16 Bodies From Air France Plane Crash Found

June 8, 2009 by Matt Placek

Early on June 1, Air France flight 447 disappeared over the Atlantic Ocean. The flight was on its way to Paris, France with 228 passengers and crew after leaving Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.  Over this past weekend, the Brazilian air force and navy along with a French ship have recovered 16 bodies and various debris from the crash site about 700 miles from the Brazilian coast according to CNN. The search continues for valuable items that contain evidence into the cause of the plane crash such as the black box.

Although the cause of the crash remains unknown, several ideas have been suggested. The first, according to CNN, is that the plane was flying too fast or too slow through thunderstorms before it crashed. The basis for this theory comes from the fact that the plane sent 24 automated error messages 4 minutes before it crashed. It is also reported that Air France had not replaced a part that measured speed called pilot tubes, which had been recommended to be replaced by Airbus, the plane’s manufacturer.

Air France, however, announced in a statement on June 6, that they do not believe that this was the cause of the plane crash. Air France states that they replaced the probes on the Airbus A320 models because they had problems with the pilot tubes, but they did not replace the pilot tubes on other models because there had been no reported problems with a loss of air speed data, and the recommended replacement was optional. Air France also stated that they initially believed the pilot tube models installed on the A320’s were not meant to fix problems of pilot tube icing on high altitude flights. In early 2009, lab tests proved that the pilot tubes installed on the Airbus A320’s could in fact be an improvement over the old pilot tubes. Air France then began the program of installing these new pilot tubes on April 27, 2009.

According to the statement released on June 6, they have sped up the program of installing new pilot tubes and have reminded pilots what to do in the event of speed data loss during a flight.