Air France accident Airbus did not break up in flight
Posted Date: 03/07/2009
The Bureau d'Enquetes et d'Analyses (BEA) has issued an interim report on the Air France AF447 Airbus A300-200 accident over the South Atlantic.
On the basis of the first factual elements gathered in the course of the investigation, a number of facts have been established, including the normality of the earlier part of the flight and that the meteorological situation was typical of that encountered in the month of June in the inter-tropical convergence zone.
There were powerful cumulonimbus clusters on the route of AF447. Some of them could have been the centre of some notable turbulence, consequently several aircraft that were flying before and after AF 447, at about the same altitude, altered their routes in order to avoid cloud masses.
Twenty-four automatic maintenance messages were received between 2 h 10 and 2 h 15 via the ACARS system. These messages show inconsistency between the measured speeds as well as the associated consequences. The operator’s and the manufacturer’s procedures mention actions to be undertaken by the crew when they have doubts as to the speed indications.
Visual examination showed that the aircraft was not destroyed in flight, it appears to have struck the surface of the sea in a level attitude with high vertical acceleration.
The search for the flight recorders is currently on-going but will end on 10 July. However, a second phase, using different techniques, will start after 14 July.
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