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Air France plane likely broke apart in the air

04 June 2009 11:06 (UTC +04:00)

Paris â€“ APA. Air France Airbus A330 likely broke apart in the air, Air France sources said. The investigators focused on a version that the plane broke up over the Atlantic as it flew through a violent storm, APA reports. The pilot sent a manual signal saying he was flying through an area of storm and ten minutes later automatic messages indicate the autopilot had disengaged, a key computer system switched to alternative power, and controls needed to keep the plane stable had been damaged. An alarm sounded indicating the deterioration of flight systems. â€œMore automatic messages reported the failure of systems to monitor air speed, altitude and direction. Control of the main flight computer and wing spoilers failed as well. Only the black box voice and data recorders will help answer the question of what happened to the airlinerâ€, said the sources. But the head of France’s accident investigation agency, Paul-Louis Arslanian, said that he is "not optimistic" about recovering the recorders because the search area is not only deep, but it is also mountainous. The version of terrorist attack was dismissed by all three countries involved in the search and recovery effort - France, Britain and US.
Air France Airbus A330 with 228 people, including one Turkish citizen, on board was missing on June 1. Some remains of the plane were found next day on the surface of the Atlantic Ocean. The area has 7 km of depth.