Air France Jet Missing over the Atlantic- 220 expected to be found dead
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As of 10 A.M. this morning, the Air France jet carrying 228 people, had gone missing over the Atlantic. Reports of electric failure were the biggest concern, and some opined that the jet was struck by lightning. If this plane went down, it will be one if the worst airline disasters in history. Sadly, the Air France plane is thought to have crashed already.
Yahoo News reports: French Ecology Minister Jean-Louis Borloo confirmed the plane had probably had some kind of accident as a hijacking had been ruled out.
"There's nothing on Spanish radar, nothing on Moroccan radar, nothing on French radar. We can seriously envisage the worst," Borloo said.
The minister told AFP there were "powerful" tropical storms in the zone. "It is the kind of jet made to handle this kind of circumstance but there must have been a build up of circumstances."
The flight had left Rio de Janeiro at 7 P.M. and was headed to Paris, the report of an error message coming in approximately four hours into the flight. Nothing has been heard since. The threat of lightning and weather is not one that air travelers are used to worrying about. Very few plane crashes are related to such conditions. This would certainly be the first of this magnitude.
Citing MSNBC, Bill Voss, president and CEO of the Flight Safety Foundation in Alexandria, Va. said "lightning issues have been considered since the beginning of aviation. They were far more prevalent when aircraft operated at low altitudes. They are less common now since it's easier to avoid thunderstorms."
More often, plane crashes are due to pilot error or negligent maintenance of equipment. In this case, neither have been suggested to have occurred. Still, as always, an extensive investigation will be conducted once the plane is found and the black box recovered.
In the meantime, all assurances have been that this is not a hostage situation. As I watch the news this morning, that was my first fear and I imagine I am not alone in that reaction after September 11.
The world is watching now, and hopefully news of the plane’s whereabouts will be reported soon.