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Eine Maschine der französischen Fluggesellschaft Air France mit 216 Passagieren und elf Besatzungsmitgliedern an Bord ist heute über dem Meer von den Radarschirmen verschwunden, teilten die Flughafenbehörden in Paris zu Mittag mit.

Der Airbus war in Rio de Janeiro in Richtung Paris gestartet. Er verschwand um 08.00 Uhr MESZ von den Bildschirmen, vorerst war über das Schicksal der Maschine nichts Näheres bekannt. Das Flugzeug hätte um 11.10 Uhr in Paris landen sollen.

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Airbus A330 der Air France über Atlantik vermisst

PARIS (dpa) - Ein Verkehrsflugzeug der Air France mit 228 Menschen an Bord ist am Montag über dem Atlantik vom Radarschirm verschwunden und vermutlich vor der brasilianischen Küste abgestürzt. Der Airbus A330-200 war auf dem Weg von Rio de Janeiro nach Paris. Er wird seit 06.00 Uhr morgens vermisst und traf nicht wie geplant am späten Vormittag auf dem Pariser Flughafen Charles de Gaulle ein. Präsident Nicolas Sarkozy erklärte seine "sehr große Besorgnis".

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An Air France Airbus A330-200 (CF6-80E engines), registration F-GZCP performing flight AF-447 (dep May 31st) from Rio de Janeiro,RJ (Brazil) to Paris Charles de Gaulle (France) with 216 passengers and 12 crew, is overdue at Paris Charles de Gaulle for more than three hours following a scheduled 11:15 hours flight time and estimated arrival at 11:10 CEST (09:10Z). The airplane had departed Brazil's civil radar coverage normally.

A crisis and intervention center has been setup at Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport.

Brazil has launched a search and rescue operation off their coast along the last known radar positions near the Island of Fernando de Noronha after which the airplane had failed to establish required radio communication.

There have been no reports of an unscheduled landing anywhere on Atlantic Islands or airports surrounding the Atlantic. French Authorities report, that the airplane would have run out of fuel by now.

According to Forca Aerea Brasileira (FAB) the last radio contact with the crew was about 3 hours into the flight at around 01:33Z. The crew reported flying through severe turbulence.

Air France reported, that they had received an automatic message from the airplane reporting an electrical short circuit and the failure of multiple systems at 02:14Z. Air Traffic Control as well as Military Stations along the Atlantic coast of South America, Africa, Portugal, Spain and France have been alerted and attempted to contact the airplane without success. Attempts to locate the airplane using civil and military radars from both west and east coasts (including France) of the Atlantic also proved unsuccessful. The airplane entered service in 2005 and had accumulated 18870 flights hours. The captain had 11700 flight hours, one of the first officers had 3000, the other 6600 flight hours.

Air France has set up hotlines for family members at 0800 800 812 within France and +33 1 57 02 10 55 from abroad.

Brasilian government sources report, that the airplane also disappeared from military radars (primary radars), that do not depend on transponder signals.

Zitat von »Balu der Bär«

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Airbus A330 der Air France über Atlantik vermisst

PARIS (dpa) - Ein Verkehrsflugzeug der Air France mit 228 Menschen an Bord ist am Montag über dem Atlantik vom Radarschirm verschwunden und vermutlich vor der brasilianischen Küste abgestürzt. Der Airbus A330-200 war auf dem Weg von Rio de Janeiro nach Paris. Er wird seit 06.00 Uhr morgens vermisst und traf nicht wie geplant am späten Vormittag auf dem Pariser Flughafen Charles de Gaulle ein. Präsident Nicolas Sarkozy erklärte seine "sehr große Besorgnis".

Auf aero.de komplett zu lesen....

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Ein Blitzeinschlag, der als Ursache des Absturzes eines Air-France-Jets über dem Atlantik am Montag nicht ausgeschlossen wurde, kann einem modernen Passagierjet eigentlich nichts anhaben. Ein Flugzeug sei wie ein Auto ein Faradayscher Käfig, erläutert der Sprecher der Vereinigung Cockpit, Jörg Handwerg: "Der Blitz sucht sich den kürzesten Weg zum Boden und tritt irgendwo wieder aus dem Flugzeug aus."

Die Technik sei so geschützt, dass sie bei einem Blitzeinschlag fast nie beeinträchtigt werde, erklärte der Flugkapitän weiter: "In der Regel passiert da nichts." Da es an Bord je nach Flugzeugtyp bis zu drei unabhängig voneinander arbeitende elektrische Systeme gebe, sei ein Strom-Totalausfall höchst unwahrscheinlich.

Zudem gebe es Notsysteme: Der Airbus A320 beispielsweise verfüge in einer Tragfläche über eine Turbine, die ausgeklappt werden und dann mit Hilfe des Strömungswindes Elektrizität erzeugen könne. In einem Gewitter seien die Turbulenzen für ein Passagierflugzeug ein größeres Problem als Blitze. Deshalb versuche ein Pilot auch, Gewitterfronten zu umfliegen, sagte Handwerg weiter.

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First press release

Air France regrets to announce that it has lost contact with flight AF 447 from Rio de Janeiro to Paris-Charles de Gaulle, expected to arrive this morning at 11:15 local time.
The flight left Rio on 31 May at 7pm local time.
216 passengers are on board.
There are 12 crew members on board: 3 pilots and 9 cabin crew.

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Press release N° 2

Air France regrets to confirm the disappearance of flight AF 447 flying from Rio de Janeiro to Paris-Charles de Gaulle, scheduled to arrive at 11:10am local time today, as announced to the press by Air France CEO, Pierre-Henri Gourgeon.
The Airbus A330-200, registration F-GZCP, left Rio on 31 May at 7:03pm local time (12:03am in Paris).
The aircraft hit a zone of stormy weather with strong turbulence at 2am this morning (universal time), i.e. 4am in Paris. An automatic message was received from the aircraft at 2:14am (4 :14am in Paris) indicating a failure in the electric circuit a long way from the coast.
The Brazilian, African, Spanish and French air traffic control centres all tried to make contact with flight AF 447 but to no avail. The French military air traffic control centre tried to detect the aircraft but did not succeed.
216 passengers were on board: 126 men, 82 women, 7 children and one infant.
There were 12 flight crew members: 3 pilots and 9 flight attendants.
The flight captain had a record of 11,000 flight hours and had already flown 1,700 hours on Airbus A330/A340s.
Of the two first officers, one had flown 3,000 flight hours (800 of which on the Airbus A330/A340) and the other 6,600 (2,600 on the Airbus A330/A340).
The aircraft was powered by General Electric CF6-80E engines.
The aircraft had totalled 18,870 flight hours and went into service on 18 April 2005.
Its last maintenance check in the hangar took place on 16 April 2009.
Air France fully shares the anxiety and distress of the families concerned. The families are being taken care of in a specially reserved area of Paris-Charles de Gaulle Terminal 2.
A toll-free number has been opened at 0800 800 812 for calls from France,

and + 33 1 57 02 10 55 for calls from outside France.

NB: We ask journalists not to call this number, which is reserved for families and close relatives.

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Press release N° 3

Air France has sent all the information in its possession on the disappearance of flight AF 447 operating the Rio de Janeiro – Paris-Charles de Gaulle route to the French Accident Investigation Bureau for civil aviation (BEA), the French organization in charge of technical investigations into civil aviation incidents and accidents, and to the aircraft manufacturer Airbus. Air France is in permanent contact with the BEA and Airbus.
The Airbus A330-200 aircraft, registration F-GZCP, left Rio on 31 May at 7:03pm local time (12:03am in Paris). The aircraft hit a zone of stormy weather with strong turbulence at 2am this morning (universal time), i.e. 4am in Paris. An automatic message was received from the aircraft at 2:14am (4:14am in Paris) indicating a failure in the electric circuit in an area a long way off the coast.
The aircraft was powered with General Electric CF6-80E engines.
The aircraft had totalled 18,870 flight hours and went into service on 18 April 2005.
Its last maintenance check in the hangar took place on 16 April 2009.
Air France shares the anxiety and distress of the families concerned. The families are being taken care of in a specially reserved area of Paris-Charles de Gaulle Terminal 2.

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Press release N° 4

Air France expresses its deepest sympathy to the relatives and friends of the passengers and crew who were on board AF flight 447 on 31 May 2009, which disappeared somewhere between Rio de Janeiro and Paris-Charles de Gaulle.
Air France is doing its utmost to provide support to relatives and friends: counselling with physicians and psychologists as well as specially trained Air France volunteers has been set up at the airports of Paris-Charles de Gaulle 2 and Rio de Janeiro.
Air France has also established a special toll-free number for the attention of relatives and friends of passengers who may have been on board. They can use this number to obtain information on whether or not a member of their family or friends were on board.

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INTOL coordinates S01 21.65 W032 49.89
TASIL coordinates N04 00.30 W029 59.40