Sophisticated sonar equipment on SNA Emeraude nuclear attack sub to help in search
Brazil and France give out conflicting messages on Air France 447
Stephen Pate, NJN Network, Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island, Canada, June 6, 2009 with stories from BBC, Bloomberg, Reuters and AP
Conflicts between Brazilian and French authorities are being blamed for differing reports from the search area of downed Air France flight 447.
The plane disappeared without a trace five days ago with 228 people on board.
Jose Ramos a spokesman for the Brazilian military said there is no doubt that the debris field spotted from the air is from the Air France Airbus plane. Officials have not confirmed the debris has been recovered.
France’s transportation minister ‘Dominique Bussereau said he regretted that an announcement by Brazilian teams that they had recovered plane debris from Air France flight 447 turned out to be false. “French authorities have been saying for several days that we have to be extremely prudent,” Bussereau told France’s RTL radio. “Our planes and naval ships have seen nothing.” (AP)
Essentially all we have is speculation and some confusion. The area of the Atlantic, where the north meets the south, is turbulent. Search teams are being hampered by bad weather.
SNA Emeraude nuclear attack sub
The French nuclear submarine SNA Emeraude will enter the search area to assist in the search. “French Defence Minister Herve Morin said the submarine had sonar equipment that could help locate the airliner’s flight data recorders.” (BBC)
Morin is cautious about their ability to recover the black boxes in any event which will continue to emit a signal for 24 days. The Emeraude has an operation depth of 1,000 feet and a depth in a crash zone of 6,000 to 15,000 feet. (G2 Solutions)
Speculation on how the plane crashed may be confirmed if the black boxes can be recovered.
Aviation experts disagree
Some experts say the pilot may have turned off autopilot when violent updrafts for the ocean storm hit the plane. One pilot reported this problem with an Airbus and said he had to turn off the fly-by-wire system to recover his air speed and flight altitude.
Airbus, the plane’s manufacturer, warned pilots and airlines not to attempt this during turbulence.
“Airbus (EAD.PA) has warned airline crews to follow standard procedures if they suspect speed indicators are faulty, suggesting that technical malfunction may have played a role in this week’s Air France (AIRF.PA) crash.”
“Investigators know from the aircraft’s final batch of automated messages, which were sent over a three minute period, that there was an inconsistency between the different measured airspeeds shortly after the plane entered a storm zone.”
“The Airbus telex was sent to customers of its A330s late on Thursday. An industry official said such warnings are only sent if accident investigators have established facts that they consider important enough to pass on immediately to airlines.” (Reuters)
Air safety experts agree that until the black boxes are analyzed no specific new recommendations to avoid another Airbus crash are possible.
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