Air France Plane down

Originally posted by ModernAcademia
I just hope that everyone is okay

I don't know how planes disapear though
I mean, shouldn't they know the plane's last radar-visible location?

Radar only stretches a couple of hundred miles out to sea. Once the plane left the coast of Brazil for the long flight over the sea then they rely on some sort of buoys which supposedly note the position of the plane every 50 minutes or so.

Originally posted by dreamsrfree
Since my daughter had to ditch her cellphone eartlier in Canada for the lack of reception the only contact I have is via computer!!! AND as I can't make international calls from home I'm unable to call the airline number. My daughter was never on a travel list either much to my disappointment. I ask you this.........how would you feel in my position particually with the nasty response you've just given me???

PM me your daughters and boyfriends names and I'll make the call for you.

Originally posted by dreamsrfree
Since my daughter had to ditch her cellphone eartlier in Canada for the lack of reception the only contact I have is via computer!!! AND as I can't make international calls from home I'm unable to call the airline number. My daughter was never on a travel list either much to my disappointment. I ask you this.........how would you feel in my position particually with the nasty response you've just given me???

I'd recommend you use the free download Skype.

It allows you to call other computers with Skype for free and make international phone calls at a fraction of the price.

-m0r

lightening strike apparently. That would be some scary #. I doubt anyone would survive a crash at 35,000 ft. even if it landed on the sea. Ive been in a plane in a lightening storm and was always under the belief the plane could withstand a strike.

Originally posted by Mintwithahole.
Radar only stretches a couple of hundred miles out to sea. Once the plane left the coast of Brazil for the long flight over the sea then they rely on some sort of buoys which supposedly note the position of the plane every 50 minutes or so.

Thanks for the info
how far out to sea after it's off radars and it becomes up to Buoys?

They are now saying it was NOT a lightning strike.

The electrical problems the plane suffered in March in the avionics bay may well be the route of the problem.

Originally posted by Did you see them
They are now saying it was NOT a lightning strike.

The electrical problems the plane suffered in March in the avionics bay may well be the route of the problem.

thanks thats a quicker update than the bbc news ticker

Originally posted by Did you see them
They are now saying it was NOT a lightning strike.

The electrical problems the plane suffered in March in the avionics bay may well be the route of the problem.

They cannot say for certain what it was or wasn’t until the find the wreckage. At this point it time it could have been anything, from lighting to a bomb!

Mikey

just asking
could it be a solar flare?

reply to post by Did you see them


I thought that was a different plane? ...CB being the one that was grounded and ...CP being the missing airline.

Statement released from Air france,

Paris, FRANCE (BNO NEWS) -- Air France regrets to confirm the disappearance of flight AF 447 flying from Rio de Janeiro to Paris-Charles de Gaulle, scheduled to arrive at 11:10am local time today, as announced to the press by Air France CEO, Pierre-Henri Gourgeon.

The Airbus A330-200, registration F-GZCP, left Rio on 31 May at 7:03pm local time (12:03am in Paris).

The aircraft hit a zone of stormy weather with strong turbulence at 2am this morning (universal time), i.e. 4am in Paris. An automatic message was received from the aircraft at 2:14am (4 :14am in Paris) indicating a failure in the electric circuit a long way from the coast.

The Brazilian, African, Spanish and French air traffic control centres all tried to make contact with flight AF 447 but to no avail. The French military air traffic control centre tried to detect the aircraft but did not succeed.

216 passengers were on board: 126 men, 82 women, 7 children and one infant.

There were 12 flight crew members: 3 pilots and 9 flight attendants.

The flight captain had a record of 11,000 flight hours and had already flown 1,700 hours on Airbus A330/A340s.

Of the two first officers, one had flown 3,000 flight hours (800 of which on the Airbus A330/A340) and the other 6,600 (2,600 on the Airbus A330/A340).

The aircraft was powered by General Electric CF6-80E engines.

The aircraft had totalled 18,870 flight hours and went into service on 18 April 2005.

Its last maintenance check in the hangar took place on 16 April 2009.

Air France fully shares the anxiety and distress of the families concerned. The families are being taken care of in a specially reserved area of Paris-Charles de Gaulle Terminal 2.

Originally posted by Did you see them
They are now saying it was NOT a lightning strike.

The electrical problems the plane suffered in March in the avionics bay may well be the route of the problem.

Today's plane: Airbus A330-200 registration F-GZCP

March plane: Airbus A330-200 registration F-GZCB

Really sad news.

That is a lot of people and a real shame.

Thoughts are always with the families.

have they at least confirmed off the coast of what continent this crash took place? they are saying south america one second and then i just heard it may have been off the coast of morocco. now it is back to south america. soon i think they will say it landed safely in japan.

Originally posted by Yetichi
have they at least confirmed off the coast of what continent this crash took place? they are saying south america one second and then i just heard it may have been off the coast of morocco. now it is back to south america. soon i think they will say it landed safely in japan.

I don't think they have any idea, some are also saying it went missing 3 hours after take off and others are saying it went missing 3 hours before it was due to arrive..... both of which puts it in very different places over the ocean.

Mikey

You would think that all the satellites up there, someone or agency must monitor these things in real time. The atlantic is one big place, so thats why they are saying one minute this and next minute that.

Names of passengers and crew of the Airbus will be released this morning, reports Anac
01/06/2009 - 10:47 - Carollina Andrade

BRASILIA - The National Civil Aviation Agency (ANAC) reported that in the morning should disclose at around 11 hours the complete list with the names of passengers and crew aboard the flight of Air France.
According to the Agency's notice, the director president of ANAC, Solange Paiva Vieira, is on the way to the Galeao Airport, where relatives of passengers will be greeted at the airport.

Ultimo segundo

If it's @ 11:00 local time, then they will be released very soon.



[edit on 1/6/2009 by internos]

Originally posted by Mikey84

Originally posted by Yetichi
have they at least confirmed off the coast of what continent this crash took place? they are saying south america one second and then i just heard it may have been off the coast of morocco. now it is back to south america. soon i think they will say it landed safely in japan.

I don't think they have any idea, some are also saying it went missing 3 hours after take off and others are saying it went missing 3 hours before it was due to arrive..... both of which puts it in very different places over the ocean.

Mikey

I think the confusion comes from the fact that some news agencies are using GMT while others are using the local time in Brazil. The opinion now seems to be that the plane was some three hours into its flight when the catastrophic event occured.

BBC News states: "Missing Air France Jet sent message signalling short-circuit after hitting a storm."

Originally posted by Mintwithahole.Radar only stretches a couple of hundred miles out to sea. Once the plane left the coast of Brazil for the long flight over the sea then they rely on some sort of buoys which supposedly note the position of the plane every 50 minutes or so.

Not so, for oversea navigation IRS (gyros) and GPS-input to the aircrafts Flight Management System i being used.

For position reference automated ACARS messages is being transmitted every minute or so to the airline so that they know where the aircraft is at any time.
As the different functions of ACARS is a customer option, system monitoring and failure reporting can also be included as an automated service to maintainance dept.