Second Extensive Search Fails To Turn Up "Black Boxes", Plane Wreckage

The French Air Accident Bureau BEA said Thursday it has completed another fruitless search for the cockpit voice and flight data recorders from Air France flight 447, which went down in the Atlantic Ocean in June.

The first search phase ended over a month ago, when it was assumed that the batteries powering the locator signals would have expired. The second phase utilized underwater ROV's searching with sonar for wreckage from the plane, but nothing has yet been found. "The search having failed to locate the wreck of the aircraft, the BEA will gather an international team of investigators and experts in the coming weeks to exploit the data gathered with a view to launching a third search phase, and to determine its modalities and means," the BEA agency said.

The international news agency AFP reports French investigators caution that the chances of finding the devices are small, given that debris from the crash was found scattered over 600 miles of ocean off the coast of Brazil, the water depth, and the extreme underwater terrain.

Airbus chief executive Thomas Enders said in an interview last month the company was willing to spend up to 20 million Euros to fund the search.

FMI: www.airbus.com, http://www.bea-fr.org/anglaise/