Air France A330 Missing

[Pujgnie]

Channel 4 News' report this evening said that the search teams only have thirty days in which to find the flight recorder, before it stops transmitting its location signal

sm

4 - possibly 5 days left to go now. Not looking good.....

[Mayfly]

would be good to get to the bottom of it, whatever 'it' is, to hopefully stop it happening again

[Gully]

I see the press (and probably the American aviation industry!) is linking two other Airbus A330 incidents to the Air France loss: http://news.uk.msn.com/world/article.aspx?cp-documentid=148186907

Sadly, this speculation is inevitable until some form of conclusion is reached as to the chain of events involved.

Gully

[Dan4th]

Well, if there's one thing I'm sure of here it's that
our NTSB has never been in the pocket of our aviation
industry -- quite the opposite, actually. I also know that
they have been assisting with the investigation, and
looking at other incidents makes perfect sense in this
case, especially when the black boxes may never be found.

The MEDIA, on the other hand.....

I also find it hard to believe that Boeing is jumping up and
down with glee over this. The shoe could very easily be on
the other foot, you know....

I seem to recall that 30 to 40 days was the timeframe that
was quoted originally. In that case there may be a little
more time.

Dan4th

[RLN]

You're right Dan4th. Beoing wil be looking carefully at their systems (as will all aicraft manufacturers) in case it is them next.

[Jigsaw]

You're right Dan4th. Beoing wil be looking carefully at their systems (as will all aicraft manufacturers) in case it is them next.

Is that the noise a dyslexic zebedee makes

Sorry. I know this is serious thread, I just could not resist.

[RLN]

Aaaah, shaddup.

[Mayfly]

[Gully]

Well, if there's one thing I'm sure of here it's that
our NTSB has never been in the pocket of our aviation
industry -- quite the opposite, actually. I also know that
they have been assisting with the investigation, and
looking at other incidents makes perfect sense in this
case, especially when the black boxes may never be found.

The MEDIA, on the other hand.....

I also find it hard to believe that Boeing is jumping up and
down with glee over this. The shoe could very easily be on
the other foot, you know....

I seem to recall that 30 to 40 days was the timeframe that
was quoted originally. In that case there may be a little
more time.

Dan4th

Thanks for that Dan4th - hence my use of 'probably', as I wasn't too sure how independent of Boeing et al the NTSB was.

Gully

[Pujgnie]

Thats' that then.... guess we will never know now.

No news within last 3 weeks. One for aviation histories 'unsolved' files it seems

[Wedgy]

Looks like they found the black boxes ... but can't get em

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/8664127.stm

[Checkflaps]

Send in Robert Ballard. He (and his team) seem pretty handy at finding lost stuff in the sea. Not exactly Titanic sized, but more like a lost 'weapon' that he helped to locate for the USAF. If the money is there to find it, it can be found. It depends on HOW much AF and Airbus want the info from the boxes. Maybe for them it is better if it stays there.

Garry

[Pujgnie]

"It's like trying to find a shoe box in an area the size of Paris, at a depth of 3,000m (9,800ft) and in a terrain as rugged as the Alps," French navy spokesman Hugues du Plessis d'Argentre told AFP.

Nice quote - which about sums up the enormity of the whole scenario. Agree that Mr Ballard and his team are best suited for the job - if it were to be attempted.

[Gully]

Or maybe BP? They've some recent deep water experience...

Gully

[Cluny]

Doubt they would be any good now anyway even if they did recover them

[Sooty655]

At long last, it looks like at least some of the wreckage has been found.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-12953432

[Mayfly]

Lets hope they can glean some info as to what happened then, that's an enormous search

[Sooty655]

Lets hope they can glean some info as to what happened then, that's an enormous search

From the early reports, it is on a relatively flat sea-bed, and it is within the depths that recovery equipment can work these days, so it looks reasonably hopeful.

Even decent photos of the wreckage and the way it is spread will probably tell them a lot more than they know at the moment. If the FDR/CVR and be recovered and read, even better.

[Mayfly]

Do we know how long FDR are actually good for underwater at those depths?

[Sooty655]

In theory they are good for almost twice that depth (provided they are not breached), and they should be readable even if the battery is completely flat ~ the memory doesn't need power to retain the data.

However, I guess that is all theoretical, as this is the first time it has happened, so we will have to wait and see.

[Gaz]

Lets hope, for all concerned, they can get some answers

[Sooty655]

Lets hope, for all concerned, they can get some answers

Amen to that.

[Jigsaw]

Read also (on Sky news) that they have found human remains in the wreckage as well and hope to recover them (didn't say how many). Hopefully some of the bereaved families will get some closure if this is the case.

[Mayfly]

Latest update

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-13255673

[Jigsaw]

Thanks MF.