According to an Air France probe (here), it turns out that many of the Air France Flight 447 victims have been found in the Atlantic Ocean with little or no clothing. The theory is that the wind likely caused the removal of their clothes. Combined with the fact that victims’ bodies have been found 53 miles apart, it’s becoming pretty obvious that the Airbus A330-200 plane broke up before hitting the water. Furthermore, nearly all of the victims’ bodies had multiple fractures, and none of them had water in their lungs. That pretty much rules out drowning. Based on the fact that none of the bodies have burn marks on them, a fire or an explosion was most likely not the cause of the crash.
Update (7-2-2009):
French: Air France Flight 447 fell intact into sea (Yahoo News)
Actual Air France Airbus 330-200 of vanished Flight AF 447 (identified by registration number)
This story only seems to get stranger each day. From Day 1 of this horrific tragedy, I saw Flight 447 conspiracy theories being posted on websites all over the world. Here is a list of a few Flight AF 447 conspiracy theories I have seen (plus a few crazy one that I just made up to add to the craziness of the others):
UFO/Extraterrestrial spacecraft crashes into Flight AF 447
Aliens kidnap Air France Flight 447 passengers
Missile hits Flight 447 at cruising altitude
Bomb explodes on Flight AF 447 at 35,000 feet
Asteroids hit Flight 447 (but not just any asteroids – asteroids from the coming 2012 apocalypse predicted by the Mayans)
Flight 447 hijacked, re-routed, and landed in secrecy
AF 447 collides with government spy satellite
Flight 447 shot down with secret super laser weapon
Flight AF 447 disappears in marketing stunt ahead of television premiere the french version of LOST
Flight 447 crashed because Desmond didn’t enter the numbers (yet another LOST reference)
Humans from the future came back in time and have taken all the Flight 447 passengers back to the future for some unknown purpose
Air France Flight 447 flew into a opening in space-time and flew into another dimension
May 31, 2009 is 05-31-2009 which is 3+1+5=9 and 2+9=11. Thus, you get 9/11.
Flight AF 447 brought down to take out heir to Brazilian throne; a royal family connection
AF 447 brought down to increase military spending with European contractors
How crazy do those conspiracy theories sound? Yeah, some people are nuts. But today the story became even more mysterious as the Brazilian Air Force has retracted previous statements that the debris found in the Atlantic Ocean was from Flight AF 447. Now, the Brazilian Air Force is saying that much of the debris found in the Atlantic Ocean was NOT from Flight 447. Here are some quotes (source):
But today investigators said the wooden pallet and two buoys recovered was not from Flight 447, but just floating waste believed to be from a ship.
Earlier, investigators had also claimed to have spotted a plane seat and a seven-metre piece of fuselage floating in the ocean from search planes thousands of feet up.
They have not yet confirmed if those pieces of debris were from Flight 447 or not.
Cardoso said the fuel slicks detected in the area were ‘almost certainly from another passing vessel too.’
French investigators said no cause, including a terrorist bomb, had yet been ruled out.
Debris spotted about 340 miles (550 kilometres) northeast of Brazil’s northern Fernando de Noronha islands by the helicopter crew so far includes a 23-foot (seven-metre) chunk of plane, an airline seat, an oil slick and several large brown and yellow pieces that Cardoso said probably came from inside the plane.
WTF? Are you serious? Where is that plane?!!! Do these people really know anything about the debris they are finding?
To raise foul-play suspicions even more, French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner said that despite evidence that suggests a bomb or explosion, they cannot discard the terrorism theory (source):
French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner, speaking Thursday in Rio de Janeiro where he attended a Mass honoring the crash victims, said experts had not found signs that would back up a “terrorism theory.”
“But we cannot discard that for now,” he told reporters. “Nothing leads us to believe that there was an explosion, but that doesn’t mean there wasn’t one.”
Wow. I guess we’ll be finding out more as the days go by. To me, it still looks like the most likely factors might have been the weather (violent turbulence, towering thunderstorms, lightning, severe wind speeds) or on-board systems malfunctioning (electrical, weather radar, interior sensors). Those theories appear much more reasonable. I can’t believe people are even suggesting bomb plots and UFOs. How odd. People love conspiracies. That’s for sure.
I sincerely hope they find that plane. People need closure. It’s 2009. We have some extremely advanced technologies. Why can’t we find this Flight AF 447?
Update (7-2-2009):
French: Air France Flight 447 fell intact into sea (Yahoo News)
Yesterday, I posted a few of the theories of the crash of Air France Flight AF 447. While everything seems to be pointing to a weather factors, the truth is that we still don’t know. We may never know. Here are some interesting news articles with more on Flight 447:
While AF 447 conspiracy theories abound, it is much more reasonable that violent turbulence and lightning caused multiple system failures on Air France Flight 447. I mean, seriously. It had to be weather related factors that caused the crash. The nypost.com article describing the final 14 minutes gives me the chills. Those people must have been terrified. Good bless them and their families.
One more thing: Why doesn’t the American military send out a nuclear sub to help find the black box. Nuclear subs are equipped with the most sensitive, sophisticated detection systems. It’s like radar on a fighter plane, but in acoustic form. They use these detection systems to locate/track the sound signatures of other submarines. Why can’t they use these systems to find a black box? In all likelihood, the black box from Flight 447 has been crushed and destroyed by water pressure. I read somewhere that water pressure in depths of 15,000-20,000 feet is close to 16,000 lbs per square inch. That would crush pretty much anything. But I’m going to keep a positive outlook. I really hope they find the black box.
Much has happened in the past 24 hours. Yesterday, news came out that the Brazilian Air Force had located debris that was likely from Air France Flight AF 447. The military planes spotted an airplane seat, a fuel slick and a pieces of white debris scattered over a 3 mile range in the mid-Atlantic Ocean. The debris was first spotted early Tuesday morning, and it was 35 miles apart. Defense Minister Nelson Jobim confirmed that the debris was that of Flight 447.
Efforts are being made to quickly locate and recover the flight’s black box, which will have further data regarding the plane’s final moments. The black box will continue to emit signals for days, and it will be an incredible challenge to locate it, as the depth of the Atlantic Ocean can extend down to 22,000+ feet. It’s the perverbial needle in a haystack, but in this scenario, robotic divers are looking for the black box in pitch black water. And there is a ton of ocean surface area to cover. I certainly wish them luck. They will need it.
Now, on to the theories as to why Air France Flight 447 crashed into the Atlantic Ocean. While the exact cause of the crash of AF 447 may never be known, here are a few of the theories I have seen so far:
Lightning Strike in a Severe Storm
Flight 447 was flying in the intertropical convergence zone, an area of the Atlantic Ocean where the northeast trade winds meet the southeast trade winds. The convergence of these two wind patterns is known to cause severe storms and extreme weather. The plane was flying at 35,000 feet, and the storms were topping out at 50,000 feet. There was likely no way to avoid the storm. No way to go over or around it. Apparently, pilots often face severe weather, and they typically have to pick their way through the storm. In a case where electrical malfunctions may have caused systems to go out, it could be that the pilots did not have any reliable data as they made their way through the storm. For example, if the pilots had lost use of their weather radar, finding a safe way through a severe storm could have been extremely difficult and ultimately tragic.
Examining many forums and news site, there are tons of interviews with experienced airline pilots, who claim that lightning was most likely not the primary cause for the crash of Flight 447. It appears that lightning could have played a role, but lightning is likely not the primary culprit in this scenario.
Turbulence: It is possible that Flight AF447 hit severe turbulence in the storm. Updrafts and downdrafts of 100mph were likely present in these storms, and those could prove extremely dangerous in the context of an extreme storm like the one they were flying in. Furthermore, the plane may have encountered several instances of turbulence, and it is even a possibility that some of that turbulence caused minor damage to the interior of the plane.
Other possible weather-related theories are icing, hail and precipitation. If you are interested on more detailed information regarding the weather’s impact on Flight 447, I recommend checking out this site here. Tim’s assessment is excellent.
Other Theories
Okay. Now that the weather-related scenarios are out of the way, new information came out today that the an Argentina-to-Paris Air France flight was delayed on May 27, 2009 due to a bomb threat (here):
The airport safety delayed an Air France flight this evening before departring for Paris immediately after the company received a bomb threat over the phone at the airport of Ezeiza.
The Federal Police, along the Firemen’s direction and the Airport’s Safety proceeded to inspect the plane, that arrived this morning from the French city and, after a brief stop, it was preparing to return.
The routine procedure lasted approximately one hour and a half and, as sources of the airport reported all the passengers are ok and they were not evacuated.
Currently there is no evidence to suggest that Flight AF 447 was the target of a bomb, but it is a strange coincidence that another Air France flight was delayed out of South America due to a bomb threat only a few days before Flight AF 447’s tragic crash.
Conspiracy Theories
Any time a plane crashes, there is a conspiracy theory. I found one conspiracy theory related to Flight 447. As we all know, there were 228 people on board the flight. Early reports say that the passengers represented 32 nationalities. It is thought that one of the passengers was Pedro Luiz de Orleans e Braganca. He was actually Prince Pedro Luiz de Orleans e Braganca, heir to the former Brazilian family that has been out of power since 1889. According to Wikipedia:
He was born 12 January 1983 in Rio de Janeiro and was the son of the Brazilian Prince Antonio and his Belgian wife, née Princess Christine de Ligne. The House of Ligne is one of the oldest and most prominent Wallonian noble families still extant in Belgium. Christine is a niece of former Grand Duke Jean of Luxembourg. Through her, Pedro Luís held a remote place in the line of succession to the throne of Luxembourg.
As his father’s eldest brothers, Luís and Bertrand, are bachelors, it was expected, after his own father, that Pedro would in due time become the head of the Imperial House of Brazil and heir to the defunct Brazilian crown.
In addition to Brazil’s emperors, he was a descendant of Louis Philippe I, King of the French in the male line, and of King John VI of Portugal. He was also related to John Maurice, Prince of Nassau-Siegen, renowned Dutch governor of the Brazilian northeast during the colonial period.
Apparently, Prince Pedro Luis was in line to become the Emporer, though it should be reiterated that his family has been out of power since 1889. It is highly unlikely that this conspiracy theory holds any water, but I thought it would be worth noting due to the Brazilian royalty possibly on board the plane.
I’ll be updating this blog with any new information related to Flight 447, so check back daily.
