First Debris Retrieved From Flight 447

Searches also find large amount of aircraft wreckage

(NEWSER) - Searchers have recovered 15 more bodies from the Air France 447 crash site in the Atlantic, bringing the total to 17. Brazil's military also collected large amounts of the plane's "structural components," officials tell Reuters. "Hundreds of items are being found and being stored until we know where they should go," said a spokesman. Investigators speculate that the pilots may have set the plane at a dangerously slow speed due to faulty speed sensors. More»

Officials say pallet found in crash zone was just 'sea trash'

(NEWSER) - Brazilian officials say debris they earlier believed was from Air France Flight 447 was actually just "sea trash," the BBC reports. A wooden pallet found 600 miles off Brazil's coast in the area where the jet is thought to have crashed probably came from a ship, and an oil slick photographed in the zone is now also believed to be from a passing ship. More»

Weather alone can't explain crash: aviation analyst

(NEWSER) - Searchers spotted more wreckage today from Air France Flight 447, which crashed into the Atlantic Ocean earlier this week with 228 people aboard. A team of international aircraft discovered four fields of metallic debris and a 12-mile fuel slick some 220 miles off the Brazilian coast, the Washington Post reports. Lighter plane parts may flow in currents to Africa by next week. More»

(NEWSER) - Brazil's Navy and Air Force gave up their search for Air France Flight 447 victims today, citing the difficulty of finding bodies and wreckage 25 days after the crash, Reuters reports. "It's already been nine days without seeing any bodies," a Brazilian officer said. French ships will remain, seeking black boxes that may help solve the mystery of the crash. Fifty-one bodies and 600 pieces of wreckage have been recovered so far. More»

Submarine sent to probe ocean floor

(NEWSER) - Rescuers are hot on the track of signals picked up deep in the Atlantic that could be from one of Air France Flight 447's black boxes, Le Monde reported today, but a French official denied that the signals could be originating from the doomed plane's flight recorder. “The black boxes have not been detected,” the official tells the AP. While Le Monde says a submarine was sent to investigate, a source tells Reuters it wasn’t “the first time sounds had been heard.” More»