Originally Posted by
Skiperica
Excuse me if my question is stupid or trivial or disruptive in your discussion. I´m not a pilot, not even a couch pilot and I will accept if my post is deleted.
I´m puzzled by the different lat/lon positions of "Last ACARS 0214Z" used in different maps, charts and data from Brazilian Air Force and others. I think this is important, because Força Aérea is referring to that position measuring distances, e.g. of debris found. Here at pprune and in other discussions there are conclusions drawn from this distances - e.g. if the Airbus could have been broken in high altitude or not and in what weather conditions AF 447 really was at 0214Z.
I found different data concerning last ACARS:
1/ Wikipedia, pprune:
Last ACARS 0214Z
3°34'40"N, 30°22'28"W
2/ Last Report ref. to Brazilian Air Force
"Ultimo Reporte"
3°16'28"N 30°22'28"W
Wikipedia does not provide a reference for this particular information. I also could not figure out a reliable source in many days of research. Not even where this "information" first occurred. It has been assumed that lat/lon position is data coming with the ACARS by satellite transmission, but I cannot find a reliable source for this assumption either.
Brazilian Air Force uses different positions for "Ultimo Reporte" in different plotting they provide, one of them suggesting "Ultimo Reporte" being in about 167km distance from TASIL: http://www.pprune.org/rumours-news/376433-af447-49.html#post4986435 (see lower picture).
Thus I have the following 2 questions:
Do/could ACARS messages technically include information about lon/lat position?
Are the ACARS messages that have been published truncated in a way that would suggest Air France to have additional information about exact position transmitted by satellite?
Thank you for the opportunity to learn!
Skiperica/self loading freight (-;
You ask very good questions. All these "positions" appear to be only estimates based on where AF447 should have been had they continued on their track from INTOL to TASIL on the UN873 airway.
I don't think anyone has any actual information on the actual position of AF447 when the ACARS messages were sent, or where they actually entered the sea.
Someone please prove me wrong.