Air France Jet Missing Off Brazil Coast

[WilldCrd]

Some of the news stories about this latest development are really puzzling. I'm no fan of CNN but the link I posted they seem to be more concerned with speculation about the pitot tubes and what may have caused the crash than they are about this wreckage.

If what they found isnt from the Air France plane....they what plane is it from? They said it was fuel, a A/C seat and a 23ft piece of fusalage. Sooo is there another plane that has gone missing lately? This type of stuff doesnt ussually float around in that part of the Atlantic does it?
I hate to say this but, something smells fishy, I'm sure the conspiracy people will make alot of this new information and maybe they are right to do so.
It's very coincidental to find wreckage in the same area they are searching for the Air France plane just to discover that its not from THAT plane and THEN to not make much of the fact that it could be from a 2nd crashed airliner?

Weird

[skernsk]

If there was a second airliner wouldn't there be an airline missing a plane?  A flight plan not closed?

The latest I read is that none of the debris was aircraft related, meaning they have not located a trace of the plane in 4 days.  All news outlets are running stories before confirmation of facts leading to confusion.  Hell they outright dismissed a bomb yesterday becuase of the oil slick that today apparently is not av gas.  How they determined that I don't know so is this true?

[68Wooley]

The 'piece of aircraft' may very well turn out to be just one of the thousands of pieces of random junk floating in the oceans.

[MrRiplEy[H]]

The sad part is that the ocean is so littered these days that they can't even tell where the plane crashed with all the junk floating around. They were showing a floating wooden packing crate as 'air france' part in the newspaper.

[CAP1]

The sad part is that the ocean is so littered these days that they can't even tell where the plane crashed with all the junk floating around. They were showing a floating wooden packing crate as 'air france' part in the newspaper.

even if the floating debris they spotted were part of that aircraft, i seriously doubt that it's still very close tro where the aircraft went down. i think the currents would've carried the stuff pretty far away by now.

[humble]

Obviously there is still a lot of unknown information but no question that at some point the rudder assembly failed identically to the AA flight. It would be unfair/unwise to claim that this is the root cause but as far as i'm concerned the airbus concepts specific to the use and bonding of composites in flight control surfaces is flat out wrong...

[Skuzzy]

That is a heck of an assumption and nothing "obvious" at all.  It could have come off after impact, during break-up in the air.

How can you tell this was an individual component failure?  How do you know it did not exceed its design specifications and only then failed?  I think the only one convinced of your argument is you. 

You have not presented anything which would indicate that piece of debris failed, while in controlled flight.

That's like finding a flat tire after wreck, and saying it must have been the cause of the deaths in the accident.  Nevermind the concrete bridge abuttment the vehicle actually hit, while traveling at high speed.

[WilldCrd]

(Image removed from quote.)

Obviously there is still a lot of unknown information but no question that at some point the rudder assembly failed identically to the AA flight. It would be unfair/unwise to claim that this is the root cause but as far as i'm concerned the airbus concepts specific to the use and bonding of composites in flight control surfaces is flat out wrong...

   How do you figure that? Do you see something in that pic that the rest of us are missing? Have some info the rest of us dont knwo about yet?
I agree with skuzzy there is absolutly NOTHING to indicate that the rudder failed much less that it was the same situation as the AA flight.
After reading the accident further on the AA flight the pilots improper use of the rudder contributed to the rudder failure aby going left then right several times at full deflection.
Regardless I dont want to start another debate in this thread on the AA rudder failure.
Any accident investigator worth his salt would not make ANY determination regarding the rudder from the Air France crash and IMNSHO you really shouldnt either. It seems like your trying to push an agenda by fabricating facts to support your hypothesis.
From the little bit of information we do have the rudder (whatever it was made of) was the least of their worries in a thunderstorm with conflicting speed indicators

[Angus]

I guess no aircraft crash except the Airbus, and that all of those do so because of structural weakness.
 

Sarcasm put aside, I spent some 8 hrs on the road (couple of days ago, - we went fishing) with a friend of mine who worked as a flight planner. That was world-wide.  His words were that frequently the ground planners would send aircraft into impossible conditions. That would lead to lively re-routes and some big words between pilots and planners.
He guessed at this as being a classical example of killing yourself by flying where and when you shouldn't be. The ride doesn't matter in that case.

[Die Hard]

Humble is really reaching this time. His avatar name is really ironic.

[Hajo]

Just read some news.  Some Air France Pilots refusing to fly until they get some info on the crash.

[Dawger]

Humble is really reaching this time. His avatar name is really ironic.

Humble consistently has me rolling on the floor. The juxtaposition of his name and his behavior is too outrageous to not be intentional. He is the prime stereotype of the internet know-it-all who refuses to admit a lack of knowledge. I think it is all an elaborate joke. At least I hope it is. Not just this thread. There are many examples.


----------------------

As to the subject matter of the thread, as a pilot with 20+ years flying in all sorts of weather and some ocean crossing experience I think it was a bomb or a very rapidly progressing fire.

[F111]

Does anyone think it could be a "Austral Líneas Aéreas 2553" repeat?.
Is it possible that experienced pilots made the same mistake?

[Bodhi]

As to the subject matter of the thread, as a pilot with 20+ years flying in all sorts of weather and some ocean crossing experience I think it was a bomb or a very rapidly progressing fire.

We were talking about this the other day, and based solely on the automated information received saying multiple main bus failures and loss of pressurization then silence, I'd have to agree.  Either a massive structural failure caused by weather, or a bomb. 

Based on the rumors of threats, I'd have to lean towards a bomb.

[SirFrancis]

newest development:

"Two names on doomed Air France Flight 447's passenger list also appear on a list of radical Muslims considered a threat to France, according to French investigators.
French secret servicemen established the connection while working through the list of those who boarded the doomed Airbus in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, on May 31. Agents are now trying to establish dates of birth for the two dead passengers, and family connections.

There is a possibility that the name similarities are simply a "macabre coincidence," the source added, but the revelation is still being "taken very seriously." Soon after news of the fatal crash broke, agents working for the DGSE (Direction Générale de la Sécurité Extérieure), were dispatched to Brazil. It was there that they established that two names on the passenger list are also on highly classified documents listing the names of radical Muslims considered a threat to the French Republic.
A source working for the French security services told Paris weekly L’Express that the link was "highly significant."

France has received numerous threats from Islamic terrorist groups in recent months, especially since French troops were sent to fight in Afghanistan. Security chiefs have been particularly worried about airborne homicide attacks similar to Sept. 11."