Air France Jet Missing

[aone415]

Horrible news... 228 passengers plus the crew are officially missing as the plane has fallen off radar and lost radio contact.



http://www.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/americas/06/01/air.france.brazil/index.html

[flmopars]

Too bad for them. Hope they find the plane soon.

[69bronzeT5]

Amazing a big plane like that can just vanish

[nh_mopar_fan]

Just say no to Airbus.

Electrical problems, AGAIN.

[Foreman72]

well i think anything might have electrical problems if its struck by lightning

[tan top]

odd there is  no wreckage in the ocean  thought the black box had a radio transmitter or something 

[nh_mopar_fan]

well i think anything might have electrical problems if its struck by lightning

I'm sure there are others on here that are way more knowledgable than me on this but lightning should not bring down an airliner.

[Foreman72]

well i think anything might have electrical problems if its struck by lightning

I'm sure there are others on here that are way more knowledgable than me on this but lightning should not bring down an airliner.

yeah i guess...i dunno

[John_Kunkel]

Saw an interview on TV, a veteran Airbus 330 driver claimed that a lightning strike alone shouldn't bring down a 330 but the onboard diagnostic sent an automatic message reporting electrical failure and a loss of cabin pressure. Possibly a lightning strike breached the hull and fried the electronics.

Given the area where it's lost chances are we'll never know.

[NHCharger]

Just read that officials think that the plane flew into a massive line of thunderstorms with the tops reaching 50k feet. The plane flew in at 35k feet. The heart of the storm. They think it's more likely that severe turbulence, wind shear and hail took the plane down. If so a bad decision by the pilots. 

[skip68]

they are on an island with the crew from "LOST" ..... OK My bad. 

Strange they havn't found any wreckage yet though.......

Mrs.Skip68

[Mike DC]

     
It's amazing that there's anywhere on earth today that's right near populated continental land, in temperate latitudes, AND not covered by anyone's radar.

   

[justin1987]

Just read that officials think that the plane flew into a massive line of thunderstorms with the tops reaching 50k feet. The plane flew in at 35k feet. The heart of the storm. They think it's more likely that severe turbulence, wind shear and hail took the plane down. If so a bad decision by the pilots. 

The maximum altitude of an A330 is only 41,450 feet. The typical cruise altitude for an airliner is 35,000 feet. Most commercial airliners don't have the fuel capacity to fly over 40,000. Once you reach about 37,000 the fuel needed to climb to a higher altitude increases dramatically. With the lower air density, more fuel has to be used in order for the engine to operate. If they were to fly at 40,000 for a long period of time they would have ran out of fuel before they reached their destination. The pilots really didn't have much of a choice.

[Mike DC]

Good point.  They would have been basically facing a choice of fly into it or turn around and go back. 

[tan top]

they have found some of the wreckage the according to the news , 400 miles north east of Brazil

[bordin34]

Is that the same Airbus that was famous for losing its tail?

[justin1987]

Is that the same Airbus that was famous for losing its tail?

I believe it was the A300 that had a composite vertical stabilizer that had a design flaw. The A320 also used the same material and design as well.

[Charger_Croatia]

There is one passenger from Croatia in that plane. He was on his way back to home after several moths spent on sea (seaman) and now....
It seems that hi missed a regular flight and got this one from waiting list (can you believe that??)
His family is shocked, can not believe what happened.