he Air France plane that disappeared between Brazil and France with 228 people on board today has almost certainly crashed, airline and government officials said.
If no survivors are found it will be the worst loss of life involving an Air France plane in the firm's 75-year history.
The officials believe the Airbus A330-200 aircraft crashed after running into lightning and thunderstorms over the Atlantic Ocean.
Gordon Brown said he feared Britons were among the passengers. "I do fear there may be some British citizens on board," the prime minister told Sky News. "We are doing all the checking that is necessary."
The Air France chief executive, Pierre-Henri Gourgeon, told a news conference: "We are probably facing an air catastrophe."
He said the aircraft went through a thunderstorm with strong turbulence at about 3am BST.
An automated message was received at 3.14am indicating a failure of the electrical system, Air France said in a statement.
"The whole company shares the anxiety of the families," Gourgeon said. "We are doing everything possible to get information through, little by little, as it comes through."
François Brousse, an Air France spokesman, said several of the plane's mechanisms had malfunctioned, preventing it from making contact with air traffic controllers.
"It is probably a combination of circumstances that could have led to the crash," he said.
Brazilian air force planes are searching the Atlantic for flight AF447, which left Rio de Janeiro at 7pm local time (11pm BST) yesterday. It had been expected in Paris at 11.15am .
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nothing more terrifing than a plane in trpuble over the ocean in the dark.my god fear
hassannassaralah 2 days ago
french shitplanes, can't even build good cars
Joelbest1 4 days ago
bermuda triangle ate it..
cinderellarai 4 days ago
so how did it crasH??????????
MrShotgun144 1 week ago
The sequence of events that led to this crash began with a strange quirk in physics called Super Chilled Water. This froze all 3 pitot systems and resulted in the loss of airspeed data. The airbus manual clearly states that in the event of the loss of pitot data, apply 85-percent power with 5-degree nose up attitude, to prevent stall. The pilots didn't do this. Moreover, when the Airbus FADEC system makes corrections to airspeed, the sticks don't move. This may have contributed to pilot error.
PirateSygnal 2 weeks ago
Roll on the days when we no longer use fossil fuels and crashes don't lead to fireballs of death.
mjgc8755 2 weeks ago
We need to start valuing life more than machines. I have always found airplanes and airports seem to be the most care lacking places towards human beings. THere seems to be not an ounce of care towards people on them.
210482fmj 2 weeks ago
there they have encountered?
pilotcrazy129 4 weeks ago
@airplanes66 my mistake thank you for that
angryman1007 1 month ago
@angryman1007 ba 777 but yes
airplanes66 1 month ago