Air France AF447 crash into the Atlantic: Airbus A330 aircraft parts found

[RC20]

What no one has mention is how intact the Tail Fin that was found is. So intact, it was floating. That means it had to flutter down, not be attached to a fuselage section when it hit.

I have never seen an ocean crash with a fin intact like that.

While it does not appear to be the primary cause (the erratic and different air speed readings indicate its pitot tube), what happens in the case of the AA Flight 587 that the pilot was kicking the rudder back and forth to the stops maintain control in sever wake turbulence off New York and broke the tail fin off?

The A300 series aircraft have had a question about the tail fin for a long time.

It makes you wonder, with all the things Airbus does not let a pilot do, why would they not limit that as well. Its one of the few things that can be done that makes the plane totally un-flyable.

Just examining that fin is going to tell them a great deal.

[kiwiandrew]

What no one has mention is how intact the Tail Fin that was found is. So intact, it was floating. That means it had to flutter down, not be attached to a fuselage section when it hit.

I have never seen an ocean crash with a fin intact like that. .

I suggest that you take a look at the photos of the XL Airways crash off the coast of Perpignan last year. Admittedly an A320 rather than an A330 but the fin was floating relatively intact after a high speed impact and there have been no suggestions tfrom eyewitnesses hat the fin had detached before impact

The A300 series aircraft have had a question about the tail fin for a long time. .

the AF flight was not an A300 series aircraft , it was an A330 series

[Desert Rat]

Some of the message are due to crew action:
Auto FLt A/THR OFF
Auto FLT AP OFF

When i'm thinking twice....if it was switched off by the crew.,it would not have been transmitted through ACARS ...i think...so, probably one(or more) condition was lost to keep the AP engaged.

[galaxy]

Woman who missed Flight 447 is killed in car crash.

An Italian woman who arrived late for the Air France plane flight that crashed in the Atlantic has been killed in a car accident, it has been reported.

Johanna Ganthaler, a pensioner from Bolzano-Bozen province, had been on holiday in Brazil with her husband Kurt and missed Air France Flight 447 after turning up late at Rio de Janeiro airport on May 31.

All 228 people aboard lost their lives after the plane crashed into the Atlantic four hours into its flight to Paris.

The ANSA news agency reported that the couple had managed to pick up a flight from Rio the following day.

It said that Ms Ganthaler died when their car veered across a road in Kufstein, Austria, and swerved into an oncoming truck. Her husband was seriously injured.
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/w ... 479203.ece

[RC20]

What no one has mention is how intact the Tail Fin that was found is. So intact, it was floating. That means it had to flutter down, not be attached to a fuselage section when it hit.
I have never seen an ocean crash with a fin intact like that. .

I suggest that you take a look at the photos of the XL Airways crash off the coast of Perpignan last year. Admittedly an A320 rather than an A330 but the fin was floating relatively intact after a high speed impact and there have been no suggestions tfrom eyewitnesses hat the fin had detached before impact

The A320 is cited as having the same basic fin design as the A300. Eyewitness are not just notoriously bad, they are now found to be virtually 100% wrong. While for most its anecdotal, I had two acquaintances of mine saw a murder right outside their house. My friend said that you could see nothing detail wise other than confirm the sequence, and he would not begin to say it was or was not the guy indicted. The other one swore the guy they nailed did not do it and testified in his defense (an engineer by trade). Upshot was that a huge preponderance of physical evidence pointed at the indicated person.

The A300 series aircraft have had a question about the tail fin for a long time. .

the AF flight was not an A300 series aircraft , it was an A330 series

Apparently you are not familiar with the A300 series family. For all practical purposes, the A330 is a stretched A300/310. Airbus felt inferior, so it called every new Dash model a whole new number (A318, 319, 320 etc. The series should have been A300-100, 200, 300, 400.

Note the same fin was found floating at New York after that tail snap off.

[smokejumper]

There is something that puzzles me in this case. Airbus' planes are computer controlled (the pilot tells a computer system what he wants and the computer inputs the action to the flight controls).

In the AA 587 crash (2001, New York), the vertical tail apparently separated due to "hard” inputs from the pilot which caused a yawing moment that exceeded the plane's rating. There is a strong possibility that same thing happened with AF 447, since the vertical tail surface was found largely intact.

If the above is correct, why has not Airbus introduced software fixes to prevent a pilot from flying the plane in a manner he deems necessary, if the plane might break up?

[FlightMate]

Apparently you are not familiar with the A300 series family. For all practical purposes, the A330 is a stretched A300/310. Airbus felt inferior, so it called every new Dash model a whole new number (A318, 319, 320 etc. The series should have been A300-100, 200, 300, 400.

yeah right, a stretched A300 with new avionics/FMC/fly-by-wire/side-stick/wings/engines.
A perfect clone?

[Lyulka]

As far as I know, the airbus wide-bodies (except for A380 of course) all share the same fuselage structure, so I wouldn't be too surprised to see the same mechanical layout in the tail as well...

[Conti764]

Woman who missed Flight 447 is killed in car crash.

An Italian woman who arrived late for the Air France plane flight that crashed in the Atlantic has been killed in a car accident, it has been reported.

Johanna Ganthaler, a pensioner from Bolzano-Bozen province, had been on holiday in Brazil with her husband Kurt and missed Air France Flight 447 after turning up late at Rio de Janeiro airport on May 31.

All 228 people aboard lost their lives after the plane crashed into the Atlantic four hours into its flight to Paris.

The ANSA news agency reported that the couple had managed to pick up a flight from Rio the following day.

It said that Ms Ganthaler died when their car veered across a road in Kufstein, Austria, and swerved into an oncoming truck. Her husband was seriously injured.
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/w ... 479203.ece

Don't want to sound unsensitive but it makes me think of a movie: Final Destination 1 about a few kids who miss their flight at the very last moment and see it explode while in the terminal. One by one they get killed in freak accidents afterwards...

[Depretair]

Hello,


It seems that the black boxes have been found...

See the following article found on "tf1.fr"
http://tf1.lci.fr/infos/monde/ameriques ... sees-.html

Have a nice day !

Oli

[teddybAIR]

This article seems to say that an unmanned submarine has picked up a weak signal that could be from one of the black-boxes. It is thus far from sure that they have effectively recovered the CVR and FDR.

[teddybAIR]

Reuters reports in this article that authorities will keep searching for the recorders until at least july 10th. Even if the boxes have stopped transmitting, the search will be continued with less conventional means.

However, the french minester of transport does admit that chances to recover the FDR and/or CVR are slim.

[teddybAIR]

Although nothing has been found yet, search teams remain positive on their prospects to recover the FDR and CVR according to USA Today

[teddybAIR]

According to industry experts in this article of the NY times, experts are considering live streaming as an alternative to Flight Data Recorders and Cockpit Voice Recorders. However, I immediately had the reaction "what if due to circumstances (ex: thunderstorm, a lot of static in the air), the plane cannot transmit" That is why I believe that the best solution is a combination of both streaming and the current technology of FDR's and CVR's as to minimise the risk of loosing very valuable data.

[teddybAIR]

Apparently US ships are leaving the search area and only a french submarine is still looking for the black boxes in an area limited to 50 square kilometers...so far for yesterday's optimism?

Source

[teddybAIR]

According to AP fisherman in Guyana is believed to have found a 30ft piece of debris of the air france flight

[matsATC]

According to AP fisherman in Guyana is believed to have found a 30ft piece of debris of the air france flight

The piece seems to be identified as part of an Ariane rocket, not a part of the AF flight.

[teddybAIR]

The piece seems to be identified as part of an Ariane rocket, not a part of the AF flight.

Do you have a source...i don't seem to be able to confirm that

[sdbelgium]

A 10 meter (30 feet) long piece of debris thought to belong to the fuselage of the Air France Airbus A330-200 has been found at the beaches of Gyuana (main city Georgetown) about 1650nm westnorthwest of the last known position of the aircraft by a fisherman on Wednesday (Jul 15th), a spokeswoman for Guyana's Civil Aviation Authority reported.

However, the part may also belong to an Ariane space rocket, that was launched in French Guyana on July 1st.

http://avherald.com/h?article=41a81ef1/0045&opt=0

[teddybAIR]

According to this article, airbus is to fund 12-20mio$ over three months in order to extend the search for debris and the recorders of flight 447.

Source: Reuters