Global General

Special

Newsmaker

Asia Pacific

America

Middle East

Europe

Africa

Air France crash inquiry needs more money

(Agencies)
Updated: 2009-08-31 22:17

Debris from the missing Air France flight 447 being recovered from the Atlantic Ocean arrive at the Recife's port June 19, 2009. [Agencies]

PARIS: Investigators looking for the Air France plane that disappeared into the Atlantic Ocean in June still cannot explain the crash and need more money and resources to search for the aircraft's data recorders, the man leading the probe said Monday.

"At the moment, we can't explain the accident," said Paul-Louis Arslanian said, head of France's Bureau of Investigation and Analysis, or BEA.

Related readings:  French: Air France Flight 447 fell intact into sea  Air France: Flight 447 pilot's body retrieved  Official: No black box signals from Flight 447  Italian who missed fatal Air France flight dies in car crash  Probe: Flight 447 autopilot not on before crash

He said a third, more meticulous search for plane debris and the flight recorders, should begin before the end of the year, but could cost tens of millions of euros (dollars).

"We are making progress and will make progress and I'm optimistic, but this will take time," he told journalists in Paris. "It takes a year and a half, being responsible and reasonable, in order to make progress and ensure that we've run through all of the questions."

Investigators still don't know exactly where the Airbus A330 flying from Rio to Paris crashed, killing all 228 people aboard, or what caused the June 1 accident, Arslanian told a gathering of aerospace journalists in Paris.

The search has so far failed to locate the plane's data recorders, without which the full causes of the crash may never be fully known, but investigators don't want to give up.

Arslanian said planemaker Airbus has offered to help fund the efforts, but more commitments are needed.

"We have to mobilize resources. It's not only having promises for money, we need to know who will contribute financially and how," he said.

Arslanian said around 1,000 parts of the plane have so far been recovered from the Atlantic Ocean, including a nearly intact tail, an engine cover, uninflated life jackets, seats and kitchen items.

The BEA, together with an international team of experts, has been studying the data gathered from two phases of research to decide what a third search phase would cost and require. The second phase of the search began after the black boxes stopped emitting signals, about a month after the crash.

The crash site is more than 900 miles (1,450 kilometers) off Brazil's northeastern coast.

   Previous page 1 2 Next Page  

   Previous page 1 2 Next Page