Air France crash

[Joe Hernandez]

Thanks.

What I still don't understand why it can take up to 30 hours to find the crash site.

It must really suck that if you somehow survive a crash you still lose your life because help is not there in time.

I don't really know how you can do it but there should be a way that you can be found earlier then 30 hours.

[Shane44]

Today's NY Times states the planes automated mechanical reporting system wired Air France's maintenance base in Paris that "its electrical system had malfunctioned and that cabin pressure had been lost." This report was not picked up by Air France for several hours after the crash may have occurred. Although as previous writers have stated, the plane is equipped with an ELT, the area over which the Brazilian Air Force has to conduct its search is vast and the depth the ELT may be transmitting from could also be a factor in its signal's degradation. I can think of two planes that went down in the 60's to 70's period due to lightening strikes. A USAF B-52 off the east coast of Spain which had nuclear bombs on board [all recovered], and when the Shah of iran was in power, Iran lost a C5A from a lightening hit.

[Joe Hernandez]

All over water Aircraft carry at least one ELT (Emergency Locater Beacon) and larger ones 2, they are on a guarded frequency and Satellite capable. In addition the "Black Boxes" have water activated "Pingers" attached to them. With said, the antennas still on the ELT's need to bee seen, hard to be seen if your down several hundred feet in the ocean. Also calm waters would be the best for locating them,

I am An Major airline wrench.

Thanks, but is it true that a airplane could go 1 to 2 hours without contact over the ocean?

Seems to be it's pretty easy to fix and by having a stand alone solution it should not matter which problems the airplane has.

A possible rescue mission or fact finding would be a lot easier if you know where the airplane went down. It seems to me that they have to cover 1000's of mile to find the airplane.

[Bobby Timz]

All over-water Aircraft carry at least one ELT (Emergency Locater Beacon) and larger ones 2, they are on a guarded frequency and Satellite capable. In addition the "Black Boxes" have water activated "Pingers" attached to them. With said, the antennas still on the ELT's need to bee seen, hard to be seen if your down several hundred feet in the ocean. Also calm waters would be the best for locating them,

I am a major airline wrench.

[Joe Hernandez]

According to reports they did receive a brief automated signal indicating an electrical system failure. Also according to experts, aircraft are designed to withstand lighting strikes in flight and no one can recall an incident where lighting brought down and aircraft in recent times.

It is possible the Air France flight encounter wind shear similar to that which caused an aircraft to crash short of the run way in I believe it was Dallas, Texas several years ago

From what I heard it's possible that because of the electric failure they did not recive a SOS sign and because of that they don't know exactly to locate the airplane.

Its also supposed to be normal that an airplane also contacts flights control once every hour or hour and a half.

I don't know what the odds are that you can survive a crash in the ocean, but it seems to me that if you can locate the airplane fast it's always better

[Member #4112]

According to reports they did receive a brief automated signal indicating an electrical system failure. Also according to experts, aircraft are designed to withstand lighting strikes in flight and no one can recall an incident where lighting brought down and aircraft in recent times.

It is possible the Air France flight encounter wind shear similar to that which caused an aircraft to crash short of the run way in I believe it was Dallas, Texas several years ago.

[Joe Hernandez]

As most of you know a Airbus with 226 people on board from Rio to Paris dissapeared in the Atlantic. They are guessing this is because lightning hit the airplane and this caused the electronic circuit to fail and kicking off a chain of events that led to this dissaster. Because there is little to no radio contact above the ocean they are searching a large area of probally more then 1000 square mile.

I am not a technician but what I don't understand is that if the electronic system fails there is no way to locate the airplane fast.

I am not sure how this should work but I think it should be pretty easy to install a stand alone censor that sends its location every 1,5 or 10 minutes to a satalite. That way you can predict within a 100 mile radius where the airplane crashed.

With the huge presence of military bases and ships you should be able to start a small scale rescue operation.

P. S. I wonder if this topic can be here, but it seems to me it was the best place