Air France Flight 447 Carrying 228 Passsengers From Rio de Janeiro to Paris Hits Turbulence, Disappears from Radar

My thoughts and prayers go out to the families of passengers on Air France's Flight 447 from Rio de Janeiro to Paris. As you are well aware by now, the Airbus A330, carrying 228 people, ran into lightning and strong thunderstorms over the Atlantic Ocean. Brazil began a search mission off its northeastern coast. Chief Air France spokesman Francois Brousse said "it is possible" the plane was hit by lightning.

Air France Flight 447, an Airbus A330, left Rio on Sunday at 7 p.m. local time (2200 GMT, 6 p.m. EDT) with 216 passengers and 12 crew members on board, company spokeswoman Brigitte Barrand. About four hours later, the plane sent an automatic signal indicating electrical problems while going through strong turbulence, Air France said.

The plane "crossed through a thunderous zone with strong turbulence" at 0200 GMT Monday (10 p.m. EDT Sunday). An automatic message was received fourteen minutes later "signaling electrical circuit malfunction."

Brazil's Air Force said the last contact it had with the Air France jet was at 0136 GMT (9:30 p.m. EDT Sunday), but did not say where the plane was then.

Brazil's air force was searching near the archipelago of Fernando de Noronha, about 300 kilometers (180 miles) northeast of the coastal city of Natal, a spokesman said, speaking on condition of anonymity in keeping with department policy. The region is about 1,500 miles northeast of Rio. Source: Huffington Post

There is no indication of any terrorist actions or that foul play was involved, but nonetheless, one has to wonder. From calculations, it seems that the plane should have been over water at that time. With that in mind, it will take a long time to locate any debris, if it has gone down. Aviation experts said the risk the plane was brought down by lightning was slim.

I can very well imagine the anguish of the families of the passengers. A special Air France information center has been set up at the Charles de Gaulle airport. That center said 60 French citizens were on the plane. Italy said at least three passengers were Italian. According to media reports, if all 228 people were killed, it would be the deadliest commercial airline disaster since Nov. 12, 2001, when an American Airlines jetliner crashed in the New York City borough of Queens during a flight to the Dominican Republic, killing 265 people. On Feb. 19, 2003, 275 people were killed in the crash of an Iranian military plane carrying members of the Revolutionary Guards as it prepared to land at Kerman airport in Iran.