Air France Flight 447 Searchers Find 23 Foot Piece of Debris, Bomb Threat Revealed

The pilot of the Air France flight that disappeared over the Atlantic Ocean sent a text message to the airline saying the plane had encountered bad weather, ABC News has learned.

As investigators examine communications sent from the plane before it vanished, searchers hunting for clues on the Atlantic today found a 23-foot piece of airplane at sea, Brazilian air force spokesman Col. Jorge Amaral said.

Several other teams of people on planes and ships are still making their way to the remote crash site with equipment to recover debris -- including a French search and exploration ship, due to arrive at the crash site Friday, equipped with robots that can plunge about 20,000 feet underwater to help recover wreckage.

That's the same team that worked with Dr. Robert Ballard to find the Titanic in the 1980s.

Ballard has a unique perspective on what lies ahead in the underwater search for missing Air France flight 447.

"Heavy objects will go to the bottom very, very rapidly," said Ballard, director of the Center for Ocean Exploration and Archeological Oceanography at the University of Rhode Island. "Lighter objects are carried for great distances, much like the lifeboats of the Titanic were miles and miles away from where we actually found the Titanic. And in many ways, the debris they're finding are like the lifeboats of the Titanic, floating on the surface, being carried further and further."

A forensic scientist is also believed to be onboard one of the planes on its way to help with the recovery operation. The U.S. Coast Guard is assisting in the effort to provide a "reverse drift" simulation, working backwards to help determine where the plane's fuselage might be based on where wreckage is floating.

Category:

News & Politics

Tags:

• Air France Flight 447 Searchers Find 23 Foot Piece of Debris
• Bomb Threat Revealed ABC News

[NWOConspiracyGroup]

@CurtisTuch watch?v=HSwaT_pXxkc

[nil1230]

3 days or 72 hours. hope fades to find survivors

[CurtisTuch]

Just curious to see what the debris looks like and...nothing. Not one picture apart from a "slick." Just curious that's all. Any leads on debris images? Anybody? I have combed the web 3 hours a day since the first report. I have been to news sites I never knew existed, in countries I'd never knew would even report on the subject & all have similar images & stories. What gives?