In close association with the first Le Figaro article, there was a very interesting article regarding who is participating in the search...... and who isn't. See Link:
Le Figaro - France : Nouvelle campagne mi-février pour retrouver l 'AF 447 Please pardon the rough Google translation:
INVESTIGATORS DENOUNCED THE WASTE OF PRIOR RESEARCH
By Fabrice Amedeo
17/12/2010
The Bureau of Investigation and Analysis (BEA), who led the first three campaigns, loses his hand on the ground. It is the U.S. Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute who took control of operations.
Operation Last Chance sounds a bit like a disavowal previous . Three missions have been organized in the South Atlantic. The first, launched a few hours after the tragedy , helped recover bodies and debris from the aircraft. The second, launched one month later, tried to capture the signal of the black box before it goes out. The third, organized last spring, has combed the area defined on the basis of studies rétrodérive. This method is based on the positions of bodies and debris recovered and to define the position of the wreckage through a study of the currents. In vain ...
This time, the Bureau of Investigation and Analysis (BEA), who led the first three campaigns, loses his hand on the ground. It is the U.S. Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute who took control of operations while on-site coordination will be ensured by a framework of Airbus. "The BEA is the guarantor of the independence of research and investigation, said a close case, but we will work differently." Meaning: more efficiently. Interviewed by Le Figaro, BEA refuses him, to comment and explained that, for now, "nothing is finalized."
The Alucia that will be equipped submarines Remus. During the last operation, boarding submarine ROV has indeed squandered the funds made available by Airbus and Air France. "They have not been once to the sea," laments an investigator. This material was indeed expected to go up the black boxes and pieces of wrecks that have never been located. Reportedly, the ROV had been rented at exorbitant prices to the Navy, for diplomatic reasons, on the advice of pressing the Embassy of France to the United States. "Officials no idea what the subsea intervention have interfered in the investigation, expressed regret one of its members. This proved disastrous. "Sonars onboard were also used. "They swept plains on the outskirts of the search area, said an investigator, but were never able to rake the area with high probability which is very mountainous."
The study methodology rétrodérive also ineffective in this region of the globe where the currents are very irregular and at times of the year (June) where there is not mainstream but rather a gradual rotation their direction. "The models had forecast 0.1 knot of drift, an investigator said. Once there, we realized they were ten times stronger. "Within the survey, were also strong voices in denouncing the methodology of the Bureau of Investigation and Analysis (BEA), which wanted to keep hold of the studies and did not adequately take into account the findings of a team of Chinese scientists from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). Air France and Airbus have promised that this time, there would be no squabbles of ego and the systematic sweep of the area increased the chances of success.