Air France 447 - On topic only!

[EconomyClass]

Maybe they need OnStar.

[AJ]

Be cautious of overoptimistic news headlines.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/8664127.stm

[Spectator]

Read between the lines

Here's another press article: http://travel.iafrica.com/flights/2397760.htm

Read carefully.The black boxes have not actually been found, and the "find" they are reporting is not from the current search. What they are saying is that data from all previous search efforts has been collated and processed and they are confident that they know the area in which they will find the black boxes, with an error margin of 3 nautical miles.

French military officials cautioned however that this breakthrough did not mean that the black boxes will be successfully retrieved from the bottom of the ocean floor.

[Gabriel]

Isn't all this a bit contradictory with the BEA's press release linked in post 89 just yesterday?

[EconomyClass]

I have two unanswered questions. They compare the area to Paris, but I have to believe Paris is more than 5 km wide. Second, they say it is like a "shoebox", but its more like a steamer trunk from what I've seen.

One thing no one's addressed in any stories I've read. How long can the data survive at dept in the ocean? If they miraculously pull it up, is there any guarantee that data will be still available?

[Evan]

And the miraculous new software used to re-analyze the sonar recordings and detect the black box signal was provided by...

...Thales!

[PMN]

I have two unanswered questions. They compare the area to Paris, but I have to believe Paris is more than 5 km wide. Second, they say it is like a "shoebox", but its more like a steamer trunk from what I've seen.

One thing no one's addressed in any stories I've read. How long can the data survive at dept in the ocean? If they miraculously pull it up, is there any guarantee that data will be still available?

You don't think perhaps you're reading a little too far into the "shoebox in Paris" comment?

I suspect there are no guarantees whatsoever the data will be readable, but how are they to know unless they at least try retrieve them?

[Alessandro]

And the miraculous new software used to re-analyze the sonar recordings and detect the black box signal was provided by...

...Thales!

Seem like the new software was used on recorded tracks from the sonar of a french submarine.
Link in Swedish

http://www.nyteknik.se/nyheter/fordon_motor/flygplan/article774651.ece

[EconomyClass]

You don't think perhaps you're reading a little too far into the "shoebox in Paris" comment?

I suspect there are no guarantees whatsoever the data will be readable, but how are they to know unless they at least try retrieve them?

Yeh, they should make every effort to get them. But I'm not planning to be shocked if the next downer is "very little readable data there". Though amazing things do happen in data recovery these days. Hope they don't give up on that easily.

[Gabriel]

If the boxes are found and retrived, I'd say the chances of obtaining usable data are by large much higher than the chances to find and retrive them in the first place.

[mfeldt]

I have two unanswered questions. They compare the area to Paris, but I have to believe Paris is more than 5 km wide.

Well, North-South it's about 7km, East-West more like 10.

m.

[brianw999]

.....Second, they say it is like a "shoebox", but its more like a steamer trunk from what I've seen.....

Uuuummmmm....hardly a steamer trunk ? Try finding that in 5km square of the alps at the depth it's at with no locator signal. If they happen there'll be 2 miracles here....1. Finding them in the first place. 2. Getting readable information from them. Frankly, all we can do is wait. Further speculation takes us nowhere.

[EconomyClass]

I guess closer to a shoebox than a steamer trunk. I wonder if they could put a weak radiation source in it, something that wouldn't decay in years. Of course, that would probably interfere with the data storage.

[Evan]

I hate to keep having to point this out, but they are not looking for a shoebox in the ocean. They are looking for the wreckage that the box is still attached too, which may be something much larger than a steamer trunk. The FDR is fixed to the airframe in the tail section of the plane, where the odds of damage are lowest. That is what gives them a reasonable chance of locating it.

[EconomyClass]

I hate to keep having to point this out, but they are not looking for a shoebox in the ocean. They are looking for the wreckage that the box is still attached too, which may be something much larger than a steamer trunk. The FDR is fixed to the airframe in the tail section of the plane, where the odds of damage are lowest. That is what gives them a reasonable chance of locating it.

Very true. Good chance that when they find the boxes, it will be part of a rather LARGE chunk of debris. So whoever said it was like trying to locate a shoebox in Paris was using hyperbole.