Black Box from Air France Crash Brought to Surface
Here's the photograph of the decade so far:
Honeywell flight data recorder from Air France Flight 447
(AP Photo/BEA, Johann Peschel) NO SALES
This is the flight data recorder for Air France Flight 447 from June 1, 2009, which disappeared into the Atlantic Ocean on a flight from Rio de Janeiro to Paris. The Airbus 330 dropped from the sky, killing 228 souls on board in a mid-ocean thunderstorm. There were no survivors. The flight data recorder is now aboard the Ile de Sein, one of the ships helping with the undersea probe, according to a statement from the French BEA air accident investigation agency. BEA officials note that the extreme pressure at 12,800 feet below sea level may have damaged the recorder and made the stored data unreadable after two years.
BEA said last month that it had identified the “chassis” in which the recorder was installed. Now the actual unit has been recovered and taken to the surface. There is a second “black box” which holds the recordings of conversations among the flight crew. This device is still being looked for by robotically controlled submarines as the search continues on the ocean floor.
The crash is the worst in the history of Air France. Experts have said it is highly unlikely the cause of the crash can be determined without the information in the flight data recorder and crew recordings. The Honeywell flight data recorder, manufactured by a leading American technology and avionics firm, was located and retrieved on this search effort, the fourth since the crash..
There is a legal aspect to the recorder discovery, since a manslaughter suit was filed in France in March of 2011 against Air Bus and Air France.
– as summarized by the blog author. The Associated Press report is available at:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20110501/ap_on_re_eu/eu_france_brazil_plane_crash
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