The following is a readable English translation of the article appearing in Le Figaro yesterday morning:-
After three previous search failures, this attempt is the last chance. Thierry Mariani, the Secretary of State for Transport, on Friday morning met with the families of victims of the Flight AF447 disaster and announced the launch of a Phase 4 search. Reportedly, a former Ifremer vessel, "Alucia" will soon depart from Seattle to Recife via Panama with two Remus Autonomous Underwater Vehicles (AUVs) onboard, leased to Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute. The ship should arrive in Recife, Brazil in mid-March and will uplift a third Remus AUV, leased from the German Geomar Institute, and members of the crew and investigators. The vessel will leave Recife at the end of March on the first of three voyages, each of a months duration.
This new search phase, at a cost of US$7.1 million, is funded by Air France and Airbus. This is less costly than the previous which had been US$11.5 million. If one believes the members of the investigation, this downgrading does not diminish the chances of finding the wreckage and black boxes. Quite the contrary. The earlier Phase 3 search led by the Office of Investigations and Analysis (BEA), had leased expensive equipment, in order to pick up items of debris, that have proved unsuitable and unusable in the conditions encountered. These devices were never out of the holds of the vessel due to the failure of the search. This time, the sole mission is to locate the debris field of the aircraft. If successful, a ROV such as Ifremer's Nautilus will be dispatched to undertake the underwater operations needed to recover pieces of wreckage and possibly the flight recorders of the aircraft.
For this last chance operation, the investigation methods have also changed. The Phase 3 search (spring 2010) had focused on an area defined by backtracking studies, i.e the analysis of drifting debris and recovered bodies to define the position of the aircraft. But once on site, investigators had found the real currents exceeded 1 knot, while the backtracking analysis was on the basis of theoretical currents of 0.1 to 0.2 knots.
This time, investigators have opted for the systematic combing of an area enclosed by a 40km radius of the last known position of the aircraft, offshore Brazil. The search should begin with the sweep of areas that have not been explored with certainty last year and then move further south. Many experts believe indeed that the search had focused on an area too far north.
When interviewed by Le Figaro, those close to the investigation said that deep water images taken in the previous search gave them confidence. The only possible cause of failure is that the aircraft is not in this area, e.g. it has turned around, or has continued its flight longer than expected.