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LATEST: ‘228 killed’ as jet plunges into sea
Kiran Randhawa and Peter Allen01.06.09
A passenger jet with 228 people on board crashed into the Atlantic 200 miles from land today after a suspected lightning strike at 35,000 feet.
Air France Flight 447 was four hours into its journey from Rio de Janeiro to Paris when it disappeared off Brazil's north-east coast. A major air-sea search is under way but there was “little hope” of anyone being found alive, said Air France.
The airline's chief operating officer, Pierre-Henry Gourgeon, said they were facing “a catastrophe”. The Airbus A330-200 had sent an automatic message reporting an electrical short-circuit at 3.14am British time after it had flown through a stormy area with strong turbulence. That signal is the last contact from the jet. It is feared the plane suffered a catastrophic loss of power.
French president Nicolas Sarkozy was meeting the families of the passengers at Charles de Gaulle airport today. There were scenes of anguish as relatives arrived with one woman pleading: “We need news.” Gordon Brown said he feared Britons were among those on board. Flight 447 took off at 11pm British time from Rio last night, and was due to arrive in Paris at 10.15 this morning — a bank holiday in France.
The Airbus A330-200 had 12 crew on board and 216 passengers — including one infant, seven children, 82 women and 126 men. The jet was last seen on radar screens over the island of Fernando de Noronha.
Airline officials said this afternoon they had “lost hope” while French government officials said “they fear the worst”.
By midday, the flight was still being displayed on the arrivals board, with the word “delayed” beside it. But by 1pm the flight had been removed completely. France's minister in charge of transport, Jean-Louis Borloo, said: “We can fear the worst. There was very, very strong turbulence. For now we can't understand what happened.
“The possibility of a hijacking has been excluded. It's an awful tragedy. It's dreadful ... Until 10.45am we could still have some hope, but at this stage the kerosene reserves have been more than used up.”
A police official on Fernando de Noronha said the weather was clear last night into this morning.
“It's going to take a long time to carry out this search,” said Douglas Ferreira Machado, head of investigation and accident prevention for Brazil's Civil Aeronautics Agency.
He added: “It could be a long, sad story. The black box will be at the bottom of the sea.” Air France issued an emergency number for people concerned their relatives may have been on board — 0033 1 57 02 10 55. Gordon Brown said: “I fear there may be some British citizens on board. We are doing all the checking that is necessary.”
Francois Brousse, head of communications at Air France, said: “The plane might have been struck by lightning. It's a possibility.” There were at least 60 French passengers on board as well as five Italians, three Moroccans and two Libyans. “There has been no receipt of a mayday call. The conclusion to be drawn is that something catastrophic happened on board that has caused this airplane to ditch in a controlled or an uncontrolled fashion,” Jane's Aviation analyst Chris Yates said. “I would suggest that potentially it went down very quickly and so quickly that the pilots on board didn't have a chance to make that emergency call,” he added. Mr Gourgeon of Air France said there was “no information” of any difficulty during the last routine maintenance.
The Airbus A330-200 is a twin-engine, long-haul, medium-capacity passenger jet, and is 190 feet long. It is a shortened version of the standard A330 and can hold up to 253 passengers. Air France said the plane entered service in 2005 and last underwent maintenance on 16 April.
There have been 12 major accidents involving Air France during the company's history. One of the worst was in July 2000 when all 109 people aboard an Air France Concorde crashed on take-off at Charles de Gaulle airport, also killing four people on the ground.
Reader views (36)
I think it may have been caused by a blue jet not a sprite, as lightning from earth to cloud is negative and cloud to space is positive blue jets are far more dangerous and could destroy a plane but lightning could not, just Google sprite and you will find more information about the dangers of blue jets they can go from cloud up 15km while sprites are 50km up “Blue jets” would spout upwards from storms as much as 15 kilometers toward space. Several giant jets shot up to 80 kilometers. The jets were more compact than the sprites.
(The investigators soon discovered another form of lightning above the clouds and under the clouds the investigators documented extraordinary strikes of “positive” lightning. These bolts were six times as powerful as ordinary “negative” lightning, and they lasted ten times as long. Where ordinary lightning could punch a tiny hole in a wing, positive lightning could burn through struts and wires and rip pieces apart. These bolts carry forces many times greater than what airplanes are designed to withstand. In one crash, rivets had been melted. In another, a pipe had been crushed.)
- Swev, Finland
If it had FANS then they would have a pretty good idea where it was. All climbs and speed variations are done through time intervals and this can be accessed through FANS. Most lightning strikes occur around 15000'. If he was struck by lightning then perhaps it affected the flight control computers. QANTAS had a computer problem that affected the aircraft's controllability. BUT AS YOU ALL SAY >>> IT IS TRAGIC.. too many lives snuffed for no reason
- Simon, sydney australia
i wonder whether fly-by-wire planes (like the airbus) are more vulnerable to lightning strikes?
- Fred, london
greetz to all british experts on air accidents, especially mr nik cholerton of fulham. why not take a deep breath first, wait until the investigations are closed and pray for the poor souls in the meantime. i sincerely hope they didn´t suffer too long and my sympathy is with their families.
- Dominik Von Muehlberg, Cologne, Germany
Never mind Air France. It's well known amongst us that fly regularly as "Air Chance2 and to be avoided at all possible costs.
- Mel Barrows, Tenerife. Canary Islands.
Airplanes are designed to withstand lightning strikes. This is a real mystery. All modern aircraft carry ELTs, automatic alarms that are jettisoned when the aircraft impacts. This triggers them to send their electronic SOS signals, guiding rescuers to the point of the incident. Yet it seems no signal was ever picked up? The Bermuda Triangle comes to mind...a disruption of radio communication and cut out electro-magnetic power could cause engine failure... we are not alone. Its a disaster and hopefully we hear news soon, my thoughts are with families of lost loved ones.
- Ketan, London, England
Odd to think that this plane crash has probably killed more people than the swine flu (which also happened to come from Brazil), yet this will blow over. My thoughts are with the families of the dead.
- Toby James, London
Everyone is an expert here, let the real experts get on with finding out what really happened and if there is blame at human or corporate level then the due judicial process can proceed.
- Tony ,Essex, Harlow,UK
"Yes but have they found any wreckage, this is very mysterious"… The lack of wreckage is no mystery, once flights are over the ocean it they are too far from land to be tracked on radar and it fly a predetermined route in virtual radio silence until it appears on the radar at Senegal. As a result no one knows where it went down, it could be almost anywhere in the South Atlantic and most of the wreckage will sink, or be displaced by tides. Sadly the chances of finding survivors are extremely low, I hope I’m proven to be wrong but I’d be surprised. What is a mystery what happened to cause a modern, well maintained aeroplane from one of the world’s most reputable carriers to come down in the first place? Extremely sad, my thoughts are with the relatives and loved ones.
- Nj, London
every plane disaster is a tragedy my heart goes out to the family's
- Kc, London
I was thinking the same Kelly, seems a bit weird that it has gone without a trace. Hours have gone by and yet there is no wreckage, very bizzare. Until anything has been found, it is wrong to make an assumption that it has plunged into the sea killing all on board.
- Triffidqueen, Desk in London
To Nik Cholerton, Fulham, London : "French engineering-skills strike again. What more can I say"
French engineering has been held in high regard in the World for decades. You are clearly insensitive, uneducated, jealous of French engineering know-how or all of the above. I reckon you are probably not the sharpest tool in the box so go back to school and get an education. You might learn something. In the meantime, spare us your dumbness my friend.
- Nicholas, London, UK
I had a trans-Atlantic flight where one of two engines on a Boeing 757 cut out half-way across. Why two-engine passenger planes were ever allowed to fly across large bodies of water, I'll never know. Knowing that your life depends on a single engine for three heart-stopping slow-flying hours back to land is something nobody should have to endure. It should be mandatory that all flights over the oceans be made only in four-engine planes. It wouldn't have helped the Air France flight in this case, but could very well make a difference to a future trans-Atlantic flight.
- Phil Jones, London UK
I thought that planes were designed as Faraday cages specifically to survive these sorts of events, although until the circumstances are known everything is pure conjecture.
- Bob, Cheam
Yes but have they found any wreckage, this is very mysterious
- Kelly, Marsden UK
French engineering-skills strike again. What more can I say. What a terrible tragedy. Condolences to the families of the bereaved
- Nik Cholerton, Fulham, London.
Fred - at 6 miles up there is still the possibility of lightning. In fact, lightning can occur at any altitude. From the lightning we know, to the sprite discharges, some 50km+ above the surface of the Earth.
- Jock, London
Unfortunate tragedy. Our hearts and prayers are with the victims and families.
- Ravi, UK
Air France has a fantstic safety record. The Concord crash was due to a piece of debris falling off a Continental Airlines jet on the runway and unfrutnaetly this was hurled up into the wheels and undercarriage of Concord causing the fatality. Concord in all its years of flying had never had one fatality! The Collpase of the walkway at CDG was absolutely nothing to do with Air France but the engineers and Architects who designed it. Please get yu facts right. My prayers and thoughts go out to all those affected and lets hope they find them safe.
- Gareth, Berkshire. England UK.
Whatever the safety record,you can't anticipate a natural
disaster-and if lightening struck the plane,no-one is to blame.We can only hope there will be survivors.
- Maura Casey, London UK
Citing a terminal construction related accident that had nothing to do with aircraft is asinine.
I would have to conclude that Albert has questionable mental abilities.
- Trunk, US
To Albert: first of all it is Air France which shows your ignorance and secondly, perhaps you might care to think of the friends and families of those onboard.
- Carl, London
Bit of an uneducated comment there, Albert. Air France has one of the best safety records in aviation, accredited by IATA due to it's high level of safety standards.
The concorde crash was not directly due to the aircraft, it was due to debris which should have been cleared from the runway. Similarly, the walkway at CDG was the responsibility of whoever manages that airport, and not Air France.
- Jock, London
To Albert Swift from Aberdeen,just the sort of totally unfounded and unhelpful that one can expect from a few. Next time you try to sound smart, how about publishing your references!
- Nicholas, UK, London
And what has happened to the emergency GPS beacon?????
Surely it had one along with a black box!!!!!!!
- Tony Islander, Herts
It would have been at cruising altitude, some six miles up. This is far above the clouds in which lightening occurs.
- Fred, Horsham
What about the Air France that crashed landed here a few years ago. It was a miracle all got out alive when motorists on a highway saved them.
- Ray Heard, Toronto
i was shocked when i heard the air france missing in unrealistic reason.i pray for the well being of 228 passan gers i hope.....,.my advise is airlines should take some majors related with haijaking and problems with techinical problems.
- Aweke Amare, Adiss ababa, ethiopia
“French airways has had a questionable safety record”. Not sure who “French airways” are but Air France as well as French civil aviation generally has an excellent safety record and I wouldn’t hesitate to fly with AF for a moment. Comments like that are as wrong as they are unnecessary, and are more than a little crass given this tragic event. Strange how AF has already ruled out a terrorist act so quickly, modern airliners don’t just suffer catastrophic frailer and disappear for no reason so a terrorist act has to be an option. Anyone remember the Air India flight brought down by a terrorist bomb near Ireland back in 1995? Very similar on the face of it. Lightening seems a very unlikely cause, planes get hit by lightening all the time without any problems and planes can withstand the most extreme turbulence without any damage.
- Nj, London
hi Albert Swift of Aberdeen,
First of all condolences to the family of the people who have disappeared and prseumed dead.Now Albert, Air france has a god safety record despite the concorde crash. The current accident is presumed to have caused by lightening/storm striking the plane.The USAIR was recent brought down by birds striking the engines. Bad weather or act of god whatever you call it is just impossible to avoid.Air France has a godo safety record and most airlines have had mishaps even if no one has died. Air France is a European airline and as such are subject to strict safety rules.
- Miguel Vargas, London UK
Albert Swift, what a stupid comment, firstly we dont know what caused this potential accident so lets not jump to unfounded conclusions about Air Frances saftey record. For you to highlight the Concorde and walkway accidents is absurd, the concorde accident was caused by a piece of debris falling from an American jet that had previously taken off, and the walkway incident is totally unconnected to the airline. In fact Air France has a good record, since the 1960, the concorde accident aside no passenger has died on an an actual Air France aircraft, the only fatalities have been on cargo or affiliated airlines.
- Howard, London, UK
Just something you never want to hear, my sympathies to all the families and friends affected by this.
- John Joe, Willesden, London UK
Isn't that location over the Bermuda triangle?
- Serox, London
How does a structural problem with a walkway and bits of airplane tyre from I think was an American airline left on a runway indicate a poor maintenance of an airline's fleet?
- Ian, London
"French airways has had a questionable safety record ... Concorde springs to mind" - Albert Swift
From what I remember about the Concorde crash it was a bit falling off an American jet which caused the accident.
- Marie, London
French airways has had a questionable safety record. Something worth considering next time you consider flying with them. Concorde springs to mind along with that collapsing walkway at CDG.
- Albert Swift, Aberdeen, Scotland
