takata, do you consider the "fourth occupant seat" that was recovered to be the second of two jump seats in the cockpit?
______________
Not that we may ever be told, but it might prove an interesting contrast to compare the behavior of the crew of AF459 that followed the track of AF447 into the ITCZ. AF459 would have had similar SIGMET information, and presumably received a text alert from dispatch similar to that sent to AF447 regarding convection as seen on satellite between SALPU and TASIL. Did that crew also go to SELCAL mode, and begin a rest rotation? Perhaps not.
From the first interim report, it seems AF450 were on alert after unexpectedly encountering turbulence near NATAL. AF459 also perhaps heard conversation between ATLANTICO and IB 6024 flying ahead on its deviation to the east by 30 NM. And perhaps both AF459 and IB6024 overhead communications between ATLANTICO and LH 507 on its deviation to the west after passing ORARO.
Flight AF459 (Airbus A330-203) passed at the level of the ORARO waypoint approximately 37 minutes after l’AF447. The sky was clear but the half-moon, visible to the aft left of the aircraft, did not make it possible to see the contour of the cloud mass distinctly. After flying through a turbulent zone in the head of a cumulus congestus formation at the level of NATAL, without having detected this zone on the radar, he selected gain in MAX mode. At about 2 h 00, he observed a first echo that differed significantly depending on whether the radar’s gain was in CAL or MAX mode. The TILT was set between -1° and 1.5°. He decided to take evasive action to the
west, which resulted in a deviation of 20 NM to the left of the route. During this evasive action, a vast squall line with an estimated length of 150 NM appeared on the screen, which was set to a scale of 160 NM. The echoes were yellow and red when the radar was set with gain on the MAX position and green and yellow when the gain was on the CAL position. No lightning was observed.
ATLANTICO control, informed by the crew of their decision to avoid this squall line by taking evasive action to the east, asked them to return to the airway as soon as they could. This evasive action meant the aircraft flew between 70 and 80 NM to the right of the planned route. In addition, the crew was authorized to climb from FL350 to FL370.