AF447

[starliner]

ACARS Position Reporting

From the English BEA report p45:
"The first position message (AOC type message) was transmitted on 31 May at 22 h 39. On
1st June at 2 h 10 min 34, the last position received was latitude +2.98° (North) and longitude
-030.59° (West). The position transmitted was the aircraft’s FM position which, in normal
conditions, is close to the GPS position."

I am surprised by the news that the aircraft was set up to provide regular 10 minute AOC position reports via ACARS and yet no procedure appears to have been in place at AFR ops to react to the loss of these regular messages.