Authorities Still Hopeful Of Finding Data And Voice Recorders

French officials say they plan to resume the search for wreckage from Air France flight 447 next month, in hopes of finding additional clues as to why the Airbus A330 with 228 people on board went down in June of 2009 in the Atlantic Ocean.

The search will be a "systematic exploration" of nearly 4,000 square miles of ocean, according to a report from the French news service AFP. A German robotic mini-submarine will be the primary vessel conducting the search, which France's BEA officials said could last until July.

This will be the third attempt to locate the airplane's Cockpit Data and Voice recorders, which officials hope will shed some light on why the airplane went down during a thunderstorm on a flight from Rio de Janeiro to Paris. The cause of the accident has been at least partly attributed to faulty speed sensors on the airplane.

Air France has been ordered to pay $727,000 to relatives of a Brazilian family which was on board when the plane went down. Other suits are still pending.

FMI: www.bea.aero/en/index.php