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The findings appeared to be the first physical evidence of the crash that killed all 228 people on board the Air France flight from Rio de Janeiro to Paris. The bodies were discovered about 400 miles northeast of the Fernando de Noronha islands off Brazil's northern coast. Also found was a suitcase containing a plane ticket for the flight.
In earlier reports, investigators said Air France had not replaced air speed measurement instruments on the plane, which the Airbus had recommended. Airbus had recommended that airlines replace the instruments on the A330. The head of the crash investigation, Paul-Louis Arslanian, director of France’s Bureau d’Enquêtes et d’Analyses, known as the B.E.A., said Air France had not changed the instruments known as Pitot tubes on the plane that crashed.
One can only see that this opens up Air France to lawsuits. Of course, money does not make up for the loss of life. An Air France memo Friday said it is replacing Pitot tubes on all medium- and long-haul Airbus jets.
This is all speculation: the key to the cause of the crash most likely rests at the bottom of the Atlantic ocean. The black boxes (the data and voice recorders) could be submerged in 3,000 feet to 13,000 feet of water. The boxes automatically begin emitting a ping when immersed in water, but but those will start to fade after 30 days. The French navy is sending a nuclear-powered submarine to the area in an effort to find the boxes.
Flight 447 and the Airbus A330 from Rio de Janeiro to Paris disappeared nearly four hours after takeoff on Sunday night, killing all 228 aboard. It was Air France's deadliest plane crash and the world's worst commercial air disaster since 2001
Posted June 6th, 2009 by Michael Santo
