The loss of Air France Flight 447, which disappeared over the South Atlantic on June 1 during a nasty lightning storm, taking 228 lives, will continue to baffle aviation safety investigators until the Airbus A330’s flight data and cockpit voice recorders are hopefully recovered from the depths of the Atlantic Ocean.
At week’s end, wreckage of the downed jetliner, and the so-called ‘black boxes’, remained elusive. The Brazilian Air Force had spotted debris in the vast ocean at midweek, but it turned out not be from the doomed commercial transport, leaving much work left for the investigators in locating the aircraft’s remains and the bodies of the victims.
The jetliner was lost in the Atlantic beyond radar coverage from either Brazil or West Africa, although contact remained via radio. But no mayday was received from the flight deck crew. Clues to what happened during the final minutes of Air France Flight 447 come from satellite messages that were received by Air France maintenance personnel. The data transmissions were automatically sent and included health monitoring reports on the aircraft and its subsystems.
French officials said they have no clear explanation for what happened to the jetliner. They said lightning alone was unlikely to cause such a sudden crash and suggested “a succession of extraordinary events” may have been responsible.
The plane had taken off Sunday night from Rio de Janeiro bound for Paris. On board the 11-hour flight were 12 crew members and 216 passengers. The flight deck crew made their last radio contact with Brazilian air traffic controllers three hours after takeoff from Brazil’s Galeao-Antonio Carlos Jobim International Airport, reporting they were passing through an area of black, electrically-charged clouds. The planned flight path took the aircraft towards the Cape Verde Islands off West Africa, before turning north to France.
About 30 minutes later, the Airbus, flying at an altitude of 35,000 feet, encountered a severe storm in an area of the Atlantic known for turbulent weather systems. At the same time, the aircraft emitted a series of ten automatic messages via satellite indicating that its electrical system had failed and that they had lost cabin pressure.
The New York Times reports that the series of automatic messages indicated that the autopilot had disengaged, a computer system had switched to alternative power and that controls to keep the plane stable had been damaged. About three minutes later, more automatic messages reported the failure of systems to monitor air speed, altitude and direction.
Air France said a veteran captain with 11,000 flight hours, including 1,700 hours at the control of Airbus A330s, was in command. The aircraft entered service in 2005 and was last inspected on April 16.
The FDR and CVR include tracking beacons that activate in an accident. They broadcast a homing signal for about one month. But search teams must be within 4,000-5,000 feet of the devices to pick up the signals. And the air safety devices are probably deep at the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean. Ships outfitted with underwater vehicles are part of the recovery mission.
A senior Brazilian military official said a long fuel slick on the surface of the ocean seemed to rule out a mid-air fire or explosion. But an Air Comet pilot who was flying in the area said he saw a bright flash of light about the time that Air France Flight 447 was in desperate trouble. The speed of the aircraft at the time has been brought into question, and it is reported that Airbus was preparing a warning notice on the subject.
The search for wreckage, the black boxes and answers continues…….