A Brazilian search team today began retrieving debris of the Air France passenger jet that crashed into the Atlantic on Monday, as questions emerged about the speed the aircraft was travelling when it went down.
The French daily Le Monde reported that the jet was flying too slowly before the disaster, citing a source close to the investigation. The paper said Airbus, the manufacturer of the plane, was about to issue recommendations advising companies using the A330 about optimal speeds for difficult weather conditions. Airbus did not comment on the report.
It was not clear if air speed alone could trigger a breakdown of aircraft systems, but any recommendations from Airbus about its jets would fuel speculation over the causes of the mysterious crash over the Atlantic.
The full Air France flight 447, carrying 228 people, disappeared four hours after taking off from Rio de Janeiro bound for Paris. Ships and aircraft have been scouring the ocean for signs of the ill-fated plane, and French officials said yesterday that the first pieces of wreckage had been retrieved. Debris is spread across more than 55 miles of ocean approximately 600 miles north-east of Brazil's coast.
The plane sent no mayday signals but investigators are studying several pages of automatic messages emitted by the plane over a three-minute period after it entered a stormy weather zone. The messages showed a quick succession of electrical faults followed by a loss of cabin pressure and systems shutting down. Investigators are reviewing the messages to determine whether a series of catastrophic events could have led to a loss of control and the plane breaking apart in mid-air.
Aviation experts in Paris have suggested that the fact that a long slick of petrol had been found on the water would indicate that the plane broke up but did not explode in mid-flight.
Air France's chief executive, Pierre-Henri Gourgeon, told families in a private meeting today that there were no survivors and that the plane had disintegrated either in the air or when it slammed into the ocean.
Guillaume Denoix de Saint-Marc, head of a victims' association, who is counselling the families, said: "What is clear is that there was no landing. There's no chance the escape slides came out."
The Spanish daily El Mundo reported that an Air Comet pilot flying from Lima to Madrid not far from the crash zone saw "an intense burst of white light" that seemed to drop down vertically and split into six.
The French defence minister and the Pentagon have said there were no signs of terrorism.
The French armed forces spokesman, Christophe Prazuck, said: "Everyone has doubts about everything at the moment and we do not have the slightest beginnings of an answer yet."
Prazuck said the priority was to retrieve debris before it sank. He added that sea currents were dispersing the wreckage.
The Pourquoi Pas, a French sea research vessel, is heading to the search zone carrying manned and unmanned submarines, including one mini-sub used to explore the wreckage of the Titanic. But the vessel will not reach the area until 12 June.
The plane's "black box" flight recorders, which France has already acknowledged could prove impossible to find, emit signals for 30 days.
