The Grim Recover of Air France 447

The grim task of recovering the passengers from doomed Air France flight 447 continues. 17 bodies have been recovered, and search and rescue has come across the debris field. They are not only trying to recover the remains of the passengers but are seeking the flight data recorder and cockpit voice records so that investigators can figure out what happened to the place to cause it to crash.

Working theories on the cause of the crash include faulty speed sensors that caused the plane to fly too fast or too slow - too fast and the plane breaks up at altitude and too slow, and the plane crashes because it can't maintain lift. Throw in the severe weather in the vicinity of the crash at the time the plane lost contact, and the ever-present consideration for terrorism, and the need to obtain that information is crucial to rule out problems that might affect other planes in use today.

The exact location of the crash has not been determined, since ocean currents likely caused the bodies and debris to drift in the six days since the crash. And two key pieces of evidence -- the flight data and cockpit voice recorders -- remain missing, and could lay on the ocean floor. Map of Flight 447's flight path »

The part of the ocean where the debris and bodies have been found ranges between 19,685 and 26,247 feet (6,000 and 8,000 meters) deep. The search area covers 77,220 square miles (200,000 square km), an area nearly as big as the country of Romania.

Fourteen aircraft -- 12 Brazilian and two French -- were participating in the recovery efforts, along with five Brazilian ships and one French frigate. In Washington, a U.S. defense official told CNN the U.S. Navy will contribute two high-tech acoustic devices to listen for emergency beacons still operating in deep water.
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The "towed pinger locators" help search for emergency beacons on downed aircraft to a maximum depth of 20,000 feet, and will be placed aboard two French tugs that are part of the search efforts, the official said.

Recovery of bodies and debris is significant not only for families, but for crash investigators, said Mary Schiavo, a former inspector general for the U.S. Department of Transportation.

"Even if they don't find anything else they can get some very important clues from the pieces that they do find and from the human remains," Schiavo told CNN Saturday.

She said investigators would be able to discern if there was an explosion from possible residue on the bodies or other items. Or, if water is found in the lungs of victims, investigators would know the plane went down intact, she said.

Investigators in Paris said Saturday that the Air France flight sent out 24 automated error messages lasting about four minutes before it crashed. The error messages suggest the plane may have been flying too fast or too slow through severe thunderstorms it encountered before the crash, officials said.