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Georg Burdicek

Air France A330 F-GZCP Flight AF447 GIG-CDG Crashed Into the Atlantic Ocean All 228 POB Killed

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An Air France plane with 216 passengers and 12 crew on board was presumed to have crashed into the Atlantic Ocean amid heavy turbulence on a flight from Rio de Janeiro to Paris.

Almost a full flight. AF 332 is configured with 219 seats. 7 children and 1 baby are among the 216 passengers onboard.

 

They is still no sign of plane wreckage or anything until now. Another Bermuda Triangle eh ?

 

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Almost a full flight. AF 332 is configured with 219 seats. 7 children and 1 baby are among the 216 passengers onboard.

 

They is still no sign of plane wreckage or anything until now. Another Bermuda Triangle eh ?

 

Reportedly a TAM flight saw a few orange spots or burning spots in the ocean.. that could be of that of af 447, let's hope it will be found soon and for survivors to appear as well..

 

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Yes, flight deck crew of a TAM airlines flight from Europe to Brazil saw orange spots over the Atlantic. Hope it's AF447. It's also mentioned that it had an electrical failure relay message automatically sent to traffic controllers, and if it had, that would have been almost certainly that it crashed, due to the fly-by-wire control systems (I think there were hydraulic failures too). Coupled with terrible flying conditions (weather), that would be a disaster.

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The flightpath took route UN873 which partly criss-crossed into the Intertropical Convergence Zone - an area known for very severe/violent storms caused by equator's heatwave. This zone is where tradewinds clash into each other, and there is no where to go but up. The ICZ is also the breeding ground for Atlantic hurricanes.

 

That's why meteorologists reported turbulence up to the height of 50,000ft.

 

http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/IOTD/view.php?id=703

 

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AF4747 shows the hallmarks of a mid-flight breakup/structural failure. A few years ago, CI 611, which suffered structural breakup at FL350, did not make any distress transmission.

Both airlines did not have the chance to declare emergency at all. The CI 742 vanished just like that. This AF 332 is even worse as the plane is still missing as we speak.

 

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47258983.gif

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/wo...14.story?page=1

On Monday, experts were digging into two recent incidents involving the same Airbus model in which an electronic system failed, in one case causing a plane to dip uncontrollably while at cruising altitude, injuring 70 passengers. The pilot was able to regain control and land safely at a nearby airport.

 

The electronic equipment, known as an Air Data Inertial Reference Unit, determines the plane's speed and location. European aviation authorities issued an emergency airworthiness directive in January alerting A330 operators who had the unit installed on their planes to follow revised procedures for operating it.

 

The Federal Aviation Administration issued its own directive in March, saying that the equipment failure "could result in high pilot workload, deviation from the intended flight path and possible loss of control of the airplane."

 

_45852693_plane_crash2_466.gif

 

 

 

 

 

CI 742 vanished just like that.

And most spooky of all, CI's CVR last few minutes recorded the captain singing Teresa Teng's song "When will you return?" (何日君再来)...

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Regarding "Fly by wire"

 

 

If all electrical systems fail, will the control systems fail too due to loss of voltage and current?

 

 

 

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DOUBT'S OVER LIGHTNING ROLE IN MISSING JETLINER

 

PARIS, June 1 (Reuters) - Two Lufthansa jets passed through turbulence before and after a missing Air France plane without incident on Monday, a source with access to data said, leaving experts scrambling to assess the weather's role in the disaster.

 

A frantic air-sea search was under way to locate the missing Airbus and its 228 passengers and crew more than 12 hours after it was presumed to have crashed into the Atlantic on a flight from Rio de Janeiro to Paris early on Monday.

 

Air France (AIRF.PA) said the Airbus (EAD.PA) A330 plane had hit stormy weather and "strong turbulence" and a spokesman said it could have been hit by lightning.

 

If so, it would be the worst air disaster caused by lightning, according to the Aviation Safety Network, but most experts said such a strike was unlikely to down a modern jet.

 

In the worst previous recorded incident blamed on lightning, 113 people were killed in 1962 on a Boeing 707, also operated by Air France, the Dutch-based database organisation said.

 

Brazil said Monday's aircraft last made radar contact at 0133 GMT after passing the Fernando de Noronha islands off its northern coast, about 250 miles (400 km) south of the equator.

 

It was heading towards a notorious stormy patch that shifts around the equator known as the Intertropical Convergence Zone.

 

It had been preceded safely on the same track 30 minutes earlier by a Boeing 747-400 heading to Frankfurt for Lufthansa, according to a source with access to data transmitted from jetliners for the World Meteorological Organisation.

 

Two hours later an MD-11 cargo plane also flown by Lufthansa passed just south of the same spot on the way to West Africa, the source told Reuters, asking not to be identified.

 

Neither aircraft reported any anomaly.

"You can't tie it down to lightning with the information we have; for me it's a red herring," said the source, who specialises in aviation weather. Lufthansa declined comment.

 

 

CIRCUIT FAILURE

 

An Air France captain operating on long-range routes, who agreed to speak to Reuters on condition of anonymity, said lightning alone was unlikely to have caused the presumed crash.

 

"I would not think it was possible that lightning could lead to a short-circuit and disrupt all of the plane's electrical systems. Test planes have resisted some 30 lightning strikes and nothing ever happened," the pilot said.

 

More likely, he said, is that the jet might have suffered an electrical system failure which would have turned off its radars and communications systems, turning it blind and making it more vulnerable to storms and strong lateral air currents.

 

Air France said the A330 plane sent an automatic message at 0214 GMT indicating an electrical circuit failure. There were no other official details on the possible cause of the crash.

 

Lightning strikes are fairly common but planes built out of metal like the A330 are designed to be able to shake them off.

 

The massive current passes along the metal fuselage and is allowed to arc towards earth without causing harm.

 

 

Source - Reuters

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airbus philosophy is computer is smarter than human. So, if the pilot is trying to crash it, the computer will override the pilot and make it back to straight and level. as for boeing like 777, it's also fly-by-wire, but the philosophy of human smarter than computer still there. If the pilot wanted to stall it, the computer protection system sensed it and will against the intention of the pilot, but if the pilot insisted it, the computer will let go and follow what the pilot commands it. B777 still have somes conventional cables running thru it. Airbus a330 uses conventional cable only for stabilizer. others all wires.

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The plane had a C or D check on the 14th of April 2009. So the plane is maintained well this could be like TWA 800. If I could i would want to find out if it haD a tail strike or is there a part of THE a330 that was faulty reminds me of DC-10's that had the faulty door. Issac "mODERN" Bermuda Strike. The french have asked the US help. But the media is going crazy and saying that 2 engines are unsafe on planes. :blink:

 

Just IN

This was reported in the same area where JJ plane saw the orange spots.

Sailors 'spot debris in Atlantic'Article from: Font size: Decrease Increase Email article: Email Print article: Print By staff writers and wires

 

June 02, 2009 07:04pm

 

Distraught ... relatives arrive at the Charles de Gaulle airport crisis centre. Picture: Gonzalo Fuentes / Reuters / No Source

 

Air France jet missing over Atlantic

Crew of other plane see "bright spots"

In pictures: Flight that never arrived

A330's history of electric and pressure faults

 

DEBRIS floating on the Atlantic Ocean in the area where a missing Air France passenger jet is suspected of crashing has been sighted by crew on a French freighter, Brazilian media has reported.

 

The sighting by the crew on the Douce France is said to be in the same area off the coast of Senegal where a Brazil TAM airline pilot spotted what was thought to be a burning piece of wreckage.

 

Brazilian carrier TAM said the crew of one of its planes saw "bright spots" on the surface of the ocean. The sighting took place at about the same time that Air France Flight 447 vanished from radar.

 

The Airbus A330 carrying 228 people on board went missing on a flight from Rio de Janeiro to Paris. French President Nicolas Sarkozy said there was little chance of finding any survivors.

 

Planes are continuing to search the Atlantic Ocean. France and Brazil sent military aircraft and ships to try to find wreckage between Brazil and West Africa. US President Barack Obama has offered full assistance in the search.

 

"We will search all night long and keep going through dawn," said Colonel Jorge Amaral of the Brazilian air force.

 

"We have to work as if it were possible to find survivors."

 

If none are found, it would be the worst disaster in Air France's 75-year history and the deadliest since one of the company's supersonic Concorde planes crashed in 2000.

 

Air France flight 447 left Brazil on Sunday night local time and lost contact with air traffic controllers in the early hours of the morning ( about 12.15pm yesterday AEST).

 

It was carrying 216 passengers of 32 nationalities, including seven children and one baby, Air France said. Sixty-one were French citizens, 58 Brazilian and 26 German. Twelve crew members were also on board.

 

Tearful relatives in Paris and Rio were attended to by teams of psychologists.

 

The Air France plane flew into turbulent storms four hours after taking off from Rio and 15 minutes later sent an automatic message reporting electrical faults, the airline said.

 

The company said a lightning strike could be to blame and that several of the mechanisms on the Airbus 330-200, which has a good safety record, had malfunctioned.

 

But aviation experts said lightning strikes on planes were common and could not alone explain a disaster.

 

Sources with access to flight data sent to the World Meteorological Organisation said two Lufthansa jets passed through the same area of turbulence yesterday without incident.

 

Experts also said the plane could have suffered an electrical failure, effectively leaving the pilots "blind" and making the plane more vulnerable in an area notorious for harsh weather.

 

Aviation specialists said it could take a long time to locate the black box.

 

Air France said the plane, which was powered with General Electric engines, went into service in April 2005. It last underwent maintenance in a hangar in April this year

 

In October last year a computer glitch caused a Qantas A330 to climb before nose diving over Western Australia injuring dozens of passengers.

 

In November 2007 six people were injured in a "depressurisation incident" during the test flight of an Airbus A330 to be delivered to Air Mauritius.

 

From http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/story/0,2...5005961,00.html

 

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The plane had a C or D check on the 14th of April 2009. So the plane is maintained well this could be like TWA 800. If I could i would want to find out if it haD a tail strike or is there a part of THE a330 that was faulty reminds me of DC-10's that had the faulty door. Issac "mODERN" Bermuda Strike. The french have asked the US help. But the media is going crazy and saying that 2 engines are unsafe on planes. :blink:

 

Just IN

This was reported in the same area where JJ plane saw the orange spots.

Sailors 'spot debris in Atlantic'Article from: Font size: Decrease Increase Email article: Email Print article: Print By staff writers and wires

 

June 02, 2009 07:04pm

 

Distraught ... relatives arrive at the Charles de Gaulle airport crisis centre. Picture: Gonzalo Fuentes / Reuters / No Source

 

Air France jet missing over Atlantic

Crew of other plane see "bright spots"

In pictures: Flight that never arrived

A330's history of electric and pressure faults

 

...

 

Bro Foo, when copy and paste, pls edit a bit lah - remove the rubbish first.

 

 

 

 

 

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The sighting by the crew on the Douce France is said to be in the same area off the coast of Senegal where a Brazil TAM airline pilot spotted what was thought to be a burning piece of wreckage.

 

Brazilian carrier TAM said the crew of one of its planes saw "bright spots" on the surface of the ocean. The sighting took place at about the same time that Air France Flight 447 vanished from radar.

French navy ships searched the area reported by the TAM flight and found nothing.

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If the lightning theory is somehow true...then this would be the second AF jet brought down by this mother nature?

My thoughts are with AF 447. Still hoping for survivors.

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Guys, do you remember the Air Crash Investigation episode that cover the story about the downed helicopters used to transport workers to and from oil platform? Under the right condition a lightning can rip apart a aircraft part made from carbon composite material.

Edited by waiping

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Yes I remember the episode on Bristow flight 56C. The tail rotor was struck by lightning and severely damaged. On that particular helicopter, the rotor was made of a carbon composite material without getting approval beforehand. Previously, it was made of glass fibre. And the last part they said something like an aircraft made of composite materials like the A380 and 787 may be more prone to lightning strikes.

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Perhaps a case of deja vu, the CI744 episode will be shown later on Astro National Geographic.

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Brazil sights possible plane wreckage in Atlantic

Tue Jun 2, 2009 8:48am EDT

 

RIO DE JANEIRO (Reuters) - Brazilian military planes have sighted wreckage 400 miles off the South American country's northern coast that could be part of an Air France plane that went missing on Sunday night, Brazil's air force said on Tuesday.

 

The wreckage, which has still not been confirmed to be parts from Air France flight 447, includes metallic objects and plane seats, an air force spokesman said in a televised statement.

 

http://www.reuters.com/article/worldNews/i...249408020090602

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Some debris (seats) now, apparently, found 650kms N-E of Fernando de Noronha Island...

 

Hopefully they will find the blackboxes soon too...

 

RIP to all the victims involved !

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R.I.P to all 228 on-board and their families and hope that the flight data recorder will be founded soon as all people would like to know what had actually 'contribute' to this deadly crash :(

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MISSING AIRBUS - Plane wreckage found by Brazilian jets

http://network.nationalpost.com/np/blogs/p...light-path.aspx

 

1654794.jpg

 

The Brazilian air force released this map locating the debris its search aircraft spotted on Tuesday morning, the red concentric circles mark the two locations 650 km off the South American country's northern coast that could be part of an Air France plane that went missing on Sunday night.

 

The wreckage, which has not been confirmed to be parts from Air France flight 447, includes metallic objects and plane seats, an air force spokesman said in a televised statement. The Brazilian military reports the wreckage spotted also includes small white pieces, a drum, vestiges of oil and kerosene.

 

The flight, carrying 228 passengers and crew on board, vanished during a storm. The Airbus A330 went missing on a flight from Rio de Janeiro to Paris. More than 24 hours later, the chances of finding survivors appeared close to nil and authorities were treating the passenger list as a death toll.

 

http://www.fab.mil.br/portal/capa/index.php?mostra=3095

Edited by Naim

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So, it is known that the french ship has searchd the area that the TAM pilot claimed saw orange light on the water. but the result shows nothing of what the pilot described. possibly just oil platform maybe...

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