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Air France jet crash: Still a mystery

2009-12-18 13:59 BJT

Special Report: Air France jet vanishes |

 

Despite six months of investigation, the cause of a June 1st Air France jet crash remains a mystery.

The country's accident investigation agency, BEA, says the aircraft's speed probe emissions were just one of the factors that led to the catastrophe.

Air France Flight 447, which was heading from Rio de Janeiro to Paris, plunged into the Atlantic Ocean on June 1, 2009. The accident claimed 228 lives.

The plane's black box is still missing, and so are the answers to what may have caused this tragedy. Only small parts of the Airbus A330 have been found.

Automated messages sent just before the crash showed inconsistencies in data from the speed probes on board.

Jean-Paul Troadec, BEA Director, said, "Today we have absolutely no idea what caused the accident. The focus is on the Pitot Tubes, because that is the only information we can deduce from the automated message, but there were, no doubt, other things at fault."

Jean-Paul Troadec, director of France's accident investigation agency BEA, right, and lead investigator Alain Bouillard speak to the press after meeting with the relatives of the victims of the crashed Air France flight 447 in Rio de Janeiro, Saturday, Dec. 12, 2009.(AP Photo/Felipe Dana)
Jean-Paul Troadec, director of France's accident investigation agency
BEA, right, and lead investigator Alain Bouillard speak to the press
after meeting with the relatives of the victims of the crashed Air
France flight 447 in Rio de Janeiro, Saturday, Dec. 12, 2009.
(AP Photo/Felipe Dana)