Air France Flight AF447 (2009)

Air France Flight AF447

Air France Flight AF447 crashed into the Atlantic Ocean on 1 June 2009. The approximate location was known; the first floating debris was recovered on Day 5; and the surface search continued for 26 days.

The underwater search took nearly two years; the wreckage was found 671 days after the flight went missing.

Bayesian statistics and AF447

The search area was narrowed by a Virginian comany, Metron Inc., using Bayesian statistics - follow link:-

MH370 vs Air France Flight AF447

Jean-Paul Troadec, Director, Bureau d’Enquêtes et d’Analyses (BEA) during the investigation into flight AF447, with two other members of the BEA^[1] flew to Kuala Lumpur on 16 March 2014 to assist Malaysian authorities with the search for MH370, based on their experience with the search for AF447 in 2009.

In August 2014 an Australian Government presentation to an ICAO meeting in Hong Kong acknowledged the BEA experience and lessons learned:-

The search for Air France Flight AF447 which crashed into the Atlantic Ocean in 2009 was of a significant scale and presented many challenges. During the search operation for MH370, Australia has taken note of the valuable experience, lessons learned and recommendations provided in the French BEA Investigation Reports on AF447.

Source: MH370 SEARCH AND RESCUE RESPONSE – JRCC AUSTRALIA ICAO-RPTAU-150 ‎

The JRCC Report also included an attachment with a detailed comparison of the search for AF447 and the search for MH370, replicated below:-

Attachment 1 - Comparison Table – AF447 versus MH370

The following table has been compiled from information sourced from:

the French BEA investigation reports into the accident on 1st June 2009 of, Air France Airbus A330, Flight 447, Rio de Janeiro to Paris, and
search information from JRCC Australia for missing Malaysia Airlines Boeing 777, Flight MH370, Kuala Lumpur to Beijing, 8^th March 2014.

Links:

	AF447	MH370
Flight Planned Route	Was on planned route when reported missing.	Deviated significantly from planned route to take up unknown route.
Last Known Position	Was reporting by ACARS every 10 minutes. ACARS failure messages from AF447 were received by Air France including a Last Known Position (LKP).	Initial ACARS reporting up till disappeared. No further data other than satellite pings via INMARSAT.
Speed	Known = Mach 0.82 derived from ACARS message information.	Unknown.
Search Area	Initial Search Area: 40NM (74KM) radius centred on Last Known Position (LKP) = 17,000 square KM.	Initial Australian Search Area: 693,170 square KM = 40 times larger than AF447 initial search area. Cumulative Australian search area total 18MAR to 28APR (last day of search for surface debris): Almost 4.7 million square KM.
Surface Search	26 days. This was based on no further bodies or aircraft debris being found for the final 9 days of the search. Aircraft search operations ceased. Ship search operations ceased, except for French Navy vessels which remained conducting acoustic search for the ULBs.	In Australian SRR = 43 days. Australian surface search from 17MAR to 28APR14.
First Floating Debris Found	Day 5 about 70KM from LKP. NOTE – the BEA report states that this (distance) considerably complicated the search for the underwater wreckage.	Nil associated with MH370.
Floating Debris/Bodies	Marine pollution contributed to confusion in the early days of the search. Air searches found lots of debris – it was difficult for air crews to distinguish between marine pollution and small debris that may have been from AF447. It was not until ships arrived in the area working with aircraft that debris was able to be identified properly. About 50 bodies were recovered by ships.	Same experience with marine pollution.
“Drift Committee”	An expert working group of experts in SAR drift, oceanography, meteorology, etc attempted to estimate the crash location through “reverse drift” calculations.	Similar expert working group formed within JRCC Australia. Nil surface debris located to allow “reverse drift” calculation.
Satellite imagery	No useful results. Images from civil and military satellites were used. Aircraft flown to investigate objects detected by satellite failed to identify debris from AF447.	Similar experience for JRCC Australia.
Datum Buoys deployed	9	33
Underwater Search	Duration 2 years.	To be determined.
ULB Search	No signals detected from the flight recorders.	Some acoustic detections. Some discounted, some undetermined. Further analysis work continues.
Wreckage Location	6.5NM (12KM) from LKP. Depth 3900 metres. Wreckage found following detection by AUVs of a concentration of SONAR returns. 2 further months were spent recovering the flight recorders and aircraft parts, mapping debris and recovering human remains.	Unknown. Search area depth 3800-4800 metres.
Discovery of accident site	2APR11 (671 days or 1 year 10 months after AF447 went missing) – concentration of Sonar returns. 3APR11 – wreckage formally identified (photos from AUV). Wreckage spread over area of 10,000 square metres. Few large parts found.
Underwater search for flight recorders	Search for flight recorders a major challenge due to the number of items spread out on the sea floor. 1MAY11 – Flight data recorder located and raised by ROV. 2MAY11 - Cockpit voice recorder located. It was raised 3MAY11.
Cost of SAR Operation	Estimated 80 million Euro
Cost of Undersea Operation	Estimated 31 million Euro
Total Cost of SAR and Undersea Operations	Estimated 111 million Euro

Source: MH370 SEARCH AND RESCUE RESPONSE – JRCC AUSTRALIA ICAO-RPTAU-150 ‎

The Wikipedia article for Air France flight AF447 is embedded below:-

Source:Air France Flight 447, Wikipedia
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Air_France_Flight_447

References

↑ Source: Search for Malaysia Airlines Flight 370, Wikipedia

[BEA_Members-1] Source: Search for Malaysia Airlines Flight 370, Wikipedia

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Air France Flight AF447 (2009)

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