Timeline of the Crash of Air France Flight 447
Monday July 6, 2009
The Brazilian military has called off the search for bodies of passengers and crew of Air France 447, while the search for the black boxes continue (with little time left to track them before their signal transmissions cease). A timeline then, of one of the worst tragedies in air travel history...
An Air France flight en route to Paris from Brazil went missing after experiencing thunderstorms and turbulence somewhere over the Atlantic Ocean in the late evening of May 31, 2009 / early morning of June 1, 2009. It appears there were electrical malfunction issues about 4 hours into the flight. 216 passengers and 12 crew were on board.
Brief summary of what's known so far - Air France 447 Missing, Presumed Crash - Heading to Paris From Rio de Janeiro.
June 2 - debris is spotted a few hundred miles off the coast of Brazil that may be from AF447. The passenger list from the flight is expected to be released soon by Air France.
June 3 - debris is confirmed to be that of Air France 447. A debris field of several miles is being searched.
June 4 - speculation that pilots may have slowed down the aircraft too much going through an area of severe turbulence, possibly causing the plane to stall and not being able to recover from the stall.
June 5 - previously confirmed debris from AF447 now believed to have been trash from other vessels and not the Paris bound flight. The search for signs of flight 447 continue.
June 6 - causes of the Air France 447 tragedy are now including multiple systems failure and speed monitoring failure (a flaw that is now repairable but has caused issues with A330 aircraft - "We have seen a certain number of these types of faults on the A330," says BEA director Paul-Louis Arslanian (French air accident investigation agency).
June 7 - Is this where the blame game begins? Air France had replaced sensors that had issues with ice/icy conditions for its A320s as the problem was documented in those planes in its fleet. The airline was in the process of replacing these same problematic sensors on the A330 series but had not yet done so as it seems the same issues that were seen on their A320s were not widely reported for its A330 or A340 aircraft. Seems Airbus warned Air France. So who will point the biggest finger? The airline that didn't enact recommended changes, or the manufacturer that built planes with these issues...
June 10 - Air France commits to making the changes for the speed sensors on all of its A330 aircraft. Though not confirmed, it is suspected that malfunctioning speed sensors may have had a part to play in the crash.
June 11 - Air France allegedly received replacement sensors days before crash, not installed on AF447's aircraft.
June 12 - As more bodies are found, speculation grows that the plane broke up in the air.
June 15 - reports that Air France replaces air speed sensors on all of its Airbus A330s and A340s.
June 19 - over the course of several days, it seems that bodies found from AF447 had broken bones, but not burn marks, suggesting a possible mid-air rupture of the plane.
June 22 - Bolivian television airs photos from the tv show "Lost", mistaking them for photos from doomed AF447.
June 23 - Signals from the black boxes are reportedly found. Later, the signals are discounted - no transmissions from the black boxes for AF447 are recorded.
June 25 - The pilot and one of the flight attendants from AF447 are reportedly among the bodies found. Approximately 50 bodies in total are retrieved from the ocean.
June 26 - Late on Friday, June 26 the Brazilian military calls off the search for bodies from AF447.
June 27 - Despite the called off search for bodies, France will continue to have resources searching for the black boxes from the flight.
Current status - the search for bodies may be off, but the search for the black boxes from AF447 is expected to continue until approximately July 10, when it is expected that transmissions from the black boxes will cease. Also, French investigators have put forth the theory that the aircraft did a rapid vertical descent, and did not break apart mid-air. There is controversy surrounding this, particularly noted that the bodies have not been aut
An Air France flight en route to Paris from Brazil went missing after experiencing thunderstorms and turbulence somewhere over the Atlantic Ocean in the late evening of May 31, 2009 / early morning of June 1, 2009. It appears there were electrical malfunction issues about 4 hours into the flight. 216 passengers and 12 crew were on board.
Brief summary of what's known so far - Air France 447 Missing, Presumed Crash - Heading to Paris From Rio de Janeiro.
June 2 - debris is spotted a few hundred miles off the coast of Brazil that may be from AF447. The passenger list from the flight is expected to be released soon by Air France.
June 3 - debris is confirmed to be that of Air France 447. A debris field of several miles is being searched.
June 4 - speculation that pilots may have slowed down the aircraft too much going through an area of severe turbulence, possibly causing the plane to stall and not being able to recover from the stall.
June 5 - previously confirmed debris from AF447 now believed to have been trash from other vessels and not the Paris bound flight. The search for signs of flight 447 continue.
June 6 - causes of the Air France 447 tragedy are now including multiple systems failure and speed monitoring failure (a flaw that is now repairable but has caused issues with A330 aircraft - "We have seen a certain number of these types of faults on the A330," says BEA director Paul-Louis Arslanian (French air accident investigation agency).
June 7 - Is this where the blame game begins? Air France had replaced sensors that had issues with ice/icy conditions for its A320s as the problem was documented in those planes in its fleet. The airline was in the process of replacing these same problematic sensors on the A330 series but had not yet done so as it seems the same issues that were seen on their A320s were not widely reported for its A330 or A340 aircraft. Seems Airbus warned Air France. So who will point the biggest finger? The airline that didn't enact recommended changes, or the manufacturer that built planes with these issues...
June 10 - Air France commits to making the changes for the speed sensors on all of its A330 aircraft. Though not confirmed, it is suspected that malfunctioning speed sensors may have had a part to play in the crash.
June 11 - Air France allegedly received replacement sensors days before crash, not installed on AF447's aircraft.
June 12 - As more bodies are found, speculation grows that the plane broke up in the air.
June 15 - reports that Air France replaces air speed sensors on all of its Airbus A330s and A340s.
June 19 - over the course of several days, it seems that bodies found from AF447 had broken bones, but not burn marks, suggesting a possible mid-air rupture of the plane.
June 22 - Bolivian television airs photos from the tv show "Lost", mistaking them for photos from doomed AF447.
June 23 - Signals from the black boxes are reportedly found. Later, the signals are discounted - no transmissions from the black boxes for AF447 are recorded.
June 25 - The pilot and one of the flight attendants from AF447 are reportedly among the bodies found. Approximately 50 bodies in total are retrieved from the ocean.
June 26 - Late on Friday, June 26 the Brazilian military calls off the search for bodies from AF447.
June 27 - Despite the called off search for bodies, France will continue to have resources searching for the black boxes from the flight.
Current status - the search for bodies may be off, but the search for the black boxes from AF447 is expected to continue until approximately July 10, when it is expected that transmissions from the black boxes will cease. Also, French investigators have put forth the theory that the aircraft did a rapid vertical descent, and did not break apart mid-air. There is controversy surrounding this, particularly noted that the bodies have not been aut
- Waiting for Signs of Air France Flight 447 - from the About Guide to Brazil Travel - and a message of condolences in English and Portugese.
- Map of Air France 447's route - following the events of AF447 late on May 31, into June 1.
- A few of Air France's press releases - release 1, and release 4. Release 5 lists all of the many nationalities on board.
- Debris possibly found from AF447 (June 2)
- Debris field confirmed as AF447 as the New York Times reports "Wreckage of Air France Jet Is Found, Brazil Says" (June 3)
- Air France Flight 447 'may have stalled at 35,000ft' (June 4)
- Bodies recovered and speed sensor issues (June 7)
- Bolivian TV mistakenly airs "Lost" pics as photos from AF447
- Airbus A330 Safety Record - Times UK looks at the A330's solid safety record.
- Excellent collaborative piece from the AP that discusses possible causes, search efforts, and what is happening on the ground in both Paris and Rio de Janeiro.
- Airlines and Accidents - Commercial Airline Crashes with Fatalities - 2009
- Chances of Surviving an Airplane Crash over Water
It simply looks as if the black box signals were detected quite early before it vanishes, it’s plot to save france’s own company’s technical defects. Two similar incidents of rapid fall occured on same model of airbus however they were able to control plane and save everyone. 100s of life spared over multimillion company brand.
Airbus is at least putting off finding the cause of the crash, so they can go through w/ a contract for tankers for the US military. We don’t in flight refueling involving such a fragile aircraft, then you risk two aircraft! They also want to sell some more A380’s. It’s obvious the plane lost it’s vertical stabilizer, went into a flat spin, and crashed on it’s belly. The HF antenna for the radio, they would have used for a distress call, is mounted on the tail fin, so that’s why a distress call couldn’t go through. I doubt the French tried too hard to find the black boxes on AF447. With the Yemenia Airline crash, there’s a good chance for human error, so they’ll recover that black box.
I don’t understand the logic behind making such black boxes which is lost in the ocean and hard to trace. Why still use such age old techniques? when they know the disadvantages of using such boxes.
Good point. It’s disturbing to think that politics play a role in how much effort goes into recovering the black boxes. Sure, why would they exhaust their efforts in finding something that is bound to place blame on the company. Yet, the Yemen plane crash (as someone said) might have been due to human error. In that case, recovering the black boxes wouldn’t tarnish the company. Unreal…
I can’t understand who was flying the plane, they found the captain but surely he would have been strapped into his seat on the flight deck if they were encountering heavy turbulence?