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'Needle in haystack' search starts at Atlantic jet crash zone
Peter Dominiczak04.06.09
The first Brazilian navy ships today arrived in the Atlantic Ocean zone where 228 people are believed to have died in the Air France disaster.
Five ships are due to step up the search for remains of flight 447 as French officials warned the cause of the tragedy may never be known.
They said they may never find the jet's flight data recorders, which could be 12,000 feet underwater. Aerial searches have not reported bodies but large debris has been seen.
The plane, which was carrying five Britons, disappeared from radar screens after leaving Rio de Janeiro en route to Paris on Sunday night. French naval ships are days from arriving to find the flight recorders. One expert likened the search to looking for a needle in a haystack.
Paul Louis Arslanian, head of France's air accident investigation agency, said: "I am not totally optimistic. We cannot rule out that we will not find the flight recorders."
He said there is still not enough information to know whether the plane broke up in the air or upon impact with the sea. He added the exact time of the accident is not yet known and there was "no sign" to suggest the plane had a problem before take-off.
The pilot, Marc Dubois, 58, was experienced with 11,000 hours of flying time. He sent no distress signal. Automatic messages sent by the plane aboutfour hours after take-off indicated a loss of air pressure and electrical failure, but these do not explain the disaster.
In Paris yesterday, French president Nicolas Sarkozy and wife Carla Bruni attended a memorial service at Notre Dame cathedral alongside passengers' families to mark the country's worst air tragedy. Candles were lit in the multi-faith service which began with a message from the Pope.
It has emerged Air France received a bomb threat four days before Flight 447 crashed. The telephone warning targeted a flight from Buenos Aires also to Paris. Experts said the vast area over which debris has been found suggested there was an in-flight explosion, but was not necessarily the cause.
Reader views (1)
Damage to metal spreads slowly and can be monitored, but advanced composite materials can fail catastrophically with no prior visible signs (which is why a composite helmet must be discarded once struck). Some Airbus planes use composites for major parts such as tail-planes. This possible cause should be considered in this case, and for the unexplained crash of an Airbus on New York in 2001 .
- Richard, london UK
