02/06/2009 - 09h53
Nota 5 NOTA À IMPRENSA 02/06/09 (09H20)
RELATÓRIO DAS BUSCAS DO VOO 447 DA AIR FRANCE
O Comando da Aeronáutica informa que as aeronaves que se encontram na missão de busca do voo AF 447 localizaram vestígios e pequenos destroços de aeronave no oceano, entretanto ainda não é possível afirmar que pertençam à aeronave desaparecida. Na madrugada desta terça-feira (02/06), a aeronave R-99 6751 que decolou de Fernando de Noronha-PE às 22h35 (horário de Brasília), para realização de varreduras com utilização do radar de abertura sintética, identificou por volta de 01h00 (horário de Brasília) alguns “retornos” no radar que indicavam materiais metálicos e não metálicos flutuando no oceano. As posições desses “retornos” foram marcadas por coordenadas geográficas e motivaram o replanejamento da busca, concentrando-se, agora, a aproximadamente 650 quilômetros a nordeste de Fernando de Noronha-PE.
Aeronaves C-130 avistaram, por volta de 06h49 (horário de Brasília), materiais em dois pontos distantes cerca de 60 quilômetros. Dentre eles, uma poltrona de avião, pequenos pedaços brancos, uma boia laranja, um tambor, além de vestígios de óleo e querosene.
Por fim, o Comando da Aeronáutica informa que mantém 10 aeronaves disponíveis nas ações de busca e resgate da aeronave.
Veja o local dos avistamentos:
CENTRO DE COMUNICAÇÃO SOCIAL DA AERONÁUTICA
Fonte: CECOMSAER
Nota do Comando da Aeronautica
O Comando da Aeronáutica informa que iniciou as buscas para localizar o vôo 447 da AIRFRANCE, que desapareceu quando voava do Rio de Janeiro – RJ para Paris – França, com estimativa de pouso às 06h10 (horário de Brasília).A aeronave da AIRFRANCE decolou do Aeroporto do Galeão às 19h30 (horário de Brasília).
Às 22h33 (horário de Brasília) o vôo AFR 447 realizou o último contato via rádio com o Centro de Controle de Área Atlântico (CINDACTA III) na posição INTOL (565 quilômetros de Natal RN), informando que ingressaria no espaço aéreo de DAKAR - Senegal (posição TASIL – 1.228 quilômetros de Natal RN), às 23h20 (horário de Brasília).Às 22h48 (horário de Brasília), quando a aeronave saiu da cobertura radar do CINDACTA III, de Fernando de Noronha, as informações indicavam que a aeronave voava normalmente a 35.000 pés (11 quilômetros) de altitude e a uma velocidade de 453 KT (840 quilômetros por hora).No horário estimado para a posição TASIL (23h20), a aeronave da AIRFRANCE não efetuou o contato rádio previsto com o CINDACTA III, o que foi informado ao Controle DAKAR.
A Companhia AIRFRANCE informou ao CINDACTA III, às 08h30 (horário de Brasília), que a aproximadamente 100 quilômetros da posição TASIL, o vôo AFR 447 enviou uma mensagem para a companhia informando problemas técnicos na aeronave (perda de pressurização e falha no sistema elétrico).
Às 02h30 (horário de Brasília), o SALVAERO Recife acionou os meios de busca da Força Aérea Brasileira – FAB, com 01 aeronave C-130 Hércules, 01 P-95 Bandeirante de patrulha marítima e o Esquadrão Aeroterrestre de Salvamento (PARASAR).
Brigadeiro-do-Ar Antonio Carlos Moretti Bermudez
Chefe do Centro de Comunicação Social da Aeronáutica
O mundo da aviação foi pego de surpresa nas primeiras horas desta segunda, 1o. de junho, devido ao desaparecimento de um Airbus A330-200 da Air France procedente do Brasil rumo à França. Matriculada como F-GZCP, a aeronave cumpria o AF447 (GIG-CDG) o qual decolou do Aeroporto Internacional do Galeão/Tom Jobim às 2203Z do domingo 31/05 e deveria pousar no Aeroporto Charles de Gaulle às 1110LT desta segunda, sendo que o último contato com os órgãos de controle aéreo se deu por volta de 0133z e desapareceu dos radares por volta de 0148Z.
Neste momento aeronave já havia deixado o espaço aéreo brasileiro e, segundo relatos, já se preparava para entrar na área de controle do ACC de Dakar, Senegal, quando deixou de reportar posição ás 0220Z. Os relatos iniciais indicam que a aeronave enfrentou zona de turbulência, severa segundo os relatos, e às 0214Z seus sistemas reportaram problemas de ordem elétrica dos quais ainda não se sabe se e como pode ter influenciado neste acontecimento.
A Air France divulgou lista na qual constam 228 pessoas a bordo do AF447, 12 crew e 216 pax; destes, 80 são brasleiros, 73 franceses, 19 alemães e ainda pessoas de nacionalidade americana, italiana, alemã, romena, argentina, dentre outras. Por gênero, eram 82 mulheres, 126 homens, um bebê e sete crianças.
Segundo as informações a aeronave encontrava-se em vôo de cruzeiro no FL 350 com 521 mph de ground speed; o F-GZCP é um A330-203 (CN 660) e realizou seu primeiro vôo em 25.02.2005, foi entregue à Air France em 18.04.2005 e até a presente data tinha 18870 horas de operação. Era equipado com dois motores General Electric CF6-80E1A3 e segundo a AF seu último check se deu em 16.04.2009.
A FAB enviou esquadrões de busca na tentativa de localizar eventuais destroços da aeronave; tais esquadrões embarcaram em aeronaves Embraer P95 Bandeirulha, Embraer SC-95 Bandeirante, Lockheed C-130 Hercules e helicópteros H-60L Blackhawk. A operação de busca também contra com a participação do grupamento especializado em busca e salvamento Esquadrão Pelicano, baseado em Campo Grande(MS). Missões de busca também foram lançadas pela Marinha do Brasil e pelo Senegal, no entanto as autoridades aeronáuticas francesas e brasileiras, além da própria Air France crêem ser mínimas as chances de serem encontrados sobreviventes neste que é o primeiro acidente da história operacional do A330.
CNN - Timeline
2230 GMT Sunday Flight AF447 takes off from Rio's Airport do Galeao
0133 GMT Monday Plane makes last contact with Brazilian air traffic control
0148 GMT Plane disappears from radar
0220 GMT Plane fails to make scheduled radio contact
0530 GMT Brazilian Air Force launches search
0910 GMT Plane fails to make scheduled landing in Paris
Source: Brazilian Air Force
Hopes fade for missing jet survivors
PARIS, France (CNN) -- The chances of finding any survivors from an Air France passenger jet that disappeared over the Atlantic were "very low," French President Nicolas Sarkozy admitted Monday.
"This is a catastrophe the likes of which Air France has never seen before," he told reporters at Charles de Gaulle International Airport, where he had met with relatives of the missing aboard the flight from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
"I said the truth to them: the prospects of finding survivors are very low," he said.
Asked the nationalities of those aboard, he said most of them were Brazilians, but added, "That changes nothing, of course. They're victims. It doesn't matter about their nationality."
Air France said 80 Brazilians and 73 French citizens were on the missing flight, CNN affiliate TV Globo reported.
Sarkozy said French authorities had sent ships and planes to the area about 400 km from Brazil. "Our Spanish friends are helping us, Brazilians are helping us a lot as well."
He added that authorities were seeking the help of satellites that might be able to pick up signs of what happened to the four-year-old Airbus 330. "It's extremely hard because this is a huge area," he said.
No possibility was being excluded -- turbulence in the area was strong, but other planes were able to pass through it without incident, he said.
The plane had reported a problem with the electrical system, "but the specialists refuse for the moment to express themselves about any possibility," Sarkozy said.
The plane was likely the victim of a "huge catastrophe," said Pierre-Henri Gourgeon, the CEO of Air France, who also noted the electrical problems and turbulence.
The jet had also sent out a warning it had lost pressure, the Brazilian Air Force said. It lost contact with air traffic control between Galeao International Airport in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil and Charles de Gaulle International Airport in Paris, the airline said Monday.
The Airbus A330 sent out an automatic signal warning of the electrical problems just after 02:00 GMT Monday (10 p.m. ET Sunday) as it flew "far from the coast," said an Air France spokeswoman, who declined to be identified. It had just entered a stormy area with strong turbulence, she said.
The jet was flying at an altitude of 35,000 feet and a speed of 521 mph, the air force said.
Among the passengers were 126 men, 82 women, seven children and a baby, in addition to the 12 crew members, Air France officials in Brazil told CNN.
Much of the route is out of radar contact, Brazilian Air Force Col. Henry Munhoz told TV Globo.
Brazil's air force launched a search near the archipelago of Fernando de Noronha in the Atlantic Ocean, 365 km (226 miles) from Brazil's coast, a spokesman for the air force told CNN.
Two Brazilian squadrons are searching for the plane, although it disappeared after it left the country's radar space, said the officer, who declined to be identified.
The flight, AF 447, took off from Rio de Janeiro's Galeao International Airport at 23:30 Sunday GMT (7:30 p.m. ET) for the 11-hour flight. It was scheduled to land in Paris at 09:10 GMT (5:10 a.m. ET).
Its last known contact occurred at 02:33 GMT, the Brazilian Air Force spokesman said.
It was expected to check in with air traffic controllers at 03:20 GMT but did not do so, the Brazilian Air Force said in a statement.
Brazilian authorities asked the air force to launch a search mission just over three hours later, at 06:30 GMT, the statement said.
The plane reported no problems before take-off, Joao Assuncao, Air France's manager in Brazil, told the country's Record TV.
The French ambassador to Senegal told BFMTV that French military aircraft had been dispatched to search around Cape Vert or Green Cape off the coast of the west African country.
The airline set up a crisis center at the Paris airport. It listed numbers for families to call -- 0 800 800 812 for people in France and 00 33 1 57 02 10 55 for families outside France.
Relatives of the passengers and crew could be seen entering an area of Terminal 2 set aside for them at the Paris airport.
At a crisis center at the airport in Rio, relatives of the missing complained of a dearth of information from Air France, the Brazilian state news agency reported.
One relative who identified himself as Bernardo, said his brother, Romeo Amorim Souza and his wife were on the missing flight.
"I came to the airport because I wasn't finding information and my parents are very nervous," he told Agencia Brasil.
The missing A330 is about four years old and last underwent a maintenance check on April 16, the airline said.
CNN air travel expert Richard Quest said the twin-engine plane, a stalwart of transatlantic routes, had an impeccable safety record, with only one fatal incident involving a training flight in 1994.
"It has very good range, and is extremely popular with airlines because of its versatility," he said.
Its crew was composed of three pilots and nine cabin crew members, including a captain who has logged 11,000 hours in flight. Some 1,700 of those hours were on the A330 and A340. Of the two co-pilots, one has 3,000 hours of flying experience and the other 6,600 hours. The aircraft has flown 18,870 hours.
The model is "capable of communicating in several different ways over quite long distances even if they are out of radar coverage," said Kieran Daly of the online aviation news service Air Transport Intelligence.
The French Accident Investigation Bureau for civil aviation (BEA) is investigating, the company said in a statement
Aviation Safety Network
Narrative:An Air France Airbus A330-200 on transatlantic flight from Rio de Janeiro-Galeao International Airport, RJ (GIG) to Paris-Charles de Gaulle Airport (CDG) went missing around the Brazilian island of Fernando de Noronha, 365 kilometers (226 miles) off the mainland.The airplane carried 12 crew members an 216 passengers. Flight AF447 departed at 19:03 local time (May 31) with a scheduled arrival time of 11:15 local French time (June 1). The aircraft went through a thunderstorm with strong turbulence at 02:00 UTC. An automated message was delivered by 02:14 indicating a failure of the electrical system.The airplane has not yet been found; the fatality index is feared, not confirmed.
Sources: » CNN» Air France
