Air France Flight 447 Data Recorders Still Eluding Search Efforts

Hopes of ever finding the flight data recorders from

In the search for the AF447 wreckage, BEA investigators have started to explore a new area. On the map, the northern rectangle areas are those defined when preparing search phase 3. The white rectangle on the west side of the circle is the new search area.

May 14, 2010

Hopes of ever finding the flight data recorders from Air France Flight 447, the Airbus A330 airliner that crashed into the Atlantic Ocean on June 1, 2009, while en route from Rio de Janeiro to Paris, are once again fading after a failed attempt to refocus the search efforts.

New software and algorithms developed by sonar experts at Thales had helped the French navy to identify a new search area for the wreckage by listening again to previous recordings made by the Emeraude nuclear submarine. Based on this, the navy confirmed that the recorder's signals could still be heard on a July 1, 2009 recording from the first search phase, when the black boxes' pingers were still transmitting. This apparent breakthrough prompted France's Bureau d'Enquete et d'Analyses (BEA) investigators to refocus their search on a 40-square-mile block about 30 nm southwest from the last position known for the A330. But on May 12, the agency confirmed that the latest search had been inconclusive and it is has asked Thales and the navy to reassess the accuracy of the sonar system as it works to a May 25 deadline to abandon the search.

The rest of this article continues for AIN Members with the full report, analysis and background. The rest of this article continues for AIN Members with the full report, analysis and background. The rest of this article continues for AIN Members with the full report, analysis and background. The rest of this article continues for AIN Members with the full report, analysis and background. The rest of this article continues for AIN Members with the full report, analysis and background.