PARIS, July 2 (Xinhua) -- The
Airbus A330 of Air France Flight 447 plunged vertically into the Atlantic Ocean
but did not break up in the air, said the BEA accident investigation agency on
Thursday when it released its first report on the June 1 crash.
A handout picture from the Brazilian
Navy released on June 22, 2009 shows Brazilian Navy warships searching for
debris from Air France Airbus A330 out of the Atlantic Ocean. Brazilian
Navy announced on Monday that they found more debris of the crashed Air
France Airbus A330. (Xinhua Photo) Photo Gallery>>>
The agency added that the faults of the speed sensors
were not the cause of the crash.
"The plane was not destroyed in mid-air," said Alain
Bouillard of the BEA during a news conference at BEA headquarters outside Paris.
"The plane appears to have hit the surface of the
water in flying position with a strong vertical acceleration," he noted, adding
that the plane's belly hit the water first.
After one month of probe into
the crash, investigators also found the faults of speed sensors on Airbus
A330 were "a factor but not the cause."
A handout picture released by the
Brazilian Navy shows recovered debris of the Air France aircraft lost in
midflight over the Atlantic Ocean on June 1 onboard a Brazilian Navy
Corvette at Recife's harbour on June 19, 2009. (Xinhua/Brazilian
Navy Handout) Photo Gallery>>>
"It's one of the factors but not the only one," said
Bouillard.
The crash of the Air France flight into the Atlantic
en route from Rio de Janeiro of Brazil to Paris on June 1 was the worst accident
in the airline's history. The disaster claimed the lives of all 228 people from
32 different countries on board.
"We are still some distance away from establishing
the causes of the accident," said Bouillard.
According to the BEA, the search for the flight
recorders will continue until July 10.
RIO DE JANEIRO, July 1 (Xinhua) -- Brazil's Federal Police
informed on Wednesday that the bodies of other 21 occupants of Air France's
Flight 447, which crashed over the Atlantic a month ago, were identified.
With that, the total number of identified bodies
increased to 35. The plane's pilot and at least one other member of the crew are
among those. Full story
PARIS, June 25 (Xinhua) -- The bodies
of the captain and a flight attendant of an Air France airliner crashed into the
Atlantic on June 1 have been identified, Air France said Thursday.
Full story
BEIJING, June 23 (Xinhuanet) -- Signals detected by the
French navy were not coming from the black boxes of the crashed Air France
Flight 447, a French official said Tuesday, ruling out earlier reports of the
jetliner's sounds in the French media.
Earlier, the French publication Le Monde reported
that beacon signals emitted by the black boxes frequently from the day of the
crash on June 1 were picked up by French ships and the mini submarine Nautile
has been launched to investigate the signal.
The aide to France's top transport official,
Jean-Louis Borloo, told The Associated Press that the "black boxes have not been
detected." Full story
A handout picture released by the
Brazilian Navy shows recovered debris of the Air France aircraft lost in
midflight over the Atlantic Ocean on June 1 onboard a Brazilian Navy
Corvette at Recife's harbour on June 19, 2009. Air France announced Friday
that it will pay about 17,500 euros (about 24,000 U.S. dollars) as an
initial compensation to the families of the victims of the Flight 447 air
crash. (Xinhua/Brazilian Navy Handout) Photo
Gallery>>>
PARIS, June 19 (Xinhua) -- Air France announced Friday
that it will pay about 17,500 euros (about 24,000 U.S. dollars) as an initial
compensation to the families of the victims of the Flight 447 air crash on June
1.
"We are going to be very focused on a first advance
that will be paid out to each victim about 17,500 euros," Air France Chief
Executive Pierre-Henri Gourgeon said on RTL radio. Full story
PARIS, June 12 (Xinhua) -- An investigation of the crash
of Air France Flight 447 is eying the possibility that defective airspeed
sensors gave false readings to the plane's computers, but officials say it will
be a while before the cause of the mishap is known. Full story
