AIR FRANCE Airbus A330 Jet Plane Wreckage found in Atlantic Ocean [ Copyright © Skynews ]

AIR FRANCE CRASH CONFIRMED
AIR FRANCE Airbus A330 Jet Plane debris found in Atlantic Ocean

RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil (CNN) -- A debris field located early Tuesday in the Atlantic Ocean off the northeast coast of Brazil is wreckage from the Air France jet that disappeared Monday, Brazil's Defense Minister Nelson Jobim said.
Crew members of a French maritime patrol aircraft prepare to search for the jet Tuesday.

Crew members of a French maritime patrol aircraft prepare to search for the jet Tuesday.
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No survivors have been found, he said.

Jobim made the announcement after meeting with relatives and friends of Brazilians who were among the 228 people aboard Flight 447 from Rio de Janeiro to Paris, France.

On Tuesday morning, Brazilian air force planes spotted the debris field, consisting of an airplane seat, an orange life vest, small white fragments, an oil drum and signs of oil and kerosene, spokesman Jorge Amaral said. Another official described the debris field as being 5 kilometers long.

But it was not until a French commercial vessel arrived on the scene that confirmation of the debris' origin was made.

Two Netherlands-flagged vessels were expected to arrive in the area later in the day; a Brazilian navy ship was expected to arrive Wednesday, officials said. Brazilian air force jets were continuing to comb the area for other debris, and a U.S. P-3 Orion maritime patrol aircraft was assisting as well. Video Watch how wreckage has been spotted in Atlantic »

The searchers also want to find the cockpit voice and data recorders, which might shed light on what caused the jet to disappear before any of the three pilots was able to issue a mayday.

The field is about 700 kilometers (435 miles) northeast of the Fernando de Noronha archipelago -- 21 islands about 220 miles off the northeast coast of Brazil -- and about 80 kilometers (50 miles) east of the plane's flight path, the Brazilian air force said. See map of suspected crash zone »

The Airbus A330, which was flying at 35,000 feet and at 521 mph, encountered heavy turbulence early Monday, about three hours into what was supposed to be an 11-hour flight, according to the airline.

The plane carried 216 passengers -- 126 men, 82 women, seven children and a baby -- and 12 crew members, Air France said.
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The majority of the people on the flight came from Brazil, France and Germany. Other victims were from 29 other countries, including two from the United States. Of the crew, 11 were French, and one was Brazilian.

One passenger held dual citizenship with the United States and another nation but was traveling on the other passport, the U.S. State Department said Tuesday. State Department spokesman Robert Wood did not identify the passenger or give other details.

An official list of victims by name was not available Tuesday afternoon, but two Americans on board -- Michael Harris, 60, and his wife, Anne, 54 -- were identified by the couple's family and his employer.

Prince Pedro Luis de Orleans e Braganca, a member of Brazil's non-reigning royal family, was also on the flight, his family said Monday. Pedro Luis was 26.

Also on the flight were two executives of the French tire company Michelin: Michelin Latin America President Luiz Roberto Anastacio and Antonio Gueiro, director of informatics.

The jet was 4 years old and had last undergone routine maintenance April 16.

Its crew included three pilots, including a 58-year-old captain who had logged 11,000 hours in flight, and nine cabin crew members, Air France said in a statement. About 1,700 of the captain's hours were on two Airbus models.

Of the two co-pilots, ages 37 and 32, one had 3,000 hours of flying experience and the other 6,600 hours. The aircraft had flown 18,870 hours, the statement said.

The Air France plane has built-in homing devices, said Greg Feith, a former investigator with the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board.

Homing devices such as "pingers," which are underwater locator beacons attached to flight data and cockpit voice recorders, can transmit signals from as deep as 14,000 feet.

The average depth of the Atlantic Ocean is about 12,000 feet: more than 2 miles.

"They're water-activated, so if they're sitting at the bottom of the ocean, of course, then the military assets will have to go in there with listening devices and try and home in on those particular signals," Feith said.

Shortly before it disappeared, the plane's automatic system initiated a four-minute exchange of messages to the company's maintenance computers, indicating that "several pieces of aircraft equipment were at fault or had broken down," Air France CEO Pierre-Henri Gourgeon said Monday

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[RainingPuzzlePieces]

You sick twisted basterd!! Thats sick!! I hope you are in a plane wreckage and die or somthing because if you say things like that you'll have the whole world against you!!

[ajay999999]

Planes usually break up when they hit water.

Unless its a controlled landing like that one in America recently

[sgtsnakeeyes11]

@RainingPuzzlePieces who said what?

[spyros909]

@RainingPuzzlePieces ΑΙ ΓΑΜΗΣΟΥ ΡΕ ΦΛΩΡΕ

[NWOConspiracyGroup]

@ronpiggott watch?v=HSwaT_pXxkc

[ronpiggott]

Black boxes store data on the plane. The challenge is recovering them and if they are intact following a disaster. It would be ideal for planes to broadcast their black box data to a central "black box data network" so it could be stored on computers on land and the data be immediately available to investigators if the planes should meet with an accident.

[charlieiscool1000]

fucking idiot your more safer flying than driving or going on a train

[Kartel55]

* i meant Airbus..

[Kartel55]

...damn Airsubs.

[luvyouOonot]

cars and train are more dangerous than plane

[14CPO]

this just shows you how worthless a lump of metal really is. Don't bother with flying or machine that kill people