The Brazilian Military has been heading to the location where another jetliner reported seeing flames on the ocean previously.
When the Brazilian military planes arrived they found a 3 mile long path of debris from the Air France jet carrying 228 people.
The ocean depth at the crash location is about 3 miles. With the area and depth of the crash scene, it will be very difficult to track down the cockpit and the blackbox, which records much of the flight data.
A few unverifiable objects (life vests, seats) have been found among the mostly unidentifiable wreckage, but no signs of any of the 228 aboard at this point.
There is still only speculation to what caused this crash. It is known the flight hit heavy weather and it seems there was little time for the pilots to make a Mayday call.
Our thoughts go out to all those who are affected by this tragic loss.
Read the most up-to-date information on this story.
Continental Airlines Boeing 737 in Mexico
Continental Airlines is reporting that the H1N1 (or “Swine Flu”) devastated their flights between the US and Mexico for May 2009. Continental could see a 19% fall in revenue per available seat mile in May and a 13% decline in April.
The H1N1 media spree has seemed to cause a lot more than just awareness. The CDC removed the travel advisory to Mexico in mid-May.
Source: Airline Biz Blog Image: World Aviation Group
Photo of the downed aircraft taken October 2007 A330-203 AIR FRANCE F-GZCP
Flight 447, carrying 216 passengers and 12 crew members was scheduled to arrive at Charles-de-Gaulle (Paris) early Monday morning. The Airbus A330-200 disappeared from Brazillian radar about 3 hours after take-off. Brazillian Air Force has been searching near the coast of West Africa.
Before losing contact with Air France, Flight 447 sent an automatic message indicating an electrical problem. An Air France spokesperson suggested it was possible that the plane was hit by lightning, though aviation experts are skeptical that the Airbus wouldn’t have been able to withstand lightning.
It will be a long, sad search for the black box, and until then, the true cause of this unfortunate occurrence will remain unknown.
Sources: NPR, BBC Image: phinalanji
Test Pilot Captain Keith Pattie, right, Air New Zealand's Chief Pilot Captain David Morgan, left, pose with the company's CEO , Rob Fyfe before their test of a Bio Fuel mixture in the left hand engine of Boeing 747 in Auckland, New Zealand
Back in late 2008 I talked about how Boeing was working with Continental Airlines on an algae-based bio fuel.
On Thursday Bill Blover, managing director of environmental strategy for Boeing Commercial Planes stated the new fuel could be approved and in commercial flights as early as early 2010. He states the technology is ready, but there isn’t enough plant stock yet to create enough fuel.
The New York Times reportsthat Boeing has been working with four airlines on four different fuel mixtures, “Virgin Atlantic flight using a coconut- and babassu-derived biofuel blend; an Air New Zealand flight using a jatropha-derived biofuel blend; a Continental Airlines flight using a blend of algae- and jatropha-derived biofuel; and a Japan Airlines flight using an algae-, jatropha- and camelina-derived biofuel blend.”
Air New Zealand showed a 1% improvement in fuel efficiency which might not sound like a lot, but a large jet burning fuel on a 12 hour flight, equates to about a savings of 1.43 metric tons of fuel and 4.5 metric tons of reduced carbon dioxide. Multiply that by the amount of flights going on globally on any given day, and that ads up to a lot of savings.
Even though we might start seeing some new biofuel in some jets starting in early 2010, they will still have to fight production ability and being cost effective compared to jet fuel and if the economy is down, it is most likely airlines won’t be willing to pay a premium for green fuel.
Image: AP Photo/NZ Herald, Paul Estcourt
Screen shot of the interview -- better to read on the actualy site 🙂
Checking over at CrankyFlier.com noticed that Brett (the cranky flier himself) got a great interview with Air New Zealand’s CEO Rob Fyfe.
An interesting tid-bit? Air New Zealand’s new check-in policy is letting people arrive 15-20min before departure and getting on the plane with no problems. Want to know how? Then…
CHECK OUT THE REST OF THE INTERVIEW >>