Air France passenger jet drops off radar

[NM]

From news.com.au:

AN Air France passenger jet with 228 people on board is missing after dropping off the radar over the Atlantic off the Brazilian coast.

Flight AF 447 was on its way from Brazil to Paris. It had 216 passengers and 12 crew on board, Air France said.

 

[Cabbage]

Air France jet disappears mid-flight

From ABC Online:

Air France jet disappears mid-flight - ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)

Airport officials in Paris say an Air France passenger plane is missing off the coast of Brazil.

It is believed that 215 people are on board.

Air traffic control lost contact with the plane a few hours ago, not long after it took of from Rio de Janeiro on a flight to Paris.

"We are very worried," said a Paris airport official.

"The plane disappeared from the screens several hours ago. It could be a transponder problem, but this kind of fault is very rare and the plane did not land when expected."

Air traffic control lost contact with the Airbus A330 at 0600 GMT (4pm AEST) after it took off from Rio de Janeiro bound for Charles de Gaulle airport in Paris, where it had been due to land at 0910 GMT (7.10pm AEST).

Airport authorities have set up a crisis room at Charles de Gaulle.

- AFP

 

[samh004]

Re: Air France jet disappears mid-flight

Watching on CNN, they say it was scheduled to land an hour ago :shock:

 

[uzza]

ABC is reporting that it has failed to land when expected and no radio - this sounds really bad.

Fingers double crossed it's a transponder problem, even then it's still sounding grim.

 

[openseat]

Re: Air France jet disappears mid-flight

Sounds sickening. I hope against hope they find them somewhere ok.

From Aviation Herald via Google News

An Air France Airbus A330-200, registration F-GZCP performing flight AF-447 (dep May 31st) from Rio de Janeiro,RJ (Brazil) to Paris Charles de Gaulle (France) with 216 passengers and 12 crew, is overdue at Paris Charles de Gaulle for more than an hour. The airplane had departed Brazil's radar coverage normally.

 

[Slats7]

My thoughts and prayers are with family and friends of the victims.

 

[samh004]

A French Minister is saying the plane would of run out of fuel by now on Sky News. Or at least that's been picked up by them.

 

[Alanslegal]

If the worse is confirmed, this is really tragic. Let's hope for that one in a billion miracle.

 

[Slats7]

Air France have stated that there is 'no hope' for survivors.

 

[samh004]

Air France have stated that there is 'no hope' for survivors.

I heard that on Sky News too, that's awful.

 

[Slats7]

I heard that on Sky News too, that's awful.

Very sad.

RIP everyone that was on board.

 

[QF WP]

Mrs LW just came in to mention it to me.

To quote from the story:

Transport analyst Kieran Daly told CNN that lack of communication with the aircraft suggested it was "something serious and catastrophic".

He said the aircraft involved was believed to be one delivered to Air France in April 2005.

"It is an extremely young fleet by aviation standards," he said.

"The A330 is state of the art with extremely reliable engines made by General Electric."

Certainly not looking very hopeful .

Here's the Skynews report

 

[Alanslegal]

Truly tragic, very much in disbelief right now.

Here is a photo of the plane in question (reported to be taken two weeks ago), taken from FT;-

Airbus A330-203 - F-GZCP (Air France) by Jean-marc DAVID | Pictaero

 

[markis10]

Reports of sig turbulence and a short circuit before loss of comms, and the a/c is only 4 years old, early days but some parallels to the QF incident in WA seem to be emerging.

 

[Nigelinoz]

Reuters is also carrying the comment from the French minister regarding
the plane having run out of fuel by now and the website "aviation security network" is already listing it as a "preliminary" accident.
I'm hoping against hope that there may be some survivors if the worst has happened but it's really not looking good.
My thoughts are with the family and friends of those missing.

 

[QF WP]

Hmmm, just waiting for the 10.30pm Channel 10 news to see if they have the story, otherwise I'll check Skynews on Foxtel.

 

[samh004]

Hmmm, just waiting for the 10.30pm Channel 10 news to see if they have the story, otherwise I'll check Skynews on Foxtel.

It's on at 10:41 tonight, and I'd recommend CNN instead of Sky, as CNN has had it all night, Sky only chimed in much later.

And low and behold, FOX thinks there's bigger issues in America.

Edit: CNN just showed an air turbulence map of the area used by airlines. Very informative.

 

[Slats7]

AN Air France 330 Airbus that has disappeared en route from Rio de Janeiro to Paris sent an automatic signal indicating electrical problems while going through an area of strong turbulence.

Air France said flight AF447 "crossed through a thunderous zone with strong turbulence" at 0200 GMT (1200 AEST).

"An automatic message was received at 0214 GMT (1214 AEST) signalling electrical circuit malfunction," Air France said.

The 216 passengers included one infant, seven children, 82 women and 126 men. There were 12 crew.

 

[QF WP]

ABC's Lateline program advised that AFP and Reuters now reporting it was hit by lightning

 

[v8Statesman]

CNN (Foxtel 605) is talking about nothing else. But sadly no real news as yet.