Air France plane goes missing

[James.]

BBC News

Let the rampant speculation begin...

[Ashley]

They'll be the new lost crew.

I hope no one is hurt.

[lou]

All I know is this always happens a couple of weeks before I fly anywhere!! :eek:

Theres no hope really I guess but I hope some miracle happens and they can find someone alive

[StanSP]

I'm glad I'm not flying anywhere soon. (Lou I just glanced at your comment and I'm sure everything will be okay for you!)

But I hope that they find some people alive. It's weird though how a plane just 'goes missing'.

[Big Ol' Bob]

Apparently the plane was hijacked by the Somali PILOTS.....

[lou]

I'm glad I'm not flying anywhere soon. (Lou I just glanced at your comment and I'm sure everything will be okay for you!)

But I hope that they find some people alive. It's weird though how a plane just 'goes missing'.

Thanks! I suppose it should be more reassuring for me coz its not likely this sort of thing would happen twice in 3 weeks! Its still the safest form of travel and Id be more nervous on the motorway in a car than in the air on a plane these days.

[Jon the Hat]

4 year old Airbus planes don't usually fall out of the sky. Nasty. There goes my always fly with good airlines on new planes and you are fine theory.

Poor buggers.

[Bellend Sebastian]

4 year old Airbus planes don't usually fall out of the sky. Nasty. There goes my always fly with good airlines on new planes and you are fine theory.

Poor buggers.

Even old 'planes don't fall out of the sky very often. If my unhealthy watching of Aircrash Investigation on the National Geographic channel has taught me anything, air crashes are nearly always the result of an individual cocking something up somewhere, which I suppose could be comforting for those that like having someone to blame if anything bad happens

[Tommy G]

Is that near the Bermuda Triangle?

[JoeyB]

Is that near the Bermuda Triangle?

Other side of Brazil on the map shown.

[Monk]

Tommy G - it's not near the Bermuda Triangle. Unfortunately there are very few plausible explanations outside of it crashing into the ocean at short notice. If it had landed elsewhere we'd know by now.

Very sad, extremely rare occurance as you say.

[JoeyB]

Tommy G - it's not near the Bermuda Triangle. Unfortunately there are very few plausible explanations outside of it crashing into the ocean at short notice. If it had landed elsewhere we'd know by now.

Very sad, extremely rare occurance as you say.

It says in the article its thought to have been short circuited and hit by lightning.

Air France said the plane sent an automatic message at 0214 GMT reporting a short circuit after turbulence, and may have been struck by lightning.

[lavrentis]

Very sad news but if it is any consolation, planes flying over the Atlantic follow a North Atlantic Track, so it should narrow the search down a bit, not much though

[Smudge]

Very sad news but if it is any consolation, planes flying over the Atlantic follow a North Atlantic Track, so it should narrow the search down a bit, not much though

Not from Rio they don't, they fly NNE over the South Atlantic, skirt the West Coast of Africa and enter Europe over Spain or Portugal.

[lavrentis]

Not from Rio they don't, they fly NNE over the South Atlantic, skirt the West Coast of Africa and enter Europe over Spain or Portugal.

Ah ok.

[AmericanScott]

All I know is this always happens a couple of weeks before I fly anywhere!! :eek:

Theres no hope really I guess but I hope some miracle happens and they can find someone alive

Same!! I'm flying in 22 days and i'm shit scared of flying. I hate it.

This just makes me even more frightened.

[norfolkfox222]

Same!! I'm flying in 22 days and i'm shit scared of flying. I hate it.

This just makes me even more frightened.

Brilliant im off to Tenerife Friday!

Also shit scared of flying!!

[James.]

Looks like this is going to turn into a hysterical "I'm going on a plane soon, I'm going to die!" thread.

For the record, I'm flying to Cyprus next week. I'm not scared. That's because flying is SAFE.

[Samilktray]

If we were meant to fly, God would have gave us wings.

[billyfox1]

My thought s go out to Craig Levein and his family (See photo on Link).

Joking aside I hope everyone is ok

[Jon the Hat]

If we were meant to fly, God would have gave us wings.

OR the means to build them. Bingo!

[Maybes]

If we were meant to fly, God would have gave us wings.

You sicko However we were provided with Red Bull

Sick jokes aside, this is truly tragic.

RIP all.

[Finnegan]

Wait.. what?

Surely planes are built to take massive amounts of electricity? I am absolutely by no means trying to either, A, feed moronic conspiracy theorists or, B, scare people but isn't that just a way of covering up their own failings (be it technical or otherwise?)

[Maybes]

Wait.. what?

Surely planes are built to take massive amounts of electricity? I am absolutely by no means trying to either, A, feed moronic conspiracy theorists or, B, scare people but isn't that just a way of covering up their own failings (be it technical or otherwise?)

You would think so. I am currently tuning into Sky News.

[StanSP]

Apparently if the lightning hits the cockpit, everything gets burnt i.e. connecting wires and systems. So radars and contact systems are lost.

However, planes are meant to withstand lightning, and the lightning only strikes the outside of the plane.

Here's an article from 4 years ago, when Tony Blair's plane got hit by lightning. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/4493047.stm