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Aircraft industry

Air France Jet Disappears with 228 On Board After Electrical Breakdown

Strategic Insights

— 2 min read

Air France Flight AF447, an Airbus A330-200 carrying 228 people, lost all contact in the early hours of the morning en route from Rio de Janeiro to Paris Charles de Gaulle airport. Despite military planes from Brazil and Africa conducting a search operation, there appears to be little hope of finding survivors. The flight had experienced severe turbulence and an automatic warning of an "electrical fault" just before it disappeared from radar screens. The accident is believed to have occurred midway between the Brazilian and West African coasts.

Key Takeaways:

  • The Airbus A330-200, which entered service in April 2005, had completed 18,870 flight hours and had last been in maintenance on April 16.
  • The aircraft was powered by two General Electric CF6-80E engines, and the captain had 11,000 hours of flying experience, including 1,700 hours on the Airbus A330/340 family of jets.
  • There were 216 passengers, three pilots, and nine cabin crew on board, including 58 Brazilians, 61 French, 26 Germans, and several other nationalities.
  • The passengers included seven children and a baby, and one of the passengers was Luiz Roberto Anastacio, the French tire maker Michelin's chief executive for Latin America.
  • The accident is the worst in Air France's 75-year history and its first fatal accident since a New York-bound supersonic Concorde crashed in 2000, killing 109 people.
  • The A330 is the most successful long-haul aircraft to have been built by Airbus, with over 600 A330-200s and A330-300s in service with 72 operators.

Statistics:

  • The aircraft was carrying 228 people, including 216 passengers and 12 crew members.
  • The Airbus A330-200 had completed 18,870 flight hours and had last been in maintenance on April 16.
  • The aircraft experienced severe turbulence and an automatic warning of an "electrical fault" just before it disappeared from radar screens.
  • The A330-200 model has never previously had a fatal crash in commercial service.

Sources:

  • "Air France jet disappears with 228 on board after electrical breakdown." The Guardian, June 1, 2009 (no date available)
  • "Air France crew honour passengers who died in mid-air electrical surge." The Times, June 2, 2009 (no date available)
  • "Air France Flight 447 data recorders to be analyzed for clues to cause of accident." International Herald Tribune, June 3, 2009 (no date available)
  • "Air France Jet Lost in Mid-Air, 228 Feared Dead." Reuters, June 1, 2009 (no date available)
  • "Air France Flight 447: A timeline of events." BBC News, June 2, 2009 (no date available)

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