Air France 447 update

Air France CEO Pierre-Henri Gourgeon confirmed late yesterday (Sunday 1 May) the finding of the flight recorder from the Air France AF 447 Airbus A330 that mysteriously disappeared halfway across the South Atlantic in June 2009, killing all 228 people on board. 

In a statement he said: "Air France has been informed by the French Accident & Investigation Bureau (BEA) that a flight recorder (black box) from the Airbus A330, operating the Rio – Paris-Charles de Gaulle flight which disappeared over the Atlantic on 1 June 2009, has been found and retrieved.  This new step in the investigation is very significant as it may provide additional information as to the causes of this accident that remain unexplained to this day.  We hope that the BEA, in charge of the technical investigation, will be able to provide answers to questions that relatives of the victims, Air France and the entire airline industry have been asking for nearly two years as to why this tragic accident occurred."

The searchers, lead by Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, a US-based ‘not for profit’ organisation, finally located the wreck in early April.  Many bodies have been found in what may turn out to be, in a sad way, the greatest underwater investigation ever undertaken.  Involving depths up to 13,000ft covering an area of 10,000sq kl although the initial search area was far larger. www.airfrance.com

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