FERNANDO DE NORONHA, Brazil, (Reuters) – Brazilian search crews fished the first debris from a crashed Air France flight out of choppy Atlantic waters yesterday amid concern the plane may have flown through a storm at the wrong speed.
Citing sources close to the inquiry, French newspaper Le Monde said the plane’s maker, Airbus, was preparing to issue a recommendation advising airlines that fly the A330 of optimal speeds during poor weather conditions.
Airbus declined to comment but France’s BEA air accident investigation agency warned against speculating over the cause of the accident given that only two facts had been established.
They included the presence of stormy weather conditions close to the plane’s expected route and the fact various speeds measured on the basis of automatic messages sent by the plane showed “incoherence”, suggesting they did not tally.
While Le Monde said the airliner was flying “at the wrong speed” in the early hours of Monday just before the disaster, it drew no link with the final sequences of automated messages sent by the jet.
Pilots often slow down when entering stormy zones to avoid damaging the aircraft, but reducing speed too much can cause an aircraft to stall.
A Brazilian Lynx helicopter picked up a luggage pallet and two buoys before returning to a navy frigate sent to the area to help with the rescue, Brazil’s air force said.
The crews also found yellow, brown and white items that appeared to come from the inside of the aircraft.
Searchers have found several debris sites spread out over 90 km (56 miles), a sign the plane may have broken up in the air.
The Air France A330-200 was en route from Rio de Janeiro to Paris when it plunged into the Atlantic four hours into its flight. Air France has told relatives of the 228 people on board there is no hope of survivors.
