Translation of DenisG post (#325)
Aeronautica keeps up the search for the lost flight during the night
marcio falcao of folha online, Brasilia
The search actions of the Brasilian Air Force (FAB) for the AF plane missing since Sunday night will not be interrupted during Monday night and early Tuesday morning.
The Hercules C-130 will perform a night search using electronic equipment in an attempt to capture signals from the emergency devices of the Airbus 330 of flight AF447
The aircraft disappeared on the route from Rio, from where it took off to Paris at around 19hours on Sunday, with 228 persons on boar -, 216 passengers and 12 crew. According to AF, there were 58 Brasilian passengers on board.
During today, Bandeirantes aircraft flew over a region of the atlantic ocean, in which contact with the airbus was lost, reaching the limits between Brasilian and Senegalese airspace. the Bandeirantes performed low level flights in an attempt to get visual contact with the Airbus.
French govenrment communicated to FAB command that two aircraft performed searche sweeps on the Senegalese side.
In total, Brasilian air force put 5 aircraft into the search operation, 2 helicopters, and 3 navy aircraft.
FAB initiated search actions at around 02h to localize the lost aircraft, after receiving notice from air space control at Ilha do Sal.
The search aircraft are based on Fernande de Noronha island (PE state) and in Natal. Coordination is done via Cindacta 3 in Recife.
Following FAB information, the last contact with the lost aircraft with a Brasilian control occurred at about 22:30. After that, a contact was foreseen for 23:20, with TASIL, controlling a region about 22 km to North of Natal, which never occurred.
Brasilian air space command realised some contacts with Dakar control, to obtain flight condition information. According to Aeronautica, in the region where the loss occurred, there is no radar coverage, and communication is done via long distance radio links.
FAB attempts to establish the approximate distance between Recife and the area where the aircraft was lost.
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The online article has several links, which I do not translate unless requested.
My thoughts go to all families.