I've followed this thread from the start but this is my first post and there have been many many well argued and articulated posts which I have followed closely.
The question which still puzzles me is why were there no voice tansmissions received by other a/c within VHF radio range of AF447? VHF ought to be good for range up to 100 NMs and there have been reports of other ac flying similar tracks to AF447 which were closer than that. Was no one monitoring 121.5?
If as now seems likely the ac remained substantially intact from cruising alt to SL the ROD can't have been that great so the crew ought to have had time to get out a distress call. Can anyone explain the lack of RT?
MB