France, Brazil Scour Ocean For Missing Jet

Sarkozy: Prospect Of Finding Survivors "Very Small" After Air France Jet Carrying 228 From Rio To Paris Disappears

(CBS/AP)  Last Updated 6:42 p.m. ET

A missing Air France jet carrying 228 people from Rio de Janeiro to Paris ran into a towering wall of thunderstorms over the Atlantic Ocean, officials said Monday, fearing that all aboard were lost.

The area where the plane could have gone down was vast, in the middle of very deep Atlantic Ocean waters between Brazil and the coast of Africa. Brazil's military searched for it off its northeast coast, while the French military scoured the ocean near the Cape Verde Islands off the West African coast.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy told families of those aboard that "prospects of finding survivors were very small." If all 228 were killed, it would be the deadliest commercial airline disaster since 2001.

Sarkozy, speaking at Paris' Charles de Gaulle airport, said the reason for the disappearance remained unclear and that "no hypothesis" was excluded.

"(I met with) a mother who lost her son, a fiancee who lost her future husband. I told them the truth," he said.

Sarkozy said "it will be very difficult" to find the plane because the zone where it is believed to have disappeared "is immense." He said France has asked for help from U.S. satellites to locate the plane.

The search area is about the size of the continental United States, reports CBS News correspondent Mark Phillips.

"What the French government is trying to get is any information which could have been gathered by a satellite system of U.S.," said Air France-KLM CEO Pierre-Henri Gourgeon.

Peter Goelz, who participated in the search for TWA Flight 800 off Long Island in 1996, fears this jet may never be found, reports CBS News correspondent Nancy Cordes

"In TWA 800, we knew where the plane went down. We had a debris field. We had eyewitnesses. And it still took us four or five days to even find the beginnings of the wreckage field," said Goelz, a former NTSB managing director.

Chief Air France spokesman Francois Brousse said "it is possible" the plane was hit by lightning, but aviation experts expressed doubt that a bolt of lightning was enough to bring the plane down.

Air France's manager in Rio de Janeiro, Jorge Assuncao, told reporters that the two biggest groups of nationalities aboard were Brazilian and French. Other passengers were American, Angolan, Argentine, Belgian, British, Chinese, Filipino, German, Irish, Italian, Moroccan, Norwegian, Spanish and Slovakian.

A State Department official confirms two U.S. citizens were on board the flight. State Department officials are in touch with family members of the two individuals, reports CBS News reporter Charles Wolfson.

Air France Flight 447, a 4-year-old Airbus A330, left Rio on Sunday at 7:03 p.m. local time (2203 GMT, 6:03 p.m. EDT) with 216 passengers and 12 crew members on board, said company spokeswoman Brigitte Barrand.

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Timeline: Disappearance Of Air France Flight 447

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The plane left Brazil radar contact, beyond the Fernando de Noronha archipelago, at 10:48 local time (0148 GMT, 9:48 p.m. EDT), indicating it was flying normally at 35,000 feet and traveling at 522 mph.

About a half-hour later, the plane "crossed through a thunderous zone with strong turbulence." It sent an automatic message fourteen minutes later at 0214 GMT (10:14 p.m. EDT Sunday) reporting electrical failure and a loss of cabin pressure.

Air France told Brazilian authorities the last information they heard was that automated message reporting a technical problem before the plane reached a monitoring station near the Cape Verde islands.

Brazilian Air Force spokesman Col. Jorge Amaral said seven aircraft had been deployed to search the area far off the northeastern Brazilian coast.

"We want to try to reach the last point where the aircraft made contact, which is about 745 miles northeast of Natal," Amaral told Globo TV.

Meteorologists said tropical storms are much more violent than thunderstorms in the United States and elsewhere.

"Tropical thunderstorms ... can tower up to 50,000 feet. At the altitude it was flying, it's possible that the Air France plane flew directly into the most charged part of the storm - the top," Henry Margusity, senior meteorologist for AccuWeather.com, said in a statement.

Brazil's Navy said it was sending three ships to search waters about 680 miles from Natal.

Portuguese air control authorities say the missing plane did not make contact with controllers in Portugal's mid-Atlantic Azores Islands nor, as far as they know, with other Atlantic air traffic controllers in Cape Verde, Casablanca, or the Canary islands.

In Washington, a Pentagon official said he'd seen no indication that terrorism or foul play was involved. He spoke on condition of anonymity due to the sensitive nature of the subject.

Sobbing relatives of people aboard the plane arrived at an airport in Sao Paulo to fly on to Rio de Janeiro, where Air France was assisting relatives. Andres Fernandes, his eyes tearing up, said a relative "was supposed to be on the flight, but we need to confirm it," Globo TV reported.

At the Charles de Gaulle airport north of Paris, family members who had arrived to meet passengers refused to speak to reporters and were brought to a cordoned-off crisis center.

Air France said it expressed "its sincere condolences to the families and loved ones of the passengers and crew members" aboard Flight 447. The airline did not explicitly say there were no survivors, but allowed Sarkozy address the issue for them.

Air France-KLM CEO Pierre-Henri Gourgeon, at a news conference, said the plane's pilot had 11,000 hours of flying experience, including 1,700 hours flying this aircraft.

Experts said the absence of a mayday call meant something happened very quickly.

"The conclusion to be drawn is that something catastrophic happened on board that has caused this airplane to ditch in a controlled or an uncontrolled fashion," Jane's Aviation analyst Chris Yates told The Associated Press. "Potentially it went down very quickly and so quickly that the pilot on board didn't have a chance to make that emergency call."

But aviation experts said the risk the plane was brought down by lightning was slim.

"Lightning issues have been considered since the beginning of aviation. They were far more prevalent when aircraft operated at low altitudes. They are less common now since it's easier to avoid thunderstorms," said Bill Voss, president and CEO of Flight Safety Foundation, Alexandria, Va.

He said planes have specific measures built in to help dissipate electricity along the aircraft's skin, and are tested for resistance to big electromagnetic shocks and equipped to resist them. He said the plane should be found, because it has backup locators that should continue to function even in deep water.

If all 228 people were killed, it would be the deadliest commercial airline disaster since Nov. 12, 2001, when an American Airlines jetliner crashed in the New York City borough of Queens during a flight to the Dominican Republic, killing 265 people. On Feb. 19, 2003, 275 people were killed in the crash of an Iranian military plane carrying members of the Revolutionary Guards as it prepared to land at Kerman airport in Iran.

The worst single-plane disaster was in 1985 when a Japan Air Lines Boeing 747 crashed into a mountainside after losing part of its tail fin, killing 520 people.

Airbus would not further comment until more details emerged.

"Our thoughts are with the passengers and with the families of the passengers," said Airbus spokeswoman Maggie Bergsma.

She said it was the first fatal accident of a A330-200 since a test flight in 1994 went wrong, killing seven people in Toulouse.

The Airbus A330-200 is a twin-engine, long-haul, medium-capacity passenger jet that is 190 feet long. It is a shortened version of the standard A330, and can hold up to 253 passengers. There are 341 in use worldwide today. It can fly up to 7,760 miles.

Rick Kennedy, a spokesman for GE Aviation, expressed doubt that the engine was at fault. He said the CF6-80E engine that powered the Air France plane "is the most popular and reliable engine that we have for big airplanes in the world." He said there are more than 15,000 airplanes flying in the world with that engine design.

[SeekGod]

I would like to make a contribution to this fallen Airline, which has being a burden on my mind, as to where would i post my comment for this officials to read and act on it... Believe it or not, In all things there is one Supernatural power behind it, and that is the God who created heaven and earth. With man power we will fail, but with God intervention we will Prevail, therefore I asked with humble heart, if one of this officials, who can sacrifice his time and energy or any of the deceased family, MAKE A FLIGHT TO NIGERIAN TO SEE THE PROPHET OF GOD, CALLED T.B JOSHUA, AND ASK TO SEEK GOD OPINION ABOUT THIS TRAGEDY AND IF POSSIBLE, ASK FOR GOD INTERVENTION TO LOCATE WHERE EXACTLY THE PLANE FELL AND WHERE THE BLACK BOX ALSO FELL, I THINK THIS WOULD BE A GOOD TIME SAVING. HERE IS THE NUMBER TO THE CHURCH OR EVEN THE WEBSITE TO THE CHURCH. PLEASE REMEMBER PUT ASIDE ALL PHYSICAL THOUGHT AND PUT GOD INTO TEST, YOU WILL SEE WHAT A GOD WE SERVE.. HE KNOWS WHERE THE BLACK BOX IS, AND HE KNOW WHERE THE PLANE FELL, ALL THAT I ASKED OF YOU IS, GO THERE AND SEEK GOD OPINION, THIS IS NOT BLACK MAGIC BUT REAL GOD SENT. LIKE HE DID IN 1909 WHEN HE WORK WITH PROPHET WILLIAM BRAHNHAM FROM USA..

www.scoan.org

email: [e-mail]

please act on this now, you might not know, who i am but trust God is still working, thanks, please get this to the news officials or any of the bereavement family. act now and get the answer to this problem..

God Bless you

[SeekGod]

I would like to make a contribution to this fallen Airline, which has being a burden on my mind, as to where would i post my comment for this officials to read and act on it... Believe it or not, In all things there is one Supernatural power behind it, and that is the God who created heaven and earth. With man power we will fail, but with God intervention we will Prevail, therefore I asked with humble heart, if one of this officials, who can sacrifice his time and energy or any of the deceased family, MAKE A FLIGHT TO NIGERIAN TO SEE THE PROPHET OF GOD, CALLED T.B JOSHUA, AND ASK TO SEEK GOD OPINION ABOUT THIS TRAGEDY AND IF POSSIBLE, ASK FOR GOD INTERVENTION TO LOCATE WHERE EXACTLY THE PLANE FELL AND WHERE THE BLACK BOX ALSO FELL, I THINK THIS WOULD BE A GOOD TIME SAVING. HERE IS THE NUMBER TO THE CHURCH OR EVEN THE WEBSITE TO THE CHURCH. PLEASE REMEMBER PUT ASIDE ALL PHYSICAL THOUGHT AND PUT GOD INTO TEST, YOU WILL SEE WHAT A GOD WE SERVE.. HE KNOWS WHERE THE BLACK BOX IS, AND HE KNOW WHERE THE PLANE FELL, ALL THAT I ASKED OF YOU IS, GO THERE AND SEEK GOD OPINION, THIS IS NOT BLACK MAGIC BUT REAL GOD SENT. LIKE HE DID IN 1909 WHEN HE WORK WITH PROPHET WILLIAM BRAHNHAM FROM USA..

www.scoan.org

email: [e-mail]

please act on this now, you might not know, who i am but trust God is still working, thanks, please get this to the news officials or any of the bereavement family. act now and get the answer to this problem..

God Bless you

[trooper1947]

The airline and experts are pretty darn sure no lightning or storm brought it down ... we'll have to wait and see ... hopefully not a bomb .... and why can't they make those crash beacons and red boxes floatable in case of a sea crash ? At least the beacons ....

[aubfmet]

If a recreational fishing boat in the Gulf of Mexico can have a gps device that sends an alert and identifies its position, why doesn't an transoceanic airplane have the same device on board.

[sam-kiley]

bonjour
ce qui vient d'arriver a ce jet d'air france est terrible, désolée..pour toutes ses familles en pleurs, les causes du crash demeurent encore inconnues..techniques, humaines nul ne sait.. cependant le mauvais temps reste la cause la plus probable, ...
je leur souhaite du courage a toutes ces familles..
au revoir

[45ford]

argh... more anguishing news. a commercial pilot for a TAM aircraft who flew a similar route as the Air France flight, but in the opposite direction has now come forward to say that his crew saw what appeared to be several pockets of fire on the ocean in the vicinity where contact was lost with the Air France plane. the pilot wasn't aware that a plane had gone missing in that area until he landed in Brazil. not good. and the first military ships aren't expected to arrive in the area until Wednesday???

[richhong]

Air line companies can use space shuttle technology to make it much safer.
Posted by vivaviva44 at 5:03 PM : Jun 1, 2009

This airliner was MUCH more advanced than the space shuttle. The space shuttle is an outdated 1970s design. The onboard computers are about as powerful as my BlackBerry. (Seriously.) The space shuttle is also not designed for maximum safety, because the astronauts who board it are willing to accept increased risk in order to accomplish the mission.

To SociallyJust: these storm fronts are too wide to be flown around entirely. The planes are designed to withstand them. It is far too early to suggest that lightning is the culprit. Quite often, these things turn out to be a simple malfunction that becomes disastrous due to crew error. In the 1970s there was a crash in the Everglades where a simple malfunction diverted the crew's attention - they literally forgot to fly the plane (the autopilot disconnected without them noticing), and it flew right into the swamps. In this case, the lack of a mayday call could be due to the inability to send one - or it could be the crew didn't realize the danger in time. In the night, in the dark, if you can't or don't read your instruments, you can get awfully close to the water before you see it.

[sociallyjust]

Can anyone tell us why in hell this particular airliner was not informed to detour around the obvious inclement weather formation/front/area, thereby avoiding such known threat and added risk factor??!!

It CANNOT be claimed that storm disturbances and similar;
are not known about
are not known as added risk
or
that such weather patterns cannot be avoided!

It appears that another safety, accountability/responsibility feature is being avoided by the airline industry in 'ethical violation' of its purported contract with the passengers' safety.

[ubrew12]

And under 10,000 ft of water.

[aeasus]

weird there is no mention of the plane's Emergency Location Transmitter. They run automatic and independent of plane's functions and on its own sealed battery.

[strmrnnr]

Lets be realistic. There is not a flight in this World that is not tracked by someone's satellite. If that plane is lost, it is because they want it to be lost.

[liselle3]

You people who think this is funny, or have crappy things to say about this, should be ashamed of yourselves. I doubt you are, because to feel bad about the things you've said would require some class and intelligence.
God Bless the poor souls that may have been lost. May God help their families find refuge in their sadness and fears.

[cheteunice]

My thoughts and prayers go out to all involved.

[debra6306]

My heart and prayers go out to all to assist them in the healing with their losses! I truly wish I could undo it all for you.

[lovegetpeace]

Another Bermuda Triangle mystery?

[debra6306]

Amen! Congrats to the74blaster

[debra6306]

It does not matter what goes on anywhere else, loss of family and the feelings of loss are universal irregardless of of what country someone is from. Have a little empathy!

[the74blaster]

Yahoo News was reporting that France requested US support in finding the plane. Heck, the last time they helped us was 200 yrs ago! They sure haven't done squat with Iraq or Iran.
Posted by vinylogy at 12:44 PM : Jun 1, 2009

What????

So by your post I guess if someone disagrees with your position you should never associate with them again? Well I hope you do not have one of those great jobs Bush created as greeter at Walmart. You probably would not do to well.

Here let me show you how it is done.....

To the citizens of Brazil and France. We certainly hope that our nation joins yours in an exhaustive search for any survivors. We share in your grief and certainly hope for the best in the upcoming multi-national search.

God bless!!

[debinok1]

We ALL need to remember that there may be family members reading these news reports looking for updates. Any discussion of what might have, could have, or possibly have happened is only going to upset them more than they are. I am praying for these families as they wait for any news. If you don't pray, then keep them in your thoughts.

[45ford]

so what if France asked the U.S. to help search for the plane. it's about being humanitarian, not political drivel.

In August 2000, the K141 Kursk, a Russian Navy nuclear powered cruise missile submarine, sank in the icy waters of the Barents Sea. Their navy was ill-equipped to bust open the bent hatch to extract the sailors who survived. Days later, they asked the U.S. for help, but it was way too late because by the time the U.S. Navy arrived the survivors had died from a lack of oxygen.

this could be a cooperative exercise that could very well strengthen ties between our allies and it could evolve prove collaboratively beneficial for all of us given the instability that's reared its head in Pyongyang, North Korea.