didn't hint that they weren't reputable...but, in the past 5 years they've had 1 near fatal accident at YYZ and now this hull loss, not to mention the fact that one of their A332's was u/s at Bangalore for a week less than 3 months ago...and the same 77W had engine issues twice and landed at the same airport in Lajes.

I don't think President Sarkozy agrees with you...

Sky News did report last night that the Spanish airforce were searching around the islands off Africa, as the usual route according to the report was for the plan to track up the Atlantic and then over Morocco, Portugal and Spain before heading to Paris. The thinking was that although the plan may have lost radar off the coast of Brazil, there are radar black spots over the Atlantic and it could have made it further towards Paris before it 'disappeared'. Rhys' comments are correct based on these media reports.

Heres the thing.

If it was out of vhf range at time of reporting severe turbulence and if over water and oceanic im assuming then only HF radio wouldve been available to use. For those who dont know High Frequency is the form of radio used for oceanic crossings and we have Brisbane Flight Service Station (FSS) here, theres Nadi FSS I believe and Oakland for West Coast USA.

So when a flight is in 'Oceanic' it cannot be seen on a radar as primary radar targets cant be seen and the FSS controller relies on the pilots broadcasting their level, mach speed, estimates for passing positions to know a.) where they are and b.) to ensure planes dont pass over a point at same flight level for example.

So the fact that reports have said that it was lost off radar could potentially be quite misleading as in fact if it was on HF frequency and oceanic, it would have been miles before it was transferred from Brazilian controller with radar.

As I said though potentially because facts arent totally known yet.

It didnt crash over Rio so what he has posted is correct, aircraft do route other dierctions to catch favourable winds.

Yes VHF radio is line of sight capable only , and without retransmission is usable up to around 250 miles distance , however , in this instance , it's possible that the aircraft was CPDLC ( Controller Pilot Data Link Communication ) equipped , and as such HF radio would have been a secondary mode of radio communication , and certainly not the sole method available .

Everythings possible mate.

Until the facts are known its just pure speculation. All im saying is HF is commonly used on oceanic crossings like this one.

Some places are seeming to focus on the fact that Brazilian ATC system isnt one of the better ones in the world as evidenced by Gol 738 mid air with a biz jet in 2005 and so CPDLC might not even be a factor here- I'm not exactly sure what facilities they have on east coast of Brazil however.

Latest info from avherald and ill quote poignant excerpts

Air France plane carrying 228 people disappears in storm over the Atlantic
http://www.smh.com.au/world/air-fran...0601-bsua.html

Apparently people sent SMS in the middle of Atlantic just before the plane disappeared.

Obviously there is no way one can get mobile reception in the middle of the ocean but are the inflight phones capable of sending SMS?

a left field question, don't bother answering

wondering if any way similar to the QF incident where the Qantas A330-300 had a sudden losses of altitude due to automatic corrections made to the aircraft by a failed inertial reference system??

Banjo

I think you'll find that all Brazilian airspace is controlled by the military.

My thoughts exactly Andrew.