Search Turns Up Air France 447 Data Recorder Chassis, But No Data Module

Nearly two years after Air France Flight 447 went down in the Atlantic ocean with no survivors, search teams have finally turned up a portion of the A330s Flight Data recorder. But in a classic good news-bad news scenario, the FDR's data recording module was not with the chassis.

BEA Image

The BEA said in a statement "The chassis of the airplane’s flight data recorder was found, though without the crash-survivable memory unit that contains the data." Images taken by the Remora 6000 ROV submersible and released by the BEA from the debris field show the data recorder chassis on the ocean floor.

BEA Image

Bloomberg News reports that the search for the missing data module is still ongoing. The main part of the wreckage of the airplane was discovered on April 3rd under nearly 13,000 feet of water. The French investigation agency BEA says the data contained on the missing module is critical to the investigation of the accident.

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