Log in to your IBTimes Account

close
ID
Password

Latest update on Air France Flight 447 crash by BEA



03 July 2009 @ 03:53 pm BST


Alain Bouillard, investigator of the Investigation and Analysis Bureau (BEA), speaks during a news conference.
Alain Bouillard, investigator of the Investigation and Analysis Bureau (BEA), speaks during a news conference at the BEA headquarters in Le Bourget, near Paris, July 2, 2009, on the crash of the Airbus A330 from Rio de Janeiro to Paris on June 1.
1 of 1

  • no distress messages were received by the control centres or by other airplanes,

  • there were no satellite telephone communications between the airplane and the ground,

  • the last radio exchange between the crew and Brazilian Air Traffic Control (ATC) occurred at 1 h 35 min 15 s. The airplane arrived at the edge of radar range of the Brazilian control centres,

  • at 2 h 01, the crew tried, without success for the third time, to connect to the Dakar ATC ADS-C system,

  • up to the last automatic position point, received at 2 h 10 min 35 s, the flight had followed the route indicated in the flight plan,

  • the meteorological situation was typical of that encountered in the month of June in the inter-tropical convergence zone,

  • there were powerful cumulonimbus clusters on the route of AF447. Some of them could have been the centre of some notable turbulence,

  • several airplanes that were flying before and after AF 447, at about the same altitude, altered their routes in order to avoid cloud masses,

  • twenty-four automatic maintenance messages were received between 2 h 10 and 2 h 15 via the ACARS system. These messages show inconsistency between the measured speeds as well as the associated consequences,

  • before 2 h 10, no maintenance messages had been received from AF 447, with the exception of two messages relating to the configuration of the toilets,

  • the operator's and the manufacturer's procedures mention actions to be undertaken by the crew when they have doubts as to the speed indications,

  • the last ACARS message was received towards 2 h 14 min 28 s,

  • the flight was not transferred between the Brazilian and Senegalese control centres,

  • between 8 h and 8 h 30, the first emergency alert messages were sent by the Madrid and Brest control centres.

    • Source: Interim report published by BEA on 2 July 2009

    This article is copyrighted by International Business Times.

      Click!
    • Rate this article:

    advertisement
    Charts & market data sponsored by FXCM
    advertisement
     
    		 
    IBTimes © 2012 IBTimes Company. All Rights Reserved. Partners