AF 447 SAR Effort
Gentlemen,
In view of the somewhat contradicting information released so far in the media, I think that it would not be a bad idea to provide a brief re-cap regarding the AF447 SAR effort. Most of the information was collected from Brazilian AF and Brazilian Navy press releases, with some B/C work with local contacts
June 1
a) At 0230LT/01062009 a C-130H staging through SBRF and an Embraer P-95 maritime patrol acft based at SBSV were enlisted to perform the initial SAR effort;
b) At 1908LT/01062009, the following additional SAR assets were called-up:
- 01 x Sikorsky UH-60L Black Hawk to SBNT;
- 01 x SC-95C (SAR version of the EMB-110P2) to SBNT;
- 01 x CASA C-295M SAR-configured acft to SBNT;
- 01 x Eurocopter AS332M SAR-configured helicopter to SBNT;
- 01 x C-130E to SBNT with SAR rescue teams;
- 01 x C-130H to SBFN, backtracking along AF447s flight path from GCLP to SBFN;
c) At 1930LT/01062009 Embraer R-99B 6751 SIGINT/ELINT acft was enlisted to aid in the AF447 SAR effort;
d) On 01062009 During the day the Brazilian Navy deployed the ocean patrol vessel NPa Grajau, the corvette Cv Caboclo and the frigate Constituição to assist in the search effort. The last mentioned ship was deployed with a Super Lynx ASu/ASW helicopter configured for SAR work.
June 2
a) At 0029LT/02062009 The Brazilian AF stated that the crew of a TAM flight inbound to Brazil spotted "luminous points" on the ocean's surface within the boundaries of the Dakar ACC
b) At 0100LT/02062009 Brazilian AF R-99B 6751's synthetic aperture radar plotted metallic and non-metallic debris floating on the ocean surface roughly 650km NE of SBFN;
c) At 0649LT/02062009 Brazilian AF C-130H 2466 and C-130H 2474 made visual contact with debris plotted by R-99B 6751's SAR. The debris fields were approximately 59km apart and roughly south of AF447's flight path. The debris fields contained an aircraft passenger seat, an orange float or buoy, a drum or cylinder, several small unidentified white-colored items and oil/jet fuel slicks.
d) At 1220LT/02062009 Brazilian AF SAR acft sighted small white parts and wiring roughly 700 km NE of SBFN, as well as patches of oil along a 5-km long strip.
d) On 02062009 In the morning, of the five merchant vessels called to assist in the SAR effort (MV Lexa Maersk, MV Jo Cedar, MV UAL MTEXAS, MV Douce France and Stolt Inspiration) two had arrived at the general area where the two initial debris fields were spotted
e) On 02062009 The Brazilian Navy deployed a second frigate - the Bosisio - as well as a tanker ship.
f) At 2100LT/02062009 A KC-130H 2462 departed SBGL to SBNT to join the SAR effort.
g) At 2140LT/02062009 A C-130H departed SBAF to SBNT to join the SAR effort.
h) On 02062009 A USN P-3C Orion detached to Costa Rica was deployed to SBNT to join the SAR effort
i) On 02062009 A AdlA Dassault Falcon 50MER was deployed, from Dakar to SBNT to join the search effort.
j) On 02062009 Brazilian AF R-99B 6751 ELINT/SIGINT acft and an Embraer P-95C 7100 maritime patrol aircraft were deployed to SBFN
June 3
a) At 0340LT/03062009 Brazilian AF R-99B 6751 ELINT/SIGINT acft plotted four small debris fields approximately 90 km South of the other debris fields located the previous day. One of these debris fields, approximately 5-km in diameter, contained several unidentifiable objects. Other items that were plotted included a 7-meter long object, 10 smaller metallic objects and a 20-km long oil slick;
b) As of sunrise/03062009 Three Brazilian AF C-130Hs, one USN P-3C and an AdlA Dassault Falcon MER departed SBNT to perform search patterns over and adjacent to the debris fields plotted over the preceding 36-hours, as well as continuing with planned search patterns;
c) Morning/03062009 Brazilian Navy patrol ship NPa Grajau arrived at the search area, initiating a “toothcomb” search pattern over a 120-km area centered on the 5-km debris field plotted earlier by R-99B 6751.
d) Afternoon/03062009 Brazilian Navy corvette Cv Caboclo arrived at the search area
e) Evening/03062009 The six aircraft directly engaged in SAR tasks had covered 176.984 sq km
f) Late Afternoon/03062009 The three MVs engaged in SAR work departed the search area.
June 4
a) Early morning/04062009 Brazilian AF R-99B plotted new debris fields SE of the St.Paul & St. Peter Rocks
b) As of sunrise/04062009 Three Brazilian AF C-130Hs, one USN P-3C and an AdlA Dassault Falcon MER departed SBNT to perform search patterns over and adjacent to the debris fields plotted over the preceding 36-hours, as well as continuing with planned search patterns;
c) As of sunrise/04062009 Brazilian AF UH-60L Black Hawk executed a search pattern 110-km NE of SBFN
d) 1140LT/04062009 A Brazilian AF C-130H sighted a new debris field some 550 km from SBFN, vectoring Brazilian Navy frigate Constituição to the area. That ship’s Super Lynx was launched to retrieve items from that debris field, which included a wood pallet bed and buoys. It was ascertained that neither were linked to AF447.
e) Afternoon/04062009 Brazilian Navy Frigate Constituição sighted a large oil slick some 80km from the site it had earlier been vectored to, the ship collecting oil samples for later analysis.
f) Evening/03062009 Aircraft directly engaged in SAR tasks had covered 185.349 sq km
June 5
a) Morning/05062009 An AdlA Breguet Atlantic joined the SAR effort
b) Morning/05062009 Degenerating weather conditions (thunder showers, sea state 3 and visibility of 4km ) were expected to hinder scheduled aircraft search missions
Cheers