Chris Scott

The French branch of the Association have a website as noted in my earlier post. The Brazilian Association may have a similar site, but I have not located it. Both the Associations are recognized by the French Ministry of Transport, and it would appear to a lesser extent by the BEA. Neither Association has representatives onboard the "Alucia".

The Phase 5 Recovery operation will swing into action from this point. There are pre-qualified contractors, and subject to the current availability of a pre-qualified vessel, a charter-party between the vessel's owners and the BEA will be executed.

I suspect that as Airbus and Air France were paying for the search phase, that will continue, with the debris field being mapped. As the wreckage has positively been identified, the ongoing costs incurred by these parties will most likely now be met by the BEA.

The "Alucia" will have long left the search area before the recovery operation commences at the site.

447 Found?
 

Associations for AF447 Families
 

These associations have web sites:

1. Associação dos familiares das vitimas do voo 447

2. Association Entraide et Solidarité AF447

3. HIOP AF 447 - Hinterbliebene der Opfer des Flugzeugabsturzes AF 447 e. V.

GB

Another news report on the finding.
Air France plane crash parts found in Atlantic - Yahoo! News

Hi,

Seem's good for the next phase ....

AF447 : l'pave de l'Airbus d'Air France localise au fond de l'Ocan Atlantique - Transport arien ::: AEROCONTACT

A question re black boxes to the well informed which is partly relevant to this incident.

With today's technology (as in all the various recording media), why is it that the length of the recordings are not longer than the time currently recorded. I have seen a number of reports (Qantas) where the start of the incident was recorded over.

Also, why does the signal given out by the black boxes only last a short time and seems to be quite "weak". With battery technology available, I would have thought a signal could be send for quite a very long time - like months, not 30 days as well as being a very strong signal.

Thanks

Chris has made a very wise (and politely phrased) recommendation, and I most sincerely hope that his recommendation is heeded.

Michael

Searchers find pieces of crashed plane in Atlantic - World - NZ Herald Mobile
 

Thanks for the answers.


What about the cockpit recorder only recording a certain amount
that gets recorded over if the incident is a bit long - ie Qantas.

Engine(s)
 

It is not very clear but bot both engines seems to have been located and observed and (part) of the wing(s) also. Other reports speak of one engine located only. A reporter just said that the aircraft was almost entire. Wreckages would be at 4000 meters depth.
BEA should publish pictures today.

Bodies
 

Our "Ministre de l'Écologie, du Développement durable, des Transports et du Logement " , Nathalie Kosciusko-Morizet has announced this morning that bodies have been seen inside some parts of the aircraft. It would tend to confirm that the aircraft would be almost entire as it has been said earlier today.

I'm quite surprised about that - not to sound gruesome, but I would think that after nearly 2 years, the local sea life would have eaten most of the organic material they could get at. It seems to have happened at the Titanic wreck site, where only the shoes were left, but in positions indicating they were still being worn when deposited.

Anyway, I am well chuffed to hear they have finally found the wreckage! Even if they do not find the recorders, or if the recorders don't work, the wreckage itself should tell a lot.

Hi,

This kind of statement should be taken with suspicion .. especially when it comes from a minister of state.
We know the kind of sensational statements which they are capable
Do not know what they are talking .. but act as if they know more than the experts .... :ooh:
And if it is discovered that they lied .. they hide behind the fact that they were misinformed :)

Press conference
 

A press conference will be held at 15h00 French time (1300UTC) at the headquarter of the BEA, Le Bourget.
NKM did not say (of course) what was the exact state of bodies observed.
Ushumgal, may be that some people will be able to analyze and comments about this fact.
A relative of a victim just said whether to extract the bodies ( I don't know exactly how to formulate) would be appropriate or not. It will depend of the families. Either the wrecks would be taken back up to the surface of the ocean or it is decided that it is a mass grave and let it at the bottom. Hard decision to take.
Drones REMUS have been used in this mission.

Edit: NKM said that some wrecks were almost in "one part". I believe she was speaking of the fuselage

Edit2: NKM interview :
Dailymotion - Nathalie Kosciusko-Morizet - une vidéo News & Politics
Only the first minute of the interview is related to the AF447.

The European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) published 23/03/2011 a Notice of Proposed Amendment to update the Certification Specifications for large aeroplanes and turbine engines for flights in icing conditions: “Large Aeroplane Certification Specifications in Supercooled Large Drop, Mixed phase, and Ice Crystal Icing Conditions”; which addresses, amongst other aspects, -
Regards,
HN39

Hi,

Nothing to say about all this .. apart from the publication date ... 23/03/2011 :)
So it took years (nearly half a century if we take into account the advent of the jet) to account for this phenomenon ...
Edifying has more than one way :eek:
Will be not astonished if one day EASA publish a notice about the "discovery" of the wheel ... :)

Ouf of curiosity, as the statement about 'bodies' seems bizarre, I looked for the original French, expecting to see 'skeletons' or 'remains' but it says 'corps identifiables'. I am wondering what the explanation for this could be.

Captonian, 4000 meters depth is likely the chief reason. Look at how long it took to reduce the Titanic. Two years would not be enough time for the little critters at that depth to make much headway consuming the bodies. There are few sources of energy down there for life. So for the most part it'll be few, far between, and somewhat sluggish, I suspect.

(Did I guess right auv-ee?)

{^_^}

If one looks at mm43's map, and pairs it with the description of abyssal plain, and where Woods Hole was starting the search, looks to be close to the LKP.

http://i54.tinypic.com/2cr7fcn.jpg