I don't understand how the debris that has been found in the area of this plane crash isn't from the Air France flight. Did another plane go down that nobody is aware of in that area and those are the remnants? I usually don't think of things like this, but they did have a bomb threat to one of those flights in May and I'm wondering if this is some sort of cover up or something.
I thought I heard that it wasn't plane debris, but from an old ship or something? And yes, I read too that there was a bomb threat at that airport, learlier that day or just days before. (the plane in question was searched at the time and nothing was found). But ya gotta wonder? Those poor people and their families.....:cry:
Over 200 hundred lives gone, and the tragedies that will affect their families for the rest of their lives is diminished by comparing this tragedy to a scripted television show. Airbus, the manufacturer of the A300 has issued a service advisory of types, advising that the IAS indicator may read faulty. IAS, the Indicated Air Speed, approximates an automobile speedometer. If the IAS indicator is faulty, the air craft may be traveling faster or slower than the pilot believes. Without a back up system, it might be possible to estimate speed by using a time/distance calculation using changing GPS position based on elapsed time. What we saw on the video was purported to be the slick associated with the suspected aircraft, but there is no way to know for sure. It could have been a slick caused by a spill from a ship that was dumping material overboard. It could also be a fuel slick left by a fishing trawler or ship that hasn't, for whatever reason, been reported as overdue and presumed missing. Most modern ships do have a EPIRB (US flagged are required by USCG and federal law), but not all. Unfortuantely, giventhe large area, the Wx conditions, high seas and winds, and lack of precise area of impact, we may never really know. Those depths, and that much area to such preclude anything but a lucky find of the black boxes (which are actually painted international orange.)
Geez Hat, no one is diminishing the tragedy in any way, shape or form. Perhaps you should consider a "stickectomy" today? There is not a more caring group I can think of anywhere than on this board. Just because I didn't type it out, doesn't mean I don't care what happened to these people. Get a grip.
I'm assuming they have to have equipment that will be able to be dispatched to do a more extensive search. It just boggles my mind an entire plane can virtually vanish.
VG, we tend to think of an aircraft pretty much as being as substantial as the vehicles we drive. Not so. Engineers design planes to have hard points (usually the bulkiest, heaviest parts of the frame), only where hard points are needed, like engine mounts, etc. If you've ever looked out the window while flying, you are seeing just how little material separates you from the outside. Given that most the the aircraft is either light weight metal, or a polycarbonate that isn't buoyant, and crashing into the surface of the sea with the velocity it achieved from 30K feet, it spreads around and sinks. Seat cushions, insulation, etc would float, unless the plane went in nose first and submerged. Once underwater, the breakup of the air frame would not necessarily release that much material that floats. At times like this, one can only hope it was a quick demise to spare the pain.
As pointed out in a thread on the "Neighborhood" side the oceans are a garbage pit. The attached video is on the garbage island floating in the Pacific, this particular island is twice the size of Texas.
