Personal Injury Law

No Hope of Finding Air France Flight

By Jane Akre

Air France Flight 447

Officials now say there is "no hope" of finding Air France Flight 447 that left Rio de Janeiro last night on a flight to Paris.  The Airbus 330-200k disappeared from radar a little more than three hours into the flight. 

There was no emergency signal but the aircraft did report it experienced an electrical "short circuit" after some turbulence, reports the Telegraph. Air France believes the plane had been hit by lightning and had a sudden systems failure.

Search crews are now looking around the archipelago of Fernando de Noronha as the flight was about 200 miles northeast of the Brazilian city of Natal when it lost contact.

Family members are gathered at the Charles de Gaulle airport awaiting any news of the 216 passengers and 12 crew members. 

Brazil's air traffic control system, which is run by the military, has been criticized for its role in a passenger jet collision in 2006, and a jet collision on the runway 10 months later in which some 199 people died.

A-330

The Telegraph.UK reports that the Airbus 330-200 has had two problems in the last decade. One flight was a transatlantic from Canada to Portugal in 2001 when the flight lost all power following a fuel leak.  None of the passengers were hurt after the pilot managed an emergency landing after gliding for 17 minutes.   

In 2003, an engine exploded after take-off from Miami on an Edelweiss Air flight. None of the 175 passengers there was hurt. 

The Airbus 330 is used around the world by Quantas, KLM and Etihad Airlines and was developed to compete with the Boeing 767. There are currently 400 in operation.   #

Full post as published by InjuryBoard on June 01, 2009 (boomark / email).