Flight 447 did not disintegrate in the air but plunged vertically into the Atlantic Ocean, French investigators announced at a press conference outside Paris on Thursday, July 2. Photo Credit: Airbus IndustriesJuly 02, 2009, (Sawf News) - Flight 447 did not disintegrate in the air but plunged vertically into the Atlantic Ocean, French investigators announced at a press conference outside Paris on Thursday, July 2.
Alain Bouillard, who leads the team investigating the crash of the Airbus 330 during a flight from Rio de Janeiro to Paris on May 31 with 228 passengers on board, says life vests found amidst the wreckage of the plane were not inflated, suggesting the ditching into the sea was not pre-mediated and announced.
"The plane appears to have hit the surface of the water in flying position with a strong vertical acceleration," he said, explaining that the plane hit the water belly-first.
Bouillard emphasized that while the possible icing of the pitot tubes, suggested by the erroneous speed indications recorded, may have been a factor in the crash, it wasn't the only factor.
"It is an element but not the cause," he said
Automated failure messages, transmitted by the aircraft minutes before the crash, indicated conflicting air speed readings from the multiple pitot tube sensors.
Bouillard additionally announced that the search for the plane's black boxes has been extended by 10 days and will continue through July 10.
The black boxes are programmed to transmit a homing signal that can be detected up to 2 km away for up to 30 days, which are now already over.
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