New information: Flight AF447 did not break in flight

Airbus could face demands to ground the series after it is revealed the problem has occurred on previous occasions although with less drastic results

THE French Air Investigation Agency (BEA) reported this week that Air France flight AF447, which crashed during a flight from Brazil to Paris at the beginning of June, did not break during flight, but plummeted vertically and at great speed while still intact into the Atlantic Ocean, giving passengers no time to prepare for the crash. A visual study of the remains of the Airbus A330 shows that the plane’s belly hit the water and everything within it was pushed upwards.

A spokesperson for the agency has admitted that they cannot yet determine why no-one survived the crash, and that although they hope to learn more after autopsies are performed, it may remain a mystery forever.

Apparently, no air-traffic controllers seem to have been monitoring the flight when it went down. It would normally have been "handed over" from controllers in South America to others in Africa while flying over the Atlantic, but that did not happen. Investigators are eager to find out why there was no alarm raised in Dakar when the flight was not handed over to controllers there.

Although the black boxes should only emit a signal for 30 days after a crash, and this time has already elapsed, investigators will continue to search for them until July 10.

French submarines and sensitive U.S. military listening devices are being used in the search.

The search for bodies was called off on June 27. Only 51 of the 228 people on board have been found, so far, 11 have been identified. They include Captain Marc Dubois, 58, who is believed to have been resting when his two co-pilots lost control of the aircraft in a storm

Investigators have found more than 600 parts and structural components of the plane, luggage, but no clothing, although investigators are unable to say why.

It is believed that the BEA will report that stormy weather was a factor in the tragedy but faulty speed data and electronics were the main problem, therefore, Airbus faces calls to ground its worldwide fleet of long-range aircraft.

The European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) will also face questioning as to why it had never taken action to remedy a well-known problem with the Airbus 330 and 340 series. Suspicion over the air data systems on these series has increased after it was disclosed that the aircraft had experienced 36 episodes similar to the one that brought Flight 447.

Airbus first reported problems with the speed sensors or pitot tubes in 1994. The company advised remedies, but no action was taken.

In the final four minutes of flight AF447, the plane told a familiar story. Ice particles or water had blocked the pitot tubes upsetting the air data computers and causing the automatic pilot to disconnect. This means pilots would have had to fly manually in near-impossible conditions.

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