Recovered Debris Not From Air France Crash

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»

Pilot on separate flight may have seen fire in ocean

(NEWSER) - As French and Brazilian military aircraft continue to search the Atlantic Ocean for signs of lost Air France Flight 447, investigators are mulling a range of possible explanations—lightning, bad electronics, a pilot error, or a combination of the three. Late last night the Brazilian airline TAM said its pilots spotted "several orange points," which they suspected was fire, in the ocean along the flight's route around the time it disappeared. More»

(NEWSER) - The Air France flight that disappeared over the Atlantic Ocean early today after leaving Rio de Janeiro for Paris is believed to have crashed, Reuters reports. Mechanical malfunctions kept the aircraft's crew from keeping in touch with air-traffic controllers after they reported serious turbulence about 4 hours into the flight. "It is probably a combination of circumstances that could have led to the crash," an airline rep said. More»

But it may not be possible to recover all the bodies found

(NEWSER) - Following the recovery of the black box and cockpit recorder from the 2009 Air France crash, officials have pulled a passenger's body from the ocean. The French Gendarmerie says the remains, which were still attached to a plane seat, were pulled up this morning. The first search effort after the doomed flight led to 50 bodies being recovered; all 228 people aboard the plane were killed. Recovering the latest body involved great technical difficulties, however, meaning it may not be possible to recover all the bodies found in the latest search, the AP notes. Click for more on Flight 447 . More»

Investigators hope for clues in 2009 plane crash

(NEWSER) - On the heels of recovering the black box from the doomed Air France flight that fell out of the sky off the Brazilian coast nearly two years ago, French investigators have pulled the cockpit recorder from the depths of the Atlantic, reports the AP. It's not yet certain whether the recorder has held up to the ocean pressure that comes with a resting place 12,800 feet below sea level. But investigators have said they have no shot of determining the cause of the crash without the devices. "It is my heartfelt hope that the data contained in these flight recorders may be used and provide answers," said Air France's CEO in a statement. Click for more on the lost Air France plane. More»