one direction, resulting from the plane hitting the water on its belly.
Life jackets found in the wreckage had not been inflated, indicating that the passengers had little warning of a water landing.
There has been speculation that the old-style speed sensors may have given the plane's pilots faulty information.
But Mr Bouillard said they had been "a factor but not the cause" of the crash.
In the wake of the crash, Air France accelerated an existing programme to replace speed monitors on its Airbus planes.
Mr Bouillard told reporters that investigators found "neither traces of fire nor traces of explosives."
He said there was also concern about the length of the delay - six hours - between the crew failing to contact air traffic controllers in Dakar, western Africa, as planned and the alarm being raised.
He said his team was "a long way from establishing the causes of the accident" but that the search for the Airbus A330's data recorders would be extended to 10 July.
The French investigation appears to contradict earlier reports attributed to Brazilian pathologists.
They said last month that the injuries sustained by the passengers whose bodies had been found suggested the plane had been in pieces before it hit the sea.
Mr Bouillard said France had not yet been given access to those autopsy reports.
Search teams have recovered 51 bodies from the ocean but have now said that finding any further remains might be "impossible".
Mr. Linsky - Green Bus Lines, Inc., Jamaica, NY |
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Dieseljim Deceased
Joined: 26 Jun 2008 Posts: 548 Location: Perry, NY
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Posted: Fri Jul 03, 2009 5:45 am Post subject: AF 447 Impact With the Water |
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From reports I have been picking up, it is starting to sound like that the aircraft hit the water belly first and at a high rate of speed, which could account for its break up. No one could possibly survive a 500+ mph impact with the water or any other surface. |
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HwyHaulier
Joined: 16 Dec 2007 Posts: 932 Location: Harford County, MD
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Posted: Fri Jul 03, 2009 8:48 am Post subject: |
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Mr 'L' -
Ah, I'm not one to much complain, but perhaps better this should have been "tacked" into the open thread? I digress...
Indeed! The report hints at the very spooky faults that may exist, at least insofaras some of us perceive it. That is, can we ever get any
definitive answers about legitimate concerns of airframe integrity? With the recorders in the deep blue sea, odds aren't good they will
ever be recovered...
....................Vern................ |
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Mr. Linsky BusTalk's Offical Welcoming Committee
Joined: 16 Apr 2007 Posts: 5071 Location: BRENTWOOD, CA. - WOODMERE, N.Y.
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Posted: Fri Jul 03, 2009 11:06 pm Post subject: |
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'FOOD FOR THOUGHT'
While it's true that we may never know what actually sent Air France flight 447 hurtling from 35,000 feet to its watery grave in the Atlantic, we can make suppositions as to the reasons which could be many fold.
Some, including tail, speed indicator and weather problems, have already been touched upon in scant detail, and are as good guesses as any considering the lack of any other solid information at present.
It's just times like this that I like to think out of the box;
I have always been a would-be astronomer and, in fact, would have gone into that science had my grandfather not steered me to law insisting that there was so much more money to be made (he was right!).
Anyway, here's a few statistics for you off the top of my head;
There are thousands upon thousands of meteorites showering our planet on a daily basis and, with the exception of an occasional collision with the roof of a farm house or the trunk lid of a car, they fall harmlessly into our vast network of oceans.
At the same time on any given day thousands upon thousands of aircraft are plying the skies all over the world.
It amazes me that no plane ever gets hit by one of these alien missiles.
All you'de need is a tiny piece of rock traveling at some 40,000 miles per hour and hitting a fuselage in just the right place to send even a 747 to the bottom of the sea.
I think this is as good as any explanation as to what might have happened to flight 447!
Mr. Linsky - Green Bus Lines, Inc., Jamaica, NY |
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pitpup
Age: 66 Joined: 21 Jun 2009 Posts: 16 Location: Gibbsboro, NJ
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Posted: Sat Jul 04, 2009 11:21 pm Post subject: |
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Interesting thinking there, Mr. L. Even in the Lotto, people win and it's a million to one and higher. The 'statistician' in me says hey! That's some pretty far fetched thinking. All that sky, all those little targets, what are the odds of a meteor hitting a jet.
But as I said earlier, people win the lottery all the time and dems some astronomical odds, indeed.
In the end, the outcome remains the same. A tragedy through and through... |
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Mr. Linsky BusTalk's Offical Welcoming Committee
Joined: 16 Apr 2007 Posts: 5071 Location: BRENTWOOD, CA. - WOODMERE, N.Y.
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Posted: Sun Jul 05, 2009 12:20 am Post subject: |
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pitpup,
I agree!
Even if they were to discover that 447 was downed by a meteorite, there would be little if any 'fix' for future flights considering the speed at which these shards enter the atmosphere.
Detection might be one thing, but maneuvering a cumbersome commercial jet quickly enough to avoid collision would be something else.
What we do have to keep in mind is Murphy's Law which says that if it can happen it will happen!
But, as you point out, the odds are in our favor and it certainly won't stop me from flying!
BTW; as the unofficial welcoming committee here at BusTalk let me do just that and say that we look forward to your valued input.
Mr. Linsky - Green Bus Lines, Inc., Jamaica, NY |
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HwyHaulier
Joined: 16 Dec 2007 Posts: 932 Location: Harford County, MD
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Dieseljim Deceased
Joined: 26 Jun 2008 Posts: 548 Location: Perry, NY
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Posted: Wed Jul 22, 2009 2:35 pm Post subject: Perhaps Air France ought to be renamed Air Chance |
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It seems to me that the old nickname of Air Chance, that Air France was once tagged with would be most appropriate for that airline, given the poor safety culture prevailant at that carrier, according to the report and the increasingly poor reputation being acquired by Air Bus aircraft which seem to be becoming today's DeHavilland Comet I's: accidents waiting and looking for someplace to happen. I cannot help but wonder how much bribe money, if any, Airbus Industrie spent to sell the damn things to US carriers.THAT is one can of worms that needs to be opened, at least that's how I see it, after all, people's lives are at stake. |
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