Air France

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Air France Airbuses Get New Speed Sensors

(Newser) - All of Air France’s long-haul Airbus jets have had their airspeed sensors replaced, AFP reports. A pilots union says the airline accelerated its program to switch out questionable pitot tubes on A330s and A340s. Though the circumstances are unknown, some think a faulty sensor could have caused Flight 447...

Paris Air Show Hits Turbulence

Tragedy, economic losses hang over 100th show

(Newser) - Clouds hang over the launch of the 100th anniversary Paris Air Show today as investigators continue to pore over the wreckage of Air France flight 447. Bad business news combines with the tragedy to make this year's event less than stellar. Russia's first post-Soviet jetliner is expected to upstage Western...

Terrorists Didn't Down Flight 447: Autopsies

(Newser) - Autopsy reports indicate that Air France flight 447 did not crash because of a terrorist strike, the Independent reports. Examinations of the first 16 bodies—all recovered whole—show no signs of explosion, fire, or penetration by shards of metal. The autopsy details, leaked to the Brazilian press this weekend,...

Families Join Manslaughter Probe in Plane Crash

(Newser) - Three families of victims in the Air France crash have signed on as plaintiffs in a manslaughter probe into the Air France crash, reports the BBC. Under French law, they'll now have access to investigative files. The Paris prosecutor launched the probe last week, which is routine in such cases....

Two on Flight 447 Labeled Terror Threats

Investigators find passengers on French list of radical Muslims

(Newser) - Two people on board crashed Air France Flight 447 were on a French list of radical Muslims seen as terror threats, London’s Evening Standard reports. French security officials sent to Brazil discovered the passengers’ status; a security insider called the terror link “highly significant,” though it could...

Sub Joins Search for Air France Black Box

(Newser) - A French nuclear submarine has joined the search for Air France Flight 447’s black boxes, ABC News reports. The sub boasts high-tech sonar equipment, which could help detect the acoustic signals the flight recorders transmit. The sub will work alongside a French research vessel set to arrive Friday, carrying...

15 More Bodies Found at Crash Site

Searches also find large amount of aircraft wreckage

(Newser) - Searchers have recovered 15 more bodies from the Air France 447 crash site in the Atlantic, bringing the total to 17. Brazil's military also collected large amounts of the plane's "structural components," officials tell Reuters. "Hundreds of items are being found and being stored until we know...

Air France Changes Airbus Speed Sensors

Icing concerns fueled replacements beginning last month

(Newser) - Air France is speeding up the process of replacing sensors on its Airbus planes following the crash of Flight 447, the BBC reports, a process it began in April. In May of last year, Air France said, it observed a “small number” of “incidents of loss of airspeed...

Airspeed Woes Have Long Plagued Airbus A330

(Newser) - Regulators have warned Airbus for years that speed sensors on its A330 planes were unreliable and made flying unsafe. In the wake of last week's Air France disaster, which killed 228 people when an A330 crashed in an Atlantic storm, Reuters has unearthed regulatory warnings to Airbus. "Lost or...

Flight 447 Autopilot Not On Before Crash

(Newser) - Signals sent by Air France Flight 447 before it disappeared show its autopilot was not on, the head of the French agency leading the investigation into the crash said today, though it was not clear if it had been switched off or had stopped working because it received conflicting airspeed...

Airbus Sends Warning on Speed Sensors

Faulty readings may have played a role in Air France crash

(Newser) - The maker of the Air France jet that crashed in the Atlantic issued a warning to pilots on how to respond when speed sensors malfunction, buttressing a belief that faulty readings played a role in the disaster, Reuters reports. An Airbus memo also says the company is replacing all such...

Recovered Debris Not From Air France Crash

Officials say pallet found in crash zone was just 'sea trash'

(Newser) - Brazilian officials say debris they earlier believed was from Air France Flight 447 was actually just "sea trash," the BBC reports. A wooden pallet found 600 miles off Brazil's coast in the area where the jet is thought to have crashed probably came from a ship, and an...

First Debris Retrieved From Flight 447

Air France tells families no one survived the crash

(Newser) - As Brazilian crews begin retrieving the first pieces of Air France flight 447, the airline has told families that nobody survived, the AP reports. A helicopter pulled a cargo pallet and two buoys from the Atlantic, 340 miles northeast of Brazil's Fernando de Noronha islands. As theories about the crash...

Air France Jet Was Moving Too Slowly

Airbus to give thrust guidelines today

(Newser) - The crashed Air France jet was flying too slowly, insiders have told Le Monde. Airbus, which built the plane, plans to notify airlines of the right thrust levels for flights in bad weather today, the Daily Telegraph says. Whether speed could be at fault for the jet’s series of...

Intense Winds May Have Doomed Plane

(Newser) - Extremely high winds may have set off a chain reaction of mechanical problems that took down Air France Flight 447, the Wall Street Journal reports. The series of automated messages sent by the plane, typically intended to alert maintenance crews to mundane issues, reveal a cascade of failing systems—flight-control...

Searchers See More Debris From Air France Crash

Weather alone can't explain crash: aviation analyst

(Newser) - Searchers spotted more wreckage today from Air France Flight 447, which crashed into the Atlantic Ocean earlier this week with 228 people aboard. A team of international aircraft discovered four fields of metallic debris and a 12-mile fuel slick some 220 miles off the Brazilian coast, the Washington Post reports....

How to Find a Missing Plane
 How to Find a Missing Plane 
Jun 3, 2009 8:20 AM CDT

How to Find a Missing Plane

(Newser) - How will authorities go about finding Air France Flight 447? Essentially, it'll take a lot more planes, Slate explains. Most of the jet’s location gadgets, like its emergency locator transmitters, are unlikely to work underwater. The flight recorders have sonar devices attached that can transmit from 14,000 feet...

Air France Flight Held Up by Bomb Call Last Week

(Newser) - An Air France flight scheduled from Buenos Aires to Paris was delayed last week because of a phoned-in bomb threat, according to Brazilian media. Authorities searched the plane for 90 minutes before allowing it to take off. Nothing was found. The delay occurred just three days before Air France flight...

Brazil Confirms Debris Came From Fallen Jet

(Newser) - Brazil's defense chief today made the grim news official: Debris found along a 3-mile stretch of ocean belongs to the Air France jet that went down in a storm, reports the BBC. "It confirms that the plane fell in this area," said Nelson Jobim, referring to a swath...

Air France Black Box Recovery Could Take Months

Key devices could be beyond reach of deep-sea divers

(Newser) - The black boxes from the missing Air France jet are crucial to determining what brought the plane down, but locating the devices could present the most daunting challenge since the Titanic mission, Reuters reports. “You are looking for a needle in a haystack,” said one industry specialist, guessing...

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