Air France 447: Part of a Black (Orange, Really) Box Found

My guess is that Air France Flight 447 (June, 2009, Rio de Janeiro to Paris) crashed in the Atlantic because of a combination of storm, regrettable judgment, and possibly equipment failure.

Not that there's much evidence to go on at this point.

So far, searchers have found a little wreckage, a few bodies and - yesterday - part of one of the 'black boxes.' Which are actually orange.

My considered opinion is still what it was, almost two years ago:

"...I don't think that terrorists brought down AF 447.

"I don't think that terrorists didn't bring down AF 447.

"I do think that officials investigating the incident don't seem to know what happened, yet...."
(June 10, 2009)

The Good News is What's Not in the News

There may be a sensational story being run in the news somewhere, about Air France Flight 447 and terrorists: or AF 447 and space aliens; or some other so-far-unsupported speculation.

I think it's more likely that terrorists might be involved in what happened to AF 447, than the 'space alien' idea - but that a more prosaic explanation is much more likely.

Hats off to news media, for not fueling sales and viewership by touting tentative terrorists.

That's not because I don't think terrorists of some sort would want to kill everybody on an airliner - that's a 'been there, done that' situation for everybody except the true believers who think the CIA blew up New York City's World Trade Center. And that's almost another topic.

Apart from names on the passenger list matching names on a terror list, there's no evidence that a deliberate act brought Air France 447 down.

I'd be more impressed by those matching names, if I hadn't been list manager for a small business for a decade - a remarkable number of names are not unique to one individual. Which is why America's used Social Security Numbers for so long - and that's yet another topic.

Bottom line? I'm much more hopeful now, than I was a month ago, that we might learn just what happened to AF 447.

Here's an excerpt of what got me started on this post:

"Search teams have found a part of the crucial 'data recorders' of the Air France flight which crashed into the Atlantic Ocean in 2009, says France's Bureau of Investigation and Analysis (BEA).

"The orange-colored recorder 'chassis' was found on Wednesday during the second day of an operation which also hopes to retrieve bodies from the wreckage site.

"All 228 people aboard the Airbus A330 Flight 447 from Rio de Janeiro to Paris were killed.

"The find - which comes more than three weeks after search teams found the tail section of the aircraft -- does not include the 'memory unit' which holds the recorded data that could eventually help investigators determine the cause of the crash.

"Martine Del Bono, a spokeswoman for the Paris-based BEA says there is a good chance the memory unit, which records any instructions sent to the aircraft's electronic systems, will still hold retrievable data....

"...Steve Saint Amour, director of commercial operations, Phoenix International, offered the BEA use of a remote-controlled submarine known as the Remora 6000.

Each round trip for the Remora takes some 14 to 16 hours says Del Bono, taking over two hours to descend to the wreck site, estimated to lie at a depth of between 2,000 to 4,000 meters (6,562 to 13,124 feet)...."
(CNN)

Related posts:

• "Air France Flight 447 Wreckage Found: My Take"
  (April 4, 2011)
• "Air France Flight 447 Investigators Find Terror List Names: Suggestive, But Far From Proof"
  (June 10, 2009)

In the news:

• "Air France crash 'flight recorder' part found"
  Thair Shaikh, CNN (April 28, 2011)