Air France flight with 228 on board has gone missing mid-flight

[Morg]

http://blogs.usatoday.com/ondeadline/2009/06/air-france-passenger-jet-missing.html

We'll start the day with some breaking news: An Air France jet with 216 passengers and 12 crewmembers on board has gone missing over the Atlantic Ocean. Jean-Louis Borloo, the second most senior figure in the French Cabinet, told France Info radio that by now the plane, traveling from Rio de Janeiro to Paris, would be out of fuel. "We must now envisage the most tragic scenario," Borloo said, according to a Reuters report. Borloo also said the plane had disappeared from military as well as civilian radar screens.

 

[Go Web Go!]

I always get antsy when I hear news involving planes. I don't like planes and I don't like flying, yet I work for an aviation company. Irony at its best. Anyway, hope this turns out as best it could.

 

[The Lizard]

When I first saw this, my inititial thought was "I wonder if they went down on a mysterious island somewhere and are waiting to be rescued", but unfortunately the real world doesn't usually work out that way.

 

[dark_b]

 

[terry78]

I am always iffy about traveling overseas period, whether by boat or by plane. Because there is always some point where you're in the middle of nowhere and if **** goes down, you're ****ed. I'd rather the plane run out of fuel over land than over water.

 

[kane9321]

oh god, i'm hoping for the best

 

[Prison Mike]

When I first saw this, my inititial thought was "I wonder if they went down on a mysterious island somewhere and are waiting to be rescued", but unfortunately the real world doesn't usually work out that way.

I thought the same thing...

 

[Morg]

http://fe22.story.media.ac4.yahoo.com/news/story/maple/us/ap/20090602/ap_on_re_la_am_ca/brazil_plane

Looks like no one survive

 

[Yurka]

I was about to post this.

 

[Ghostvirus]

Damn.

 

[Ahura Mazda]

It is quite horrible....

 

[Ahura Mazda]

[cnn]


PARIS, France (CNN) -- Friends and relatives of the 216 passengers and 12 crew members on Air France Flight 447 are coming to terms with the news that wreckage from the flight was found in the Atlantic Ocean.


Eithne Walls, who danced with Riverdance on Broadway, was aboard Air France flight 447.

1 of 3 Among those on board were a member of Brazil's former royal family, a one-time performer with the Riverdance troupe, a Rio city official, executives from major international companies and an 11-year-old British schoolboy.

Pedro Luis de Orleans e Braganca, 26, was a descendant of the family that ruled Brazil until 1889, a branch of the former Portuguese royal family. The Orleans and Braganca family considered him to be fourth in line to the throne. Pedro Luis was the oldest son of Prince Antonio and Princess Christine, the family said. He was the only member of the family on the flight, his relatives said.

Eithne Walls, who danced with Riverdance on Broadway, was also on the plane, said Julian Erskine, senior executive producer of the troupe.

"I never saw her without a smile on her face," Erskine said in a statement. "It is hard to believe that such a bright light could be quenched so early and while burning so brilliantly."

She joined the Irish dance troupe in 1998 and performed with them for most of a decade, studying medicine at the same time, Erskine said. Watch CNN's Paula Newton report on families awaiting news of Air France Flight 447 »

"Anyone who traveled with Eithne will remember the medical books always on the go and her constant attention to her studies," he said. "Without doubt she was someone with a rich future stretching out ahead of her."

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The wife one passenger said Tuesday she was only beginning to come to grips with the likelihood that he is dead.

"I have to say, maybe today I'm realizing he might not come back," Patricia Coakley told a reporter about her husband, Arthur.

The structural engineer and designer had completed a business trip to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, and was flying to Paris, France, on his way back to their home in Whitby, North Yorkshire, near England's northeast coast.

Coakley said her husband hated his cell phones and usually left them switched off. "But yesterday it was ringing, so maybe they're not at the bottom of the sea. That's my hope. But I think it's maybe fading today."

He had originally planned to return home on May 19, but his boss asked him to stay in Brazil until Sunday, she said.

"He shouldn't have been on that flight," she said. "He should have been on the earlier flight."

In a telephone call he told her he was excited about returning to see their three children and their plans to go on vacation Friday to the Greek island of Corfu, she said. "All his stuff's ready should he turn up," she added.

"We had so many plans, and they've taken it all away, haven't they?" she asked rhetorically, without identifying "they." "God wouldn't be so cruel."

She described her husband as a religious man. "It used to drive me mad. He used to read the Bible every night. And if he thought he was going to get pissed [drunk], he used to read it before he left the house."

The two loved to travel, and he would ask her, "Where should we go next, darling?" she recalled. But they had been based in England for 25 years to give their children a sense of stability, she said.

"His priority was sea view and mine was trees and we found it," she said, pointing to both, her eyes welling. "It was just going to be repainted next week."

Thinking about the moment when an apparent catastrophic failure caused the jet and its 228 occupants to plunge into the ocean, she said, "I hope Art was asleep and I hope he wasn't frightened."

"I know if he was awake, he would have been thinking of us."

The passengers on Flight 447 also included Marcelo Parente, chief of staff in the office of Rio de Janeiro's mayor.

Two executives of Michelin, one of the world's leading tire manufacturers, also were aboard the plane, a Michelin spokeswoman said. They were Luiz Roberto Anastacio, president of Michelin Latin America, and Antonio Gueiros, another top regional executive. Michelin employee Christine Pieraerts was also among the passengers, the company said. The spokeswoman said that Michelin was saddened by the tragedy.

Alexander Bjoroy, 11, was on his way home to England after a vacation in Brazil, the headmaster of his school said.

He was a "well-liked and respected boarder who will be sorely missed by his fellow pupils and staff," said John Milne, the head of Clifton College Preparatory School in Bristol, England.

Milne expressed the school's "deepest sympathies" to the boy's family.

The passengers included 61 people from France, 58 Brazilians, 26 Germans and people from 29 other countries, Air France said.

An official list of victims by name was not available early Tuesday, but two Americans -- Michael Harris, 60, and his wife, Anne, 54 -- were identified by the couple's family and his employer.

"Anne and Mike were indeed a beautiful couple inside and out, and I miss them terribly already," said Anne Harris' sister, Mary Miley.

Michael Harris was a geologist in Rio de Janeiro for Devon Energy, a U.S.-based natural gas and oil producer, according to a company spokesman.

The Harrises were traveling to Paris for a training seminar and vacation, Miley said

 

[Eric Brooks]

I always get antsy when I hear news involving planes. I don't like planes and I don't like flying, yet I work for an aviation company. Irony at its best. Anyway, hope this turns out as best it could.

it's strange because I never use to be afraid of flying as a kid but over time I developed a fear.

I now will not set foot on a plane, and bull honky to the roads being more dangerous than the sky. People are not birds, people don't fly. Roads are safer, and damn if I ever believe otherwise

and to top it all off you hear plane stories in the news ALL THE TIME. It never ends

I'll believe flying is safer, when **** like this completley quits happening.

 

[Majic Walrus]

it's strange because I never use to be afraid of flying as a kid but over time I developed a fear.

I now will not set foot on a plane, and bull honky to the roads being more dangerous than the sky. People are not birds, people don't fly. Roads are safer, and damn if I ever believe otherwise

and to top it all off you hear plane stories in the news ALL THE TIME. It never ends

I'll believe flying is safer, when **** like this completley quits happening.

People are also not rollerskates and weren't designed to be going 80 miles an hour down the highway.

How many plane crashes have you heard about in the past year? 2 or 3?

On the way to work today there was a six car pile up.

 

[SsM]

it's strange because I never use to be afraid of flying as a kid but over time I developed a fear.

I now will not set foot on a plane, and bull honky to the roads being more dangerous than the sky. People are not birds, people don't fly. Roads are safer, and damn if I ever believe otherwise

and to top it all off you hear plane stories in the news ALL THE TIME. It never ends

I'll believe flying is safer, when **** like this completley quits happening.

That has to be one of the dumbest things I've ever heard.


Flying is safer. How many times do you turn on the news and hear about a plane crash?


How many times do you turn on the news and hear about a car crash/motorcycle accident???

People are also not rollerskates and weren't designed to be going 80 miles an hour down the highway.

How many plane crashes have you heard about in the past year? 2 or 3?

On the way to work today there was a six car pile up.

You beat me


I got stuck in traffic for four and a half hours trying to go 5 miles because of a huge pile up on the interstate.

Dead people everywhere!

 

[Majic Walrus]

That has to be one of the dumbest things I've ever heard.


Flying is safer. How many times do you turn on the news and hear about a plane crash?


How many times do you turn on the news and hear about a car crash/motorcycle accident???




You beat me


I got stuck in traffic for four and a half hours trying to go 5 miles because of a huge pile up on the interstate.

Dead people everywhere!

Jesus. I remember a car accident a while back that left a 4 foot wide blood splat on the ground. Scary ****.

 

[ReTrO JuNkIe 42]

Statistically speaking it is the safest way to travel

 

[terry78]

Statistically speaking it is the safest way to travel

We all saw the irony in the man that can always fly without having his equipment fail saying that.

 

[Lunar_Wolf]

I feel safer flying then driving anyday.

Here's a question: Do you have a better chance of surviving a plane crash or surviving a car crash?

 

[pyromaniac]

it's strange because I never use to be afraid of flying as a kid but over time I developed a fear.

I now will not set foot on a plane, and bull honky to the roads being more dangerous than the sky. People are not birds, people don't fly. Roads are safer, and damn if I ever believe otherwise

and to top it all off you hear plane stories in the news ALL THE TIME. It never ends

I'll believe flying is safer, when **** like this completley quits happening.

I think you need to look at the actual statistics.

 

[Majic Walrus]

I feel safer flying then driving anyday.

Here's a question: Do you have a better chance of surviving a plane crash or surviving a car crash?

There are two issues here... In the unlikely event that your plane experiences a malfunction or a situation most likely the experienced pilot will handle the situation with little to no issue. In the extremely unlikely event of catastrophic failure, you're toast sure... But that's still so rare.

I don't mind flying because pilots log hours and hours of flight and flight training. They are mentally prepared and physically able.

My next door neighbor who always calls me Lester (my name's not frank), has one eye, and remembers when Dick Clark was "too young for her" still drives her Chevy Suburban every ****ing day.

 

[Marx]

This is just a horrible horrible story. I get really nervous when flying...crashing into the water is my worst fear. What these people must have gone through...

 

[The Squirrel]

I'm glad I'm not the only one who wanted to make a Lost reference.

Still. Sad news.

 

[terry78]

This is just a horrible horrible story. I get really nervous when flying...crashing into the water is my worst fear. What these people must have gone through...

Yeah, if I crash into the ground at least it's quick. If you're just sinking and sinking, you either slowly drown or get eaten alive by prehistoric sea creatures.

 

[Raiden]

It's a terrible news, and although it is true that flying is still the safest travel option available, a plane crash always hit us hard because there are so many lives involved. RIP for the victims.