French passenger jet gone missing from radar screens........

[anonymous-user]

motco said:

The commentators are studiously avoiding suggesting that the fly-by-wire computer might have dived for cover when the lightning struck. It would potentially ground all modern airliners - worse in a way than a terrorist bomb.

Far from all "modern airliners" are fly by wire.

[King Herald]

CatherineJ said:

I've read that the French are not refusing to rule out a terrorist bomb. I guess they have to say that until they can examine the wreckage.

That sounds contrary to what we heard earlier, that both France and the USA had ruled out terrorist action. Quite how they do that with the minimal information they have is beyond me.



I guess they could pop into PH and ask us, we'd soon put them right.

[Rach*]

I've been following this thread at work for the last 2 days, not realising one of our nurses has a problem with flying, she's now delaying flying to Canada to see her Grandkids "just in case"

[CatherineJ]

King Herald said:

CatherineJ said:

I've read that the French are not refusing to rule out a terrorist bomb. I guess they have to say that until they can examine the wreckage.

That sounds contrary to what we heard earlier, that both France and the USA had ruled out terrorist action. Quite how they do that with the minimal information they have is beyond me.



I guess they could pop into PH and ask us, we'd soon put them right.

Lol, yes. Apparently the statement came from the French Defence Minister.

[grumbledoak]

Semi hemi said:

Didnt the pilot overide the system to show that they could still have "manual" control...

This explanation is the one I remember from a documentary- pilot error:

http://www.pprune.org/archive/index.php/t-252837.h...

"The investigation clearly states that an error was made by the crew in selecting a vertical speed of 3300 f.p.m. instead of a flight path angle of 3.3 degrees. This, combined with a lack of an installed GPWS, led to the collision with the high terrain on the approach."

[10 Pence Short]

CatherineJ said:

I've read that the French are not refusing to rule out a terrorist bomb. I guess they have to say that until they can examine the wreckage.

Edited by CatherineJ on Tuesday 2nd June 20:40

They're probably deciding if they should surrender or not yet.

[King Herald]

I just read on Yahoo that they have made positive ID on seats and wreckage spread over a three mile area, off the coast of Brazil.

[Cas_P]

So much speculation....

My thoughts go out to the passengers R.I.P, and their relatives/friends etc

[Chris_w666]

Ayahuasca said:

Semi hemi said:

Eric Mc said:

D B Cooper who hijacked a Northwest Orient Boeing 727 in 1971 and parachuted with the ransome money out the rear airstars. He was never seen again.

It was an odd case, even allowing that it was over 30 odd years ago he only asked for 200,000 dollars and 3 "sport parachute rigs, they never tampered with the parachutes as they thought he was going to take the stewardess with him, Many years later some of the money was found in a river bank in Oregon.

The only hijack that has never been solved and the FBI are still actively looking for him.

I didn't realise the guy in Prison Break was based on a real live criminal.

[cottonfoo]

Cas_P said:

So much speculation....

You should have seen the carnage on pprune.

Those poor souls, families and friends

[sjn2004]

King Herald said:

I just read on Yahoo that they have made positive ID on seats and wreckage spread over a three mile area, off the coast of Brazil.

740km out into the Atlantic. How deep is it there, will they ever recover the black box etc?

[Jimbeaux]

Eric Mc said:

Did they charge extra?

Ryanair would.

[thehawk]

Worth throwing the Qantas A330 into the mix, a sudden dive over Western Australia

http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197...

Could be some relation. What's the likelihood of of a similar incident occurring on this Air France plane and putting the aircraft in a situation where it exceeds its structural limits and disintegrates?

[julian64]

I'll guess lightning strike and the new composite nature of the plane.

Give me an old fashioned aluminium aircraft anyday.

[Invisible man]

Semi hemi said:

Invisible man said:

motco said:

The commentators are studiously avoiding suggesting that the fly-by-wire computer might have dived for cover when the lightning struck. It would potentially ground all modern airliners - worse in a way than a terrorist bomb.

Who's doing the investigation? I still have recollections of the A320 Paris Air Show crash in 88

Didnt the pilot overide the system to show that they could still have "manual" control...
Prompting a comment in Flight magazine's "Straight & Level column.
"That the flight crew of the future would consist of One Pilot & One Dog.
The Pilot would be there to feed the dog.
The dog would be there to bite the pilot if he touched anything.

The details are a bit fudged on that one, there were rumours of tampering with evidence, data from the BB didn't corelate with anything etc etc

[Eric Mc]

julian64 said:

I'll guess lightning strike and the new composite nature of the plane.

Give me an old fashioned aluminium aircraft anyday.

The A330 is mostly an "old fashioned aluminium aircraft". It only uses composites in some components such as the tailfin.

Lighning strikes do not tend to bring airliners down.
I think there is now no doubt that the aircraft broke up at altitude and fell in pieces into the ocean. What caused the breakup will be the central part of the investigation.

[mattdaniels]

motco said:

The commentators are studiously avoiding suggesting that the fly-by-wire computer might have dived for cover when the lightning struck

Because they know that if they suggested such complete and utter nonsense, they'd be laughed out of their jobs!

[thehawk]

What is odd is that they are reporting a 4 minute flurry of automated messages being sent from them plane, yet no communication from or to the pilots. Surely the pilots would receive the same messages and contact someone.

[anonymous-user]

thehawk said:

What is odd is that they are reporting a 4 minute flurry of automated messages being sent from them plane, yet no communication from or to the pilots. Surely the pilots would receive the same messages and contact someone.

If the plane decompressed suddenly they may well have been unconscious or worse!

[plg101]

sjn2004 said:

King Herald said:

I just read on Yahoo that they have made positive ID on seats and wreckage spread over a three mile area, off the coast of Brazil.

740km out into the Atlantic. How deep is it there, will they ever recover the black box etc?

According to Google Earth, most of that section of the Atlantic is ~3000m deep.