Air France 447

[Tim C]

Hi Rhys,

I am sure Science will not agree with you here. A large surface area does not mean something will float or that it is more likely to float. Using that philosophy the whole fueselage in however many parts it is in would be floating aswell. Also, whether the tail hit the water first or last in a collision does not affect is buoyancy assuming its in the same condition. This is my understanding anyway.

Cheers

[Rhys Xanthis]

You know a helluva lot more than me.

But...when you say the whole fuselage will float...that's wrong, because it is in many parts due to the collision.

I know the latter too, but if you think about it, it's much more likely to be intact when it hits the water last, as compared to first.

Chemistry I was OK at...Physics...well, I had a teacher who would often refer to methods of Soviet Russian heating, and I never really liked it

[damien b]

Originally Posted by Philip Argy

Is the fin and rudder combo normally so buoyant?

Depends on the damage substained by the assembly. There are large air pockets within the vertical stabaliser/rudder and if it remains in tact, this would aid buoyancy.

[Grant Smith]

Here's a bizarre twist to the doomed AF447 flight.

http://www.smh.com.au/world/woman-wh...0612-c5lb.html

Seems a bit like "Final Destination"

[Gerard M]

I read that before and seriously that is just pure bad luck!!! What are the chances.

[Gerard M]

Six more bodies have been retrieved. Just a quick question, with the black box location signal, have they picked it up yet or are they still trying to locate the actual signal and not just where it is located?

[Philip Argy]

The FDR and CVR each have a pinger and neither has yet been detected - they should ping for another three weeks if they survived the incident and were in good working order beforehand.

There are a number of sonar devices listening for them and specialist US pinger locators are being deployed this week weather permitting.

[Gerard M]

Cheers Philip. But they still may not locate them if they were damaged when the aircraft crashed is that right. I'm not aware of how durable they are and what extremes they are able to tolerate.

[Mick F]

The "Black Box" as they are commonly known (invented by an Australian actually), can withstand extreme forces and temperatures. So assuming they are found sooner rather than later, they should be able to provide enough information for investigators to at least get some vital details.

There are 2 parts to the black box. Those being the Flight Data Recorder (records all sorts of data, such as altitude, speed, flight control input, aircraft status', warnings etc.), and the Cockpit Voice Recorder, which will record the communication between the crew, and any ATC transmissions.

Mick

[Philip Argy]

See post #59: http://yssyforum.net/board/showpost....5&postcount=59