DAKAR, July 4 (Xinhua) -- Squabbles have emerged between Brazil's air authorities and the Agency for Aviation Security and Navigation in Africa and Madagascar (ASECNA) after investigators said controllers were slow to realize Air France Flight 447 had been lost.
French investigators said Thursday in their first report on the June 1 accident that air traffic controllers in Dakar, Senegal had never officially taken control of Flight 447 after its last radio contact with Brazilian flight controllers at 1:35 a.m., and it wasn't until up to seven hours later that flight controllers in Madrid and Brest, France, raised an alarm.
The pilots of the plane failed to connect to the flight control center in Dakar, after leaving Brazil's zone, which meant that search and rescue operations could have been launched earlier, investigators said.
Brazilian Air Force on Friday denied making any mistakes in the case, saying that it warned the Senegalese air traffic control where Flight 447 was heading and all required information about the plane's flight plan was passed to their Senegalese counterparts.
However, the ASECNA, headquartered in Darkar, said in a statement Friday that "Flight 447 was never transferred to the Dakar control centre."
According to the ASECNA, at 0136 GMT, June 1, Brazil's Atlantico center sent some of the jetliner's flight information to Darkar, including its flight path and height.
But it is not equal to a transfer, the agency noted.
"It was up to the controller at the Atlantico centre (Brazil) to call his counterpart in the Dakar centre to confirm that the plane was leaving his airspace so that it could take control," it said, "This formality was not carried out."
Meanwhile, the Brazilian Air Force also released an audio record of communication with the doomed Air France plane on the day to avoid the blame from French investigation report that Brazil's slowness to notice the loss of Flight 447 delayed the searching efforts.
The statement said Flight 447 made the last contact with Brazil at 10:33 p.m. local time on May 31 (0133 GMT, June 1), and informed the estimated time to pass the next checkpoint. The Brazilian air traffic control then informed Dakar of the plane's position, and Dakar confirmed the reception of the information.
Brazil Air Force also mentioned an agreement with Senegalese air traffic control departments which says if a plane enters Senegalese airspace in time, it is not necessary to inform the Brazilian authorities to formalize the control transference.
Brazil Air Force therefore concluded it should be the Senegalese responsibility to check the plane's position in time and to alert Brazil about the loss of contact.
On June 1, the Rio to Paris Flight 447 slammed into the Atlantic Ocean, killing all of the 228 people on board.
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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.
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Air France to compensate families of plane crash victims
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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)
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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
Airspeed sensors eyed in crash of Air France Flight 447
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
Special Report: Air France airliner crashes
