 |
|
Paul-Louis Arslanian, head of the French
Office of Inquiries and Analysis for the Security of Civil Aviation,
addresses a press conference in Bourget on the outskirts of Paris June 3,
2009. There were no signs suggesting Air France's missing plane had
failures before takeoff from Rio de Janeiro of Brazil on Sunday,
Paul-Louis Arslanian told the press conference on Wednesday. (Xinhua/Zhang
Yuwei)
Photo
Gallery>>> |
PARIS, June 2 (Xinhua) -- A debris field
scattered across three miles (five kilometers) of open water marks the spot in
the Atlantic Ocean where an Air France Airbus A330-200 went down with 228 people
on board.
But until the plane's all-important black box
recorders are recovered from the depths of the Atlantic, just what caused
Sunday's mishap and doomed Flight 447 will continue to haunt all of those
concerned.
TERRORIST ATTACK NOT
EXCLUDED
The reason for the crash remains unclear, with strong
thunderstorms, lightning or a catastrophic combination of causes as possible
theories.
Considering the precedent of the Sept. 11, 2001,
attacks in America, too, many people mentioned the possibility of a terrorist
hijacking when the plane initially was reported lost.
Jean-Louis Borloo, the French minister overseeing
transportation, firmly excluded terrorism and said he believed the disappearance
to be purely an aviation accident.
An anonymous official from French Defense Ministry
also said that there was no evidence indicating an attack or any violence on the
plane.
Still, French Defense Minister Herve Morin said
terrorism could not be discounted.
"We can't rule out a terrorist act since terrorism is
the main threat to Western democracies," Morin told Europe 1 radio. "But at this
time we don't have any element whatsoever indicating that such an act could have
caused this accident."
The mysterious accident left such a mist that the
French government kept a very prudent attitude.
"No hypothesis" could be excluded, French President
Nicolas Sarkozy said Monday at Charles de Gaulle Airport in Paris.
TRACE OF BLACK
BOXES
Brazilian officials said the plane disappeared over
the Atlantic somewhere between a point 186 miles (300 kilometers) northeast of
their coastal city Natal and the Cape Verde islands off Africa.
The region is known as the "horse latitudes," where
the tropics of the Northern and Southern Hemispheres mix, sometimes creating
brutal thunderstorms that can rise to 55,000 feet (16,760 meters), higher than
commercial jetliners can go.
On Wednesday, Brazilian military planes spotted a
five-kilometer path of debris on the Atlantic about 400 miles
(644kilometers)from Brazil's Fernando de Noronha archipelago, near the Sao Pedro
and Sao Paulo Islands.
Douglas Ferreira Machado, head of investigations for
Brazil's Civil Aeronautics Agency, told reporters "the black boxes should have
sank in the sea."
The cause of the accident will not be known until the black boxes are recovered. They are designed to last 30 days underwater
KEY FACTORS TO
CRASH
What caused the accident? Experts are at a loss to
explain the crash.
The crew made no distress call before the crash but
the plane's system sent an automatic message just before it disappeared,
reporting lost cabin pressure and electrical failure.
Pierre Sparaco, a French aviation expert, analyzed
the flight records of Flight 447 and pointed out Tuesday that technological
flaws blamed on bad weather could be the most likely reason.
He noted that the plane went down while it was
cruising, the part of a flight that is much safer than the takeoff or landing.
Air France chief executive officer Pierre-Henry Gourgeon thought otherwise. He said the true reason likely was that certain technological failures occurred before the plane encountered the massive storm.
 |
|
Alain Bouillard, investigator of the French Office of Inquiries and Analysis for the Security of Civil Aviation, attends a press conference in Bourget on the outskirts of Paris June 3, 2009. There were no signs suggesting Air France's missing plane had failures before takeoff from Rio de Janeiro of Brazil on Sunday, Paul-Louis Arslanian, head of the French Office of Inquiries and Analysis for the Security of Civil Aviation, told the press conference on Wednesday. (Xinhua/Zhang Yuwei)
Photo Gallery>>> |
Alain Bouillard, who led the probe into the crash of
the Concorde in July 2000, was put in charge of France's accident investigation
team. Bouillard said the team would submit its first preliminary report by the
end of June.
Debris confirms crash of Air France
jet
RIO DE JANEIRO, June 2 (Xinhua) -- Brazil Tuesday
confirmed the debris found earlier on the open Atlantic Ocean belonged to Air
France Flight 447, solidifying the crash of the jet that went missing early
Monday.
 |
|
Brazilian Defense Minister Nelson Jobim
holds a diagram of the crash area during a news conference in Rio de
Janeiro June 2, 2009. Jobim said that wreckage spotted in the Atlantic
Ocean is "without a doubt" from the Air France jet that disappeared en
route to Paris from Rio de Janeiro with 228 people on board.
(Xinhua/Reuters Photo)
Photo
Gallery>>> |
The three-mile (five kilometers) path of wreckage found in the Atlantic Ocean
belonged to the Air France jet carrying 228 people that was believed to have
crashed into the sea, Brazilian Defense Minister Nelson Jobim said on
Tuesday. Full
story
Air France crash maybe caused by
weather-linked technical failure: expert
PARIS, June 2 (Xinhua) -- A French expert said on Tuesday
that the missing of Air France Flight 447, believed to have crashed, was most
likely the result of a technical failure caused by bad weather.
Pierre Sparaco, a member of the French Air and Space
Academy, said an accident was more likely to occur when the aircraft was taking
off or landing, compared with the period of cruise aviation. Full story
Cause of French plane disappearance
remains unknown: French PM
PARIS, June 2
(Xinhua) -- French Prime Minister Francois Fillon said Tuesday it is still
unclear what caused the disappearance of the Air France Airbus.
"No theory is favored at the moment," Fillon told the
French parliament. Full story
Brazil confirms debris belongs to
missing Air France
jet
RIO DE JANEIRO,
June 2 (Xinhua) -- The debris found earlier in the day undoubtedly belonged to
the Air France Flight 447, which went missing in the early hours of Monday,
Brazil's Defense Minister Nelson Jobim said Tuesday afternoon.
The debris was found at the open ocean in the
mid-Atlantic, about 400 miles (640 km) northeast of Brazil's Fernando de Noronha
archipelago, Jobim told a press conference in Rio. Full story
Brazilian president: bodies of likely
plane crash victims can be
found
RIO DE JANEIRO, June 2
(Xinhua) -- Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva voiced his confidence
on Tuesday that the search teams will manage to find the bodies of the likely
victims of the Air France Flight 447, which disappeared over the Atlantic Ocean
in the early hours of Monday, local media reported.
Lula, who is on an official visit to Guatemala, has
been informed by Brazil's Defense Minister Nelson Jobim of the latest
developments of the issue, such as the fact that debris were spotted by Air
Force planes on Tuesday. Full story
U.S. military joins search for French plane
survivors
WASHINGTON, June 2
(Xinhua) -- A U.S. Navy P-3C Orion maritime patrol plane will join international
search efforts for survivors and debris from Air France Flight 447, which was
believed to have crashed, the U.S. Southern Command said Tuesday.
The aircraft and 21 U.S. crew members arrived in Brazil
earlier in the day from its forward operating location in Comalapa Air Base, El
Salvador, the command said in a statement. Full story
Chinese companies confirm staff onboard missing Air Franch
plane
SHENYANG, June 2 (Xinhua) -- Two Chinese companies said
Tuesday that seven employees were on board the Air France jetliner that vanished
in the Atlantic.
Benxi Iron & Steel (Group) Co. Ltd. said four men and
two women, including a senior manager, were taking the flight to Paris after
business talks with representatives of Australia's BHP Billiton Ltd. and
Brazil's CVRD, said Liu Dahong, vice director of publicity department of the
company based in Liaoning Province, northeast China. Full story
Possible burning wreckage spotted
after Air France plane disappeared
 |
|
A Brazilian Air Force radar plane at
Fernando de Noronha airport preparing for the search of the Air France
flight 447 bound for Paris that plunged into the Atlantic just a few hours
after taking off on late May 31 from Rio de Janeiro.((Xinhua/AFP
Photo)
Photo
Gallery>>> |
RIO
DE JANEIRO, June 2 (Xinhua) -- A pilot from Brazil's airline TAM may have
spotted a burning piece of wreckage of the Air France passenger plane that
disappeared early Monday morning.
The Brazilian Air Force confirmed late Monday that
the pilot saw "orange-colored spots" on the Atlantic Ocean, about 40 minutes
after the last contact between Air France Flight 447 and Brazil's air control
center.Full story
Air France locates accident
spot
PARIS, June 1 (Xinhua) -- Air France's chief executive
said on Monday that the missing Air France airliner Airbus A330-200 disappeared
in the middle of the waters between Brazilian and African coasts with a
circumference of scores of nautical miles. Full story
Brazilian president expresses sympathy
to relatives of missing airliner
victims
BRASILIA, June 1 (Xinhua)
-- Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva said on Monday that he "shares
the pain of the relatives and friends of the victims" from the flight 447 of Air
France that disappeared on Sunday night when it was flying from Rio de Janeiro
to Paris.
The Air France airliner, an Airbus 330-200 bound for
Charles de Gaulle airport in Paris, lost contact with the control center shortly
after its takeoff from Rio de Janeiro on Sunday at 7 p.m. (2200 GMT).Full story
Barroso expresses sympathy to
Brazilian, French presidents over plane
crash
BRUSSELS, June 1
(Xinhua) -- European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso expressed express
solidarity and sympathy over an accident of an Air France aircraft in a message
sent respectively on Monday to French President Nicolas Sarkozy and his
Brazilian counterpart Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva.
"It is with emotion that I learned of the accident
that took place this Sunday with an Air France plane from Rio de Janeiro to
Paris, causing 228 victims and enormous suffering on both sides ofthe Atlantic,"
Barroso said on behalf of the European Commission. Full story
Brazil sends planes, ships for Air
France Flight 447 search
RIO
DE JANEIRO, June 1 (Xinhua) -- The Brazilian government said on Monday that
three Air Force planes and three Navy ships are in route to take part on the
search effort for the Air France Flight 447, some 1,100 kilometers off the coast
of the Brazilian city of Natal in the country's northeastern region.
The French government is also helping, with a
military aircraft which took off from Senegal earlier on Monday. Full story
Air France airliner vanishes, chances
of finding survivor very slim
PARIS, June 1 (Xinhua) -- Chances of finding any survivors
are "very slim" as an Air France airliner with 228 people on board vanished over
the Atlantic Ocean, French President Nicolas Sarkozy said on Monday. Full story
Air France says air crash victims from
32 nations
PARIS, June 1 (Xinhua) -- Air France announced Monday that
victims aboard Flight 447 missing over the Atlantic on route from Rio de Janeiro
to Paris-Charles de Gaulle airport came from 32 countries. Full story
Eight Chinese nationals onboard
missing Air France plane: Chinese Embassy
EIO DE JANEIRO, June 1 (Xinhua) -- Eight Chinese nationals
were onboard an Air France passenger plane missing over the Atlantic off the
Brazilian coast, the Chinese Embassy in Brazil said on Monday. Full story
Special Report: Air France airliner
crashes
