gmb45
7th June, 2009, 07:27 AM
Brazilian officials are expected to begin trying to identify two bodies discovered after an Air France jet crashed into the Atlantic Ocean.
A Brazilian Navy helicopter works to recover objects they believe to be debris from Air France flight AF447
Navy ships found the bodies of two men and a blue seat with a serial number matching Air France Flight 447.
A rucksack containing a vaccination card and a briefcase with an Air France ticket inside were also found, rescue officials said.
"This morning at 8.14 am, we confirmed the rescue from the water of pieces and bodies that belonged to the Air France flight," air force spokesman Jorge Amaral said.
Brazilian air force planes and navy ships have been scouring a swathe of the Atlantic about 683 miles northeast of Brazil's coast since the Airbus A330-200 plane disappeared on Monday, killing all 228 people on board.
Rescuers, who said only family members will be informed of the identity of the corpses, believe many bodies could have sunk or been devoured by sharks.
Searchers had found debris in the ocean previously but turned out to be unrelated to the crash.
French investigators trying to establish the cause of the crash said Airbus had detected faulty speed readings on its A330 jets before last week and had recommended clients replace a sensor.
Air France later issued a statement saying it had begun changing airspeed sensors on Airbus long-haul aircraft due to icing fears five weeks before the crash, but only after failing to agree on a fix with Airbus.
Investigators are considering the possibility that the speed sensors on Flight 447 may have iced up, resulting in faulty readings that caused the pilots to set the plane at a
dangerous speed as it passed thunderstorms.
But the head of France's air accident agency (BEA) said it was too soon to say if problems with the pressure-based speed sensors were in any way responsible for the disaster.
"Some of the sensors (on the A330) were earmarked to be changed... but that does not mean that without these replacement parts, the (Air France) plane would have been defective," BEA chief Paul-Louis Arslanian said.
Airbus confirmed it issued a bulletin asking the plane's 50 or so airline operators to consider changing the speed sensors, known as Pitot tubes, but it said it was an optional measure to improve performance and not related to safety.
A Brazilian Navy helicopter works to recover objects they believe to be debris from Air France flight AF447
Navy ships found the bodies of two men and a blue seat with a serial number matching Air France Flight 447.
A rucksack containing a vaccination card and a briefcase with an Air France ticket inside were also found, rescue officials said.
"This morning at 8.14 am, we confirmed the rescue from the water of pieces and bodies that belonged to the Air France flight," air force spokesman Jorge Amaral said.
Brazilian air force planes and navy ships have been scouring a swathe of the Atlantic about 683 miles northeast of Brazil's coast since the Airbus A330-200 plane disappeared on Monday, killing all 228 people on board.
Rescuers, who said only family members will be informed of the identity of the corpses, believe many bodies could have sunk or been devoured by sharks.
Searchers had found debris in the ocean previously but turned out to be unrelated to the crash.
French investigators trying to establish the cause of the crash said Airbus had detected faulty speed readings on its A330 jets before last week and had recommended clients replace a sensor.
Air France later issued a statement saying it had begun changing airspeed sensors on Airbus long-haul aircraft due to icing fears five weeks before the crash, but only after failing to agree on a fix with Airbus.
Investigators are considering the possibility that the speed sensors on Flight 447 may have iced up, resulting in faulty readings that caused the pilots to set the plane at a
dangerous speed as it passed thunderstorms.
But the head of France's air accident agency (BEA) said it was too soon to say if problems with the pressure-based speed sensors were in any way responsible for the disaster.
"Some of the sensors (on the A330) were earmarked to be changed... but that does not mean that without these replacement parts, the (Air France) plane would have been defective," BEA chief Paul-Louis Arslanian said.
Airbus confirmed it issued a bulletin asking the plane's 50 or so airline operators to consider changing the speed sensors, known as Pitot tubes, but it said it was an optional measure to improve performance and not related to safety.