Searchers Find 24 Bodies From Doomed Jet

Large Tail Section Also Recovered From Jetliner; Some Air France Pilots Won't Fly

(CBS/AP)  Last Updated 7:02 p.m. ET

Search crews have recovered 24 bodies of passengers on the Air France flight that crashed in the Atlantic Ocean eight days ago with 228 people on board, Brazil's military said Monday. They also recovered a large tail section from the jetliner, helping narrow the hunt for "black boxes" that could reveal the disaster's cause.

Air Force Col. Henry Munhoz says eight more bodies were found Monday, near where 16 others were recovered since Saturday - roughly 400 miles (640 kilometers) northeast of the Fernando de Noronha islands off Brazil's northern coast, and about 45 miles (70 kilometers) from where the jet was last heard from on May 31.

As CBS News chief investigative correspondent Armen Keteyian reports, the bodies could provide valuable clues into what happened.

Some high-tech help is on the way - two U.S. Navy devices capable of picking up the flight recorders' emergency beacons far below on the ocean floor. What caused the Airbus A330-200 to plunge into the middle of the ocean on May 31 with 228 people on board might not be known until those black boxes are found.

CBS News correspondent Nancy Cordes reports the U.S. Navy devices will give search crews a much better chance of finding the sunken wreckage now that a significant debris field has been confirmed.

"Investigators and the searchers can now backtrack, based on the tidal state and what the ocean's been doing the last several days, to hopefully pinpoint the main wreckage" Greg Feith, a former NTSB investigator, explained to CBS News.

But some Air France pilots aren't waiting for a definitive answer. With investigators looking at the possibility that external speed monitors iced over and gave dangerously false readings to cockpit computers in a thunderstorm, a union is urging pilots to refuse to fly Airbus A330 and A340 planes unless the monitors - known as Pitot tubes - are replaced.

An internal memo sent to Air France pilots Monday and obtained by The Associated Press urges them to refuse to fly unless at least two of the three Pitot sensors on each planes have been replaced. The instruments have drawn attention because of other incidents in which the monitors have iced over at high altitudes.

The leader of another pilots' union, however, said Monday that Pitot troubles probably didn't cause the Flight 447 disaster.

Searchers must move quickly to find answers in the cockpit voice and data recorders, because acoustic pingers on the boxes begin to fade 30 days after crashes.

While large pieces of plane debris - along with 16 bodies - has helped narrow the search, it remains a daunting task in waters up to 1.5 miles (2.5 kilometers) deep and an ocean floor marked by rugged mountains.

"Finding the debris helps because you can eliminate a large part of the ocean," said U.S. Air Force Col. Willie Berges, chief of the U.S. military liaison office in Brazil and commander of the American military forces supporting the search operation.

But ocean currents over the eight days since the disaster have pushed floating wreckage far and wide, complicating the search, Berges said. "In the sense that as the debris drifts away, you're not sure exactly where the black boxes or other parts of the aircraft are on the bottom of the ocean."

The U.S. Navy has helped locate black boxes in difficult situations before: pings from an Adam Air jet that crashed Jan. 1, 2007, off Indonesia's coast were picked up 25 days later by a navy team.

The two towed pinger locators the U.S. is sending are expected to arrive in Brazil late Monday and will be dropped into the ocean near the debris field by Thursday, Berges said. The search is focusing on several hundred square miles (square kilometers) roughly 400 miles (640 kilometers) northeast of the Fernando de Noronha islands off Brazil's northern coast.

The listening devices themselves are five-feet long and weigh 70 pounds. One will be towed by a Brazilian ship, the other by a French vessel, slowly trawling in a grid pattern across the search area. The devices can detect emergency beacons to a depth of 20,000 feet (6,100 meters).

Cables attached to the devices lead to on-board computers, enabling a 10-person team that accompanies each device to listen for pings and to visually see them on a screen, like a radar spotting objects in air.

The French nuclear attack submarine Emeraude, arriving later this week, also will try to find the acoustic pings, military spokesman Christophe Prazuck said.

If the pings are located, French deep-water unmanned subs aboard the oceanographic survey ship Pourquoi Pas will attempt to retrieve the boxes from the ocean floor.

This area of the Atlantic Ocean is littered with floating garbage, vexing the initial search effort. Days after the plane went down, the weather let up and bodies began to surface, giving searchers more to go on.

Searchers also spotted two airplane seats and debris with Air France's logo, and recovered dozens of structural components from the plane. They had already recovered jet wing fragments, and said hundreds of personal items believed to from passengers were plucked from the water.

President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva said Brazil's military would do all it can to recover bodies for grieving families. "During this painful time it's not going to resolve the problem, but it is an immense comfort to know they can bury their loved ones," he said on his national radio program Monday.

France is leading the investigation into the cause, while Brazil focuses on the recovery of bodies and wreckage. The Ventose, a French military frigate now operating under Brazilian command, has brought aboard seven of the 16 bodies and about 30 pieces of debris that "most probably come from the plane," Prazuck said.

Brazil says the search area lies southeast of the jet's last transmission - automatic messages signaling catastrophic electrical failure and loss of cabin pressure. The messages mean Flight 447 likely broke apart in turbulent weather while flying from Rio de Janeiro to Paris. The location of the wreckage could mean the pilot was trying to turn around in mid-flight.

The L-shaped metal Pitot tubes jut from the wing or fuselage of a plane, and are heated to prevent icing. The pressure of air entering the tubes lets sensors measure the speed and angle of flight. An iced-over, blocked or malfunctioning Pitot tube could cause an airspeed sensor to fail, and lead the computer controlling the plane to accelerate or decelerate in a potentially dangerous fashion.

Air France said it began replacing the Pitot tubes on the Airbus A330 model on April 27 after an improved version became available, and will finish the work in the "coming weeks." The monitors had not yet been replaced on the plane that crashed.

An official with the Alter union, speaking on condition of anonymity because the memo was not publicly released, said there is a "strong presumption" among their pilot members that a Pitot problem precipitated the crash. The memo says the airline should have grounded all A330 and A340 jets pending the replacement, and warns of a "real risk of loss of control" due to Pitot problems.

France's investigating agency said the messages suggest the plane received inconsistent airspeed readings from different instruments as it struggled in a violent thunderstorm.

But the secretary general of another French pilots' union, SNPL, said Monday the tubes were not likely the cause of the crash. Pitots are "a possible contributing factor," Julien Gourguechon said, but even without them, "we can make the plane fly."

Brazilian military officials declined to comment on the condition of the bodies or identify hundreds of recovered personal items, after some relatives said they felt devastated by Saturday's announcement that a laptop computer and briefcase containing a plane ticket had been found.

"We don't want to cause them more suffering," Air Force Col. Henry Munhoz said.

Recovered bodies and wreckage are being taken first to a military staging area at the Fernando de Noronha islands, and then to the northeastern coastal city of Recife for identification.

The Pentagon has said there are no signs that terrorism was involved. French officials have also said there are no signs, but that terrorism has not been ruled out. Brazil's defense minister said the possibility wasn't considered.

[hetup-2009]

1. autopilot disengaging
2. loss of main power
3. damage to flight control systems
4. loss of flight data
5. loss of main flight computer control
6. loss of control surface response
7. loss of cabin pressure
8. complete electrical failure.

That is quite a list. For the sake of offering possibilities, my first response to viewing this list was a virus in the plane's computer system. My second thought was more sinister, takeover of the plane's computer by remote control. If a virus then we should expect it again, if remote control access, then who was on board to justify the use of the technology? Was this a first test of newly accessed technology by terrorist? When the black box is recovered, let us all hope many eyes are on the data.

[HiTor15]

Look there are far better indications of some kind of structural damage than anything else...these newer airplanes are not as strong as the older ones...I dont care what anyone says. You almost never heard of structural breakups of airplanes before the mid eighties and early nineties...these newer planes are lighter and though their engines are not as powerful as the old planes(gas savings) tend to have the tendency to become unstable. This instability can easily lead to catastrophic failure if a plane the size of an a330 becomes unstable in a stall condition through a raging thunderhead....

[nolies74621]

NO that is not all what happened. The blame for 9/11 rests on several administrations including Obama. The truth would so overwhelm the American people who knows what might happen. The myth of the New Pearl Harbor must be believed or the western world will collapse in it's own vacuum of truth.
Posted by hermitdave at 10:28 PM : Jun 8, 2009


Wow tell me more Ted, hey your aluminum foil hat is on crooked.

[ubrew12]

cg37102006 said: "Could the cause be as simple as a lightning strike on the aircraft?"

Doubtful. Aircraft get struck all the time: its part of their design. I think richardsaunders may be right: the craft isn't strong enough against really strong wind shear. Once you lose your tail, you're toast. The airspeed indicators that showed different wind speeds may just have indicated how crazy the wind shear WAS in the storm the jet entered. Possibly the wind tore the vehicle apart: and by design it shouldn't have.

I might add: wind shears like this should increase if Global Warming acts to make storms bigger and more variable. This obviously wasn't due to GW, but I'm just saying.

[cg37102006]

Could the cause be as simple as a lightning strike on the aircraft?

[hermitdave]

NO that is not all what happened. The blame for 9/11 rests on several administrations including Obama. The truth would so overwhelm the American people who knows what might happen. The myth of the New Pearl Harbor must be believed or the western world will collapse in it's own vacuum of truth.

[ubrew12]

randomlybanned said: "Not much going on in the medulla oblongata." You mean they're dead? (medulla responsible for autonomic responses like breathing and heart beating).

[randomlybanned]

I am amazed that there are so many sheeple who believe that the U.S. government took down the Twin Towers on 9/11 and the same sheeple actually believe that essentially the SAME government under Obama is only out to do good and wonderful things. Not much going on in the medulla oblongata.

[ubrew12]

richardsaunders it's tail (vertical stabilizer) break off on mid-flight after encountering turbulence... I suspect the same type of structural failure is to blame for Air France #447-- and affects most Airbus aircraft "

You may be right about that.

[kbbpll]

"The two towed pinger locators the U.S. is sending are expected to arrive in Brazil late Monday" - I guess we sent them by donkey.

[Ordflyer]

Awe come on now - the NYC crash was caused by the copilot pushing the ruddr pedals 60 times per second (sarcasm). It will be interesting to see if the A330 & A340 have the same (in my opinion) vertical stabilizer flaw.

MORE AMAZING THOUGH: Holy carp! France has a nuclear attack submarine - that's more shocking than when I found out that Canada has a Navy ;-)....

[richardsaunders]

This looks a lot like the crash of American Airlines flight 587 on November 12, 2001. That Airbus A300 had it's tail (vertical stabilizer) break off on mid-flight after encountering turbulence caused by a jumbo jet passing before it. As the tail-less Airbus spun out of control, the engines broke off prior to the plane hitting the ground -- it substantially broke apart in mid-flight just like this A330. Composite materials used in tail construction gave way bringing the plane down. I suspect the same type of structural failure is to blame for Air France #447-- and affects most Airbus aircraft With the French handling the accident investigation of their own aircraft industry, I fear we may never get the truth .....

[Audacity_of_Deception]

Such a terrible tragedy. I cannot stand reading about stuff like this. May God be with the families of the victims

[sashenka1]

How terrible...simply incredible...that naked body parts are aimlessly drifting along deep ocean currents with no ghosts for modesty or reasons of being there.

[novamba]

Please stop the conspiracy theory stuff about the incidents of 9/11. Those planes crashed at over 500 miles an hour against reinforced structures, on planes covered by a mere 2mm of aluminum. remember the flight over pittsburg that plunged to the ground years ago? the US air flight? I think the biggest part found in that crash was less than 10 sq. ft, and that was agains a mountain, not reinforced concrete.

[count_slapula]

Naked bodies would indicate the plane broke apart at a high altitude.
Posted by ffrecster at 10:04 AM : Jun 8, 2009

Did it ever occur to you that these were Mile High Club inductees?
Posted by bannednancy

It takes a pretty degraded mind to find humor in this catastrophe. I doubt the relatives find much to laugh about in your joke.

[novamba]

I wonder, is Air France, or France or Brazil paying for the US to bring in this high tech search gear and our Navyor are we arrogant Americans giving this away for free again.? Why is it that the American Taxpayer has to pay for everything everywhere?
I don't remember any french or Brazilian search teams working for free after the huricanes or earthquakes or aircraft disasters we have had.

I lament that you feel that way. The US does indeed receive help from foreign search teams when disaster strikes as was the case in 9/11, and Katrina. The issue is that the US has vast capabilities and technology that we as Americans make available through our government to other countries for humanitarian missions such as this one. I doubt the US will get any $$ back but as far as PR, it is an excellent opportunity to help mend our image in the world, specially with two very powerful countries whose policies have been in contrast to the US's even though they are our "allies". No harm done here.

[HiTor15]

The problem with all the new planes is that they ARE NOT DESIGNED TO GET YOUR BUTT FROM POINT A TO POINT B WITH MAX SAFETY, but are rather desinged to get your butt from point a to point b IN THE CHEAPEST MANNER POSSIBLE!. Thus the planes are made with CARBON COMPOUNDS INSTEAD OF METALS which are far lighter than metals,BUT THEY ALSO BEND A LOT LESS....thus these planes are both VERY LIGHT AND QUITE UNSTABLE and the slightest wind will move them anywhere so they need FLY BY WIRE COMPLUTERS TO FLY THEM BECAUSE THEY ARE UNSTABLE and are easily moved by the wind and are also easily broken up by the wind because they BREAK BUT DO NOT BEND!!!! THIS GOES FOR AIR BUS AND BOEING NEWER MODELS!!! THEY ARE GAS CHEAP BUT THEY ARE UNSTABLE AND NOT THAT STURDY.

[luvcanines]

i haven't read anything where it states the bodies found were either naked or clothed.

[hermitdave]

Posted by bannednancy at 11:52 AM : Jun 8, 2009

Yes you are correct, if they could find the ID card of a Saudi highjacker, they should have found more of two big airliners in the twin towers. But remember all we have is video and the eyes of people in panic on that magic day. Of course we have plenty of official government and managed news people to tell us what the official story of that day should be forever in our memory.