Investigations into the loss of the Air France Airbus A330 over the South Atlantic have determined that the aircraft did not break up in mid-air, and did not transmit a distress message.

The French Bureau d'Enquetes et d'Analyses, in an update to the flight AF447 inquiry today, has also stated that it will stop the current undersea search operation for the flight recorders on 10 July.

Speaking at the briefing, the BEA's Alain Bouillard said: "As of today we are far from having any real idea of the causes of this accident."

But he says that bottom-to-top deformation of structural components recovered from the water showed the aircraft appears to have struck the ocean surface with a "sharp vertical" acceleration.

The nature of the damage, he says, indicates that the jet was "not destroyed in flight".

Bouillard says the aircraft's maintenance complied with requirements, there were no reports of technical problems from the crew, and there was no distress call - either to air traffic control or other aircraft - at the time of the loss on 1 June.

Search teams are still trying to locate the flight recorders but the sonic transmitters are only required to operate for 30 days. The current search effort will be abandoned on 10 July and a second phase, using different techniques, will start after 14 July.

"We refuse to believe that we will not find them," says Bouillard.

He says the BEA's analysis of the event has also included examination of the behaviour of three other flights in the vicinity: an Iberia Airbus A340, 12min behind the A330, another Air France A330 which was 37min behind, and a Lufthansa Boeing 747-400 which was 20min away.

All the aircraft were travelling at flight levels 350-370, around the same altitude as AF447. Bouillard says the aircraft flew to avoid storm cells between the ORARO oceanic waypoint and the TASIL waypoint some 120nm northeast.

These flights experienced "moderate turbulence", he says, and diverged from their courses by 10-80nm.

Source: Air Transport Intelligence news

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Unclear which crew members on duty during A330 loss

French investigators have so far been unable to determine the composition of the flight crew on duty when an Air France Airbus A330-200 was lost over the South Atlantic last month.

The crew had been reinforced with a third pilot to meet flight-duty time regulations, and the aircraft's configuration included a crew rest area.

Recovery teams have retrieved 51 victims of the accident from the 228 occupants on board, the aircraft's captain among them.

Investigators have not established whether the captain was in the cockpit at the time of the accident. He had 1,747hr on type, all as captain, and 10,988hr in total.

The more experienced of the two co-pilots had 4,479hr on type, from 6,547hr in total, while the second co-pilot had 807hr on type from a total of 2,936hr.

In its interim report on the accident the Bureau d'Enquetes et d'Analyses states: "From the current state of the information gathered, it is not possible to determine the composition of the flight crew on duty at the time of the event."

The rest station on Air France A330-200s includes two beds and is located behind the cockpit.

While the reinforcing crew stays in the cockpit for departure and arrival, during the cruise each member of the crew must be able to rest for at least 1hr 30min continuously.

Under Air France procedures the captain determines the allocation of tasks before any prolonged absence from the cockpit, identifying the pilot who will replace him. He also specifies the conditions that would necessitate his return to the flight deck.

Source: Air Transport Intelligence news

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BEA releases interim report on Air France Airbus A330 accident

The French Bureau d'Enquêtes et d'Analyses (BEA) released an interim report based on the initial evidence gathered in the

course of the investigation of the June 2 accident involving an Air France A330.

Some of the findings are:

* the meteorological situation was typical of that encountered in the month of June in the inter-tropical convergence zone;

* there were powerful cumulonimbus clusters on the route of AF447. Some of them could have been the centre of some notable turbulence;

* several airplanes that were flying before and after AF 447, at about the same altitude, altered their routes in order to avoid cloud masses;

* twenty-four automatic maintenance messages were received between 02:10 and 02:15 via the ACARS system. These messages show inconsistency between the measured speeds as well as the associated consequences;

* visual examination showed that the airplane was not destroyed in flight; it appears to have struck the surface of the sea in a straight line with high vertical acceleration.

(BEA)

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AF 447 Interim Report by French BEA

The BEA Interim Report (English text) 7/2/2009 is available at:

http://www.bea-fr.org/anglaise/actualite/af447/interim.report.info.html

or

http://www.bea-fr.org/docspa/2009/f-cp090601e1.en/pdf/f-cp090601e1.en.pdf

and that the English version does not have appendices but they can be found in the French version (11.6 MB); http://www.bea-fr.org/docspa/2009/f-cp090601e1.en/pdf/f-cp090601e1.en.pdf

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Airbus considers flight-data downlink to aid investigations

Airbus is to examine downlink of flight-critical data, and other possible techniques, to explore whether vital information could be more easily retrieved in the event of an accident.

The initiative follows the fatal loss of an Air France Airbus A330 over the South Atlantic on 1 June. Investigators are working with only limited information because neither flight recorder has been located.

There have been cases of other inquiries being hindered by flight recorders failing to function or sustaining damage to their recording media or solid-state electronics.

Airbus says there are "various technical means" which are "principally available" to "reinforce" recovery of crucial data - among them, extended transmissions from aircraft, although the quantity of information on cockpit-voice and flight-data recorders would require substantial transmission bandwidth.

"Gathering information from accidents is vitally important to further improve the safety of flying," says Airbus chief Tom Enders.

"We will study different options for viable commercial solutions, including those where our experience with real-time data transmission from our own test aircraft could support the further development of such solutions."

Customer services chief Charles Champion and head of engineering Patrick Gavin are to lead the study. Airbus is intending to invite partners from various sectors to participate.

Source: Air Transport Intelligence news