400 pieces of jet recovered from Atlantic

Search teams have recovered more than 400 pieces of debris from Air France Flight 447 but investigators still do not know why the plane crashed into the Atlantic, the French accident chief said Wednesday.

[Ex-Aircraft Mechanic]

I don't buy into the whole pitot tube fiasco. It's obvious, due to the condition it was in, the tail came off in tact prior to impact and this was not the first Airbus to have this happen. The French were initially quick to blame the pilot, as in the AA crash. I don't remember anyone questioning the design or the composite materials used to make the vertical stabilizer. Perhaps the FAA and it's counterpart agencies were too quick to accept this design and new composite materials. Perhaps the type of testing done on these new materials is inadequate. Perhaps the Airbus design is flawed.

There have been serious problems with the ADIRU and autopilot systems on similar Airbus aircraft prior to this accident as well. The folks over at Airbus clearly aren't sorting these problems fast enough. I really don't understand why these aircraft haven't been grounded until the problems are sorted out. Perhaps it's cheaper to just blame the pilots and pay off the families of the dead rather than take steps to actually protect the flying public.

[dave fenton from fermoy]

i heard they found dead frogs all over the beaches

[Fat Rat]

dave fenton from fermoy wrote:

i heard they found dead frogs all over the beaches

Ouch!!!

[Dr Zachary Smith]

Those are big shark infested waters. Searchers should look for the feeding frenzies.

[Big Jerk]

I wonder if the victims' families are going to be charged a $25 body part finders fee for the first body part found and $45 for every body part thereafter? Depending on the weight of the part, of course.

[just Sam]

I believe the "ex-aircraft mechanic" has some excellent questions and concerns.
in july 2007, the EADS Airbus A320 accident in Sao Paulo, Brazil, cost 200 lives, and control systems were considered a substantial factor.
most of the aircraft burnt. but the black boxes were salvaged.

what makes these questions mind-boggling is that the "political types" in Washington, in their wisdom, just awarded the contract for the U.S. Air Force tankers to Airbus, apparently to be built as a modified A330.

would you want to pilot one of these tankers?