French passenger jet gone missing from radar screens........
Discussion
Cannot see this one ending well. Even if the pilot was a Grade A hero, they're still in the drink a long way from habitable land.The times and locations really don't make sense though.......
Rio to that island is only a couple of hours flight i would have thought?
The plane had been in the air 8 hours when contact was lost and was only three hours from its arrival time.
If they are searching in the correct area what taken the plane so long to get there????
Its barely off the coast of Brazil?
Rio to that island is only a couple of hours flight i would have thought?
The plane had been in the air 8 hours when contact was lost and was only three hours from its arrival time.
If they are searching in the correct area what taken the plane so long to get there????
Its barely off the coast of Brazil?
dan1981 said:
The times and locations really don't make sense though.......
Rio to that island is only a couple of hours flight i would have thought?
The plane had been in the air 8 hours when contact was lost and was only three hours from its arrival time.
If they are searching in the correct area what taken the plane so long to get there????
Its barely off the coast of Brazil?
Mix up in reporting wrt time zones - as Andy Z says, confusion highly likely at this stage. It doesn't look promising though does it.Rio to that island is only a couple of hours flight i would have thought?
The plane had been in the air 8 hours when contact was lost and was only three hours from its arrival time.
If they are searching in the correct area what taken the plane so long to get there????
Its barely off the coast of Brazil?
dan1981 said:
The times and locations really don't make sense though.......
Rio to that island is only a couple of hours flight i would have thought?
The plane had been in the air 8 hours when contact was lost and was only three hours from its arrival time.
If they are searching in the correct area what taken the plane so long to get there????
Its barely off the coast of Brazil?
Quick call them. Tell them they are looking in the wrong place.Rio to that island is only a couple of hours flight i would have thought?
The plane had been in the air 8 hours when contact was lost and was only three hours from its arrival time.
If they are searching in the correct area what taken the plane so long to get there????
Its barely off the coast of Brazil?
BBC have updated now - http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/8076848....
Saying that it was never picked up on radar at the cape verde islands, and that there had not been radio contact for some time.
So looks like they are using the Brazilian island as a start point and flying over towards Europe.
Don't fancy anyones chances in this one i'm afraid.
Saying that it was never picked up on radar at the cape verde islands, and that there had not been radio contact for some time.
So looks like they are using the Brazilian island as a start point and flying over towards Europe.
Don't fancy anyones chances in this one i'm afraid.
gti-ted said:
s
t I'm flying tomorrow 
OMG you're truly ft I'm flying tomorrow ked then - AND you'll probably also have to use the roads to travel to the airport, and I had a car accident eight years ago. RIP and enjoy your last few hours on this earth - and might I suggest that your dying contribution isn't another forum post... 
From what I read, the departure/arrival timings seem to be scheduled rather than actual. Did it leave late??
Maybe they got part way and had to turn around??
Both the above are conjecture and just possibilities (in my mins) as to why they could be searching so close to the departure airport.
Cheers
The Moose
Maybe they got part way and had to turn around??
Both the above are conjecture and just possibilities (in my mins) as to why they could be searching so close to the departure airport.
Cheers
The Moose
Plotloss said:
What be ACARS?
The black box?
No, this thingy, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aircraft_Communicatio...The black box?
Should have given their last known location.
The Moose said:
Really?? I thought they carried more "incase" fuel than 3 hours...??? Gotta be getting close granted!!
It costs too much to carry the excess around.Some airlines have been known to fly so close to the limit that they were routinely calling 'MayDay' at the destination to jump the landing queue. They got rapped for it, but it gives you an idea.
Very unlikely she is still in the air right now.
It disappeared just off the cost of Brazil so would not have been anywhere near France to appear on French or other European radar screens.
I don't know why there is so much talk about transponders. Loss of a transponder signal would not, per se, mean loss of the aircraft.
An aeroplane will be tracked on a radar screen because the radio waves broadcast from the radar dish bounce off the aircraft and are received by the radar dish. The return signal will show up as a blip on the controller's radar screen. This basic radar is called Primary Radar and the transponder on board the aircraft is not needed for this primary radar. A skilled controller can track an aircraft (with some limitations) purely using Primary Radar. A transponder is not essential to identify and track an aircraft.
There is a second radar system called Secondary Surveilland Radar (SSR). This is beamed at the aircraft and the transponder on board the aircaft picks up the signal, amplifies it and re-broadcasts it back to the Secondary Radar antenna. The transponder allows the radar screen to show a flight designator (such as a registration letter/number or a flight number) to "affix" itself to the radar blip. The transponder also transmits height information. SSR allows a controller easier identification and tracking of a radar return.
If the aircraft seemingly did not transmit a distress call using voice communications, this indicates a sudden and catastrophic failure of the aircraft. This usally means a complete and sudden failure of (say) a wing or other part of the main structure - such as the fuselage. A fuselage failure can occur if the fuselage is breached for some reason causing explosive decompression and possiblty complete breakup of the aircraft.
A number of airliners which have been lost in this manner have been the victims of bomb attacks. Examples are an Air India 747 off the coast orf Ireland in 1985, the Pan Am Lockerbie 747 in 1988 and an Air Inter (French) DC-10 in 1984.
Air Inter was absorbed into Air France about ten years ago so French airliners have been targetted before.
I don't know why there is so much talk about transponders. Loss of a transponder signal would not, per se, mean loss of the aircraft.
An aeroplane will be tracked on a radar screen because the radio waves broadcast from the radar dish bounce off the aircraft and are received by the radar dish. The return signal will show up as a blip on the controller's radar screen. This basic radar is called Primary Radar and the transponder on board the aircraft is not needed for this primary radar. A skilled controller can track an aircraft (with some limitations) purely using Primary Radar. A transponder is not essential to identify and track an aircraft.
There is a second radar system called Secondary Surveilland Radar (SSR). This is beamed at the aircraft and the transponder on board the aircaft picks up the signal, amplifies it and re-broadcasts it back to the Secondary Radar antenna. The transponder allows the radar screen to show a flight designator (such as a registration letter/number or a flight number) to "affix" itself to the radar blip. The transponder also transmits height information. SSR allows a controller easier identification and tracking of a radar return.
If the aircraft seemingly did not transmit a distress call using voice communications, this indicates a sudden and catastrophic failure of the aircraft. This usally means a complete and sudden failure of (say) a wing or other part of the main structure - such as the fuselage. A fuselage failure can occur if the fuselage is breached for some reason causing explosive decompression and possiblty complete breakup of the aircraft.
A number of airliners which have been lost in this manner have been the victims of bomb attacks. Examples are an Air India 747 off the coast orf Ireland in 1985, the Pan Am Lockerbie 747 in 1988 and an Air Inter (French) DC-10 in 1984.
Air Inter was absorbed into Air France about ten years ago so French airliners have been targetted before.
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