Air France plane lost: 'no hope' of finding airliner ** UPDATE- Wreckage Found ** - Calgarypuck Forums - The Unofficial Calgary Flames Fan Community

jolinar of malkshor · 06-01-2009, 06:36 AM

More than 200 people are believed dead after an Air France passenger jet disappeared over the Atlantic on a flight from Brazil

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worl...-airliner.html

Sad, real sad, RIP.

bigtmac19 · 06-01-2009, 07:37 AM

I always hate hearing about things like this, very sad indeed.

Playfair's Hairgel · 06-01-2009, 07:51 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bigtmac19

I always hate hearing about things like this, very sad indeed.

Yes very sad, and i hope this turns out to be one of those miracle stories where the captain made a special landing somewhere and all are safe.

Thoughts and prayers

Madman · 06-01-2009, 08:43 AM

Terrible news.

Hopefully it was Air France flight 815.

Bring_Back_Shantz · 06-01-2009, 08:44 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Madman

Terrible news.

Hopefully it was Air France flight 815.

Why that flight?

fredr123 · 06-01-2009, 09:02 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bring_Back_Shantz

Why that flight?

Because then at least some of the passengers are alive on an island running away from polar bears and smoke monsters and making no sense whatsoever.

Ironhorse · 06-01-2009, 09:03 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Madman

Terrible news.

Hopefully it was Air France flight 815.

??

It was Flight AF447

ken0042 · 06-01-2009, 09:07 AM

One news report I heard said that the onboard computer radioed in an electrical issue as the plane disappeared from radar. At the time it was flying near some thunderstorm clouds.

Too bad I was hoping for another "miraculous recovery of a plane by the pilot" episode of Mayday.

Calgaryborn · 06-01-2009, 09:16 AM

Could they be floating somewhere in the ocean?

Bring_Back_Shantz · 06-01-2009, 09:23 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by fredr123

Because then at least some of the passengers are alive on an island running away from polar bears and smoke monsters and making no sense whatsoever.

I'm gonna go ahead and assume that is a "Lost" reference.

Jayems · 06-01-2009, 09:28 AM

everytime i fly, I always think how unlikely it is that the plane would go down but shows its going to happen. Hopefully, it was quick. Even more hopefullyer (new word!) they're floating in boats waiting to be rescued.

Clever_Iggy · 06-01-2009, 09:29 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Calgaryborn

Could they be floating somewhere in the ocean?

What Capt. Sullenberger did with the US Airlines flight that landed in the Hudson was, frankly, unbelievable. Water landings with a massive plane like that is nearly impossible without significant damage (I thought it was impossible and that the pre-flight instructions given by the crew for "water landings" were laughable until then).

Add in the massive swells of the ocean, the fact that they'd be descending from 35,000 feet and with the likely loss of electrical, their controls would be virtually useless.

Hopefully it was over quick, but falling from 35,000 would take awhile.

LChoy · 06-01-2009, 09:50 AM

Even in the best of conditions and the captain made a perfect sea landing, the plane would only float for a brief amount of time (long enough in theory to inflate and deploy those water rafts). The plane's black boxes (which are actually orange) should transmit once it's exposed to sea water, unless the impact was massive.
My question about this is that I always thoughts planes were designed to withstand lightning strikes

Bigtime · 06-01-2009, 10:19 AM

I wouldn't take anything you are reading about lightning strikes right now as the cause. We may never find out if they can't recover anything from the plane.

The automatic message that all the media are talking about is a very normal occurence, those messages are sent so that maintenance is ready to go to work when the plane arrives at its destination. That notice could very well have been nothing more than a popped circuit breaker. Anybody coming up with causes right now is just flapping their gums for a soundbite.

On an aviation forum there is a picture of the Atlantic satellite image from yesterday around the time this was all happening. There were lots of very big thunderstorm cells in the path this plane would have crossed.

Dion · 06-01-2009, 10:19 AM

Avation experts are saying that a lightning strike most likey knocked out the planes radar system, making the detection of severe storms impossible. When working pilots will fly around severe storms.

A horrible traegdy!

Bigtime · 06-01-2009, 10:22 AM

How could they possibly know that right now?

Lightning strikes happen all the time on aircraft of all sizes, sometimes something serious occurs from them but for the most part that plane has nothing but an entry and exit burn mark to show for it.

Don't listen to those "experts", right now nobody has even the slightest idea what happened.

Dion · 06-01-2009, 10:26 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bigtime

How could they possibly know that right now?

Lightning strikes happen all the time on aircraft of all sizes, sometimes something serious occurs from them but for the most part that plane has nothing but an entry and exit burn mark to show for it.

Don't listen to those "experts", right now nobody has even the slightest idea what happened.

Nobody has the slightest idea?

Avation experts giving thier opnions of what might have happened is some how wrong in your books?.

Clever_Iggy · 06-01-2009, 10:26 AM

I read on one of the many articles about this incident that modern planes like the one involved are able to withstand lightning strikes.

ken0042 · 06-01-2009, 10:30 AM

Well, seeing as I have no personal ties to anybody who was on that airplane, I don't mind speculating as to what the cause might be.

Same reason why I watch shows like Mayday.

Dion · 06-01-2009, 10:32 AM

Quote:

Air France fears that flight AF447 was hit by lightning, setting off an electrical fault that could have damaged the in-flight computer systems that are a feature of Airbus aircraft and play an important role in directing the aircraft.

Quote:

"Planes are routinely hit by lightning," says Daly. "It should not matter. However there is a tremendous amount of energy being absorbed by the plane. It can burn out electrical components. It can sometimes punch a hole through the metal. If you are unlucky enough to suffer a lightning strike at a crucial point of the structure then you have a problem. Also if a fire started then that is not a good thing and could go undetected for a time, causing more damage."

Quote:

Pilots are traditionally wary of tropical zones, where storm clouds are prevalent, particularly when crossing the equator. The flightpath took the plane through a weather system called the intertropical convergence zone (ITCZ), associated with violent storms, generated by equatorial heat.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009...air-turbulence