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Air France Flight 447 Finally Found in Atlantic After Two-Year Mystery

by Shazy | 11:36 AM in Air France, air france flight 447, Air France Flight 447 Finally Found in Atlantic After Two-Year Mystery, aircraft, Body, crash, flight, money, passengers, pilots, plane, president, Video |

Air France Flight 447 Finally Found in Atlantic After Two-Year Mystery

Bodies of victims of Air France flight 447 finally found in the wreckage at bottom of the Atlantic after two-year mystery
* Investigators release underwater images of wreckage
* Fresh hope the plane's 'black box' will be recovered

The bodies of some of the 228 victims of the worst air crash in Air France’s history have been found some two-and-a-half miles below the Atlantic Ocean.

Macabre images of the underwater tomb, which includes British and Irish victims, have been grabbed by submarines equipped with robot-controlled cameras.

As investigators released some of the images in Paris, they said they also showed the ‘vast majority’ of the Airbus A330-203 had also been discovered, including its engines.

This raises renewed hope that the black box flight recorders can be retrieved, so helping to explain why Flight AF 447 crashed en route from Rio de Janeiro to Paris on June 1, 2009.

However, after being immersed under intense pressure and in sea water for almost two years, their data may be unreadable.

Confirming the discovery of ‘one large piece’ of the plane, France’s Transport Minister Nathalie Kosciusko-Morizet said it contained 'identifiable bodies' .

Jean-Paul Troadec, director of the Bureau of Investigations and Analysis (BEAR) said: ‘The positive news is that the debris field is relatively concentrated. Thus, we hope to find the black boxes.’

And Air France-KLM’s chief executive Pierre-Henri Gourgeon added: ‘This is very good news because it brings with it the hope that at last we will get some information on what caused this accident, which to this day remains unexplained.’

The £8million search is being financed jointly by Air France and Airbus, who are both at the centre of a criminal enquiry into the disaster, and face manslaughter charges.

An initial search immediately after the crash found 50 bodies and hundreds of pieces of the plane, but went cold after that.

The latest search around the Atlantic’s mountainous seabed has been classed by BEAR as a ‘systematic exploration’ of an area of 3,900 sq miles, at depth of some 13,200 feet

Victims’ families are negotiating multi-million pounds compensation claims, and have been highly critical of the way the searches have been carried out to date.

But they will be relieved that more of the bodies have finally been found, and can be buried or cremated properly.

The plane went down in a high-altitude thunderstorm, with experts suggesting that its sensors, known as pitot tubes and made by French company Thales SA, may have iced over and sent false speed information to on-board computers.

In November, Air France issued a memo to investigators saying the carrier had counted 15 incidents in which the sensors had iced over on the same aircraft type in the 10 previous months before the crash.

The latest search boat, operated by the American Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, is unable to salvage the wreckage, but will continue to continue to take pictures using the same kind of equipment which was used explore the remains of the Titanic in 1985.

Salvage boats are currently heading for the area, and are expected to arrive by the end of this month.

Source:Dailymail

World's Biggest Cruise Ships

by Shazy | 2:49 AM in cruise ship, freedom of the seas, largest cruise ship, passengers, port everglades, royal caribbean, the queen mary, travel, vessel, world's largest cruise ship |

Titanic Shmitanic

The world’s most massive cruise ship when it was launched 100 years ago, the Titanic wouldn’t rank among the world’s 50 largest today. Here’s a look at the 10 most Bunyanesque boats, all built since 2000.
For comparison purposes, we’ve ranked them by gross tonnage (available revenue-generating space) and also provided their lengths and passenger capacity (which assumes double occupancy in all cabins, though most ships can hold many more than that).

Royal Caribbean's Oasis of the Seas (also Allure of the Seas)

225,282 tons; 1,187 feet long; 5,400 capacity

The world’s most ginormous ship is too long, too wide and too tall to fit through the Panama Canal. But with zip lines, rock climbing walls and Broadway shows onboard, you might not even notice whether the ship actually goes anywhere at all. Its 2,384 crew members are more than the passenger capacity of most ships built before 2000.

Royal Caribbean's Freedom of the Seas (also Liberty, Independence of the Seas)

160,000 tons; 1,112 feet long; 3,634 capacity

Royal Caribbean's Miss Congeniality is still so gargantuan that you half expect singer Celine Dion to write a syrupy ballad about it. There’s water, water, everywhere on this ship, from the ubiquitous swimming pools and Jacuzzis to the surf simulator to the ice-skating rink to waterfalls and sculpture fountains and the H2O Zone, a water park just for kids.

Norwegian Epic

155,873 tons; 1,081 feet long; 4,100 capacity

Norwegian's heavyweight contender is so Brobdingnagian that it had to remove five lifeboats just to shimmy into New York Harbor for its christening last July. Twenty dining options — including teppanyaki and 24/7 pizza delivery — mean you never have to dine with your 1,000 closest friends. The Epic also contains the Svedka Ice Bar, made entirely of ice.

Cunard's RMS Queen Mary 2

151,400 tons; 1,132 feet long; 2,620 capacity

Line 40 London double-decker buses bumper to bumper and they still won’t span the length of Cunard’s leviathan flagship. Or lie Big Ben on its side, and you’d still have room for a football field on either end. The world’s largest ship when it first set sail in 2004, the QM2 is still big on luxury. It holds just 1,310 staterooms, giving i

Royal Caribbean's Voyager of the Seas (also Explorer, Adventurer, Navigator, Mariner of the Seas)

138,000 tons; 1,020 feet long; 3,114 capacity

The Voyager class is nine times the length of the Wright Brothers' first flight. This is the humongous ship that started the whole supersizing trend back in 1999, and the first to pack in no-need-to-leave-the-ship attractions like an in-line skating track, a TV studio and a concert arena. The 9-hole golf course is of the miniature variety, but that’s the only diminutive thing about this ship.

MSC's Splendida (also Fantasia)

137,936 tons; 1,094 feet long; 3,274 capacity

With more than 4.8 million square feet of space, including the cabins, this behemoth is larger than the Mall of America. If you stood the Splendida on its stern, its bow would look down on the Eiffel Tower. Even the service is outsized: Splendida promises not 5-star, but 6-star attention, whatever that may be.

Carnival Dream

130,000 tons; 1,004 feet long; 3,646 capacity

Carnival’s colossal caravan is a veritable traveling amusement park, with an emphasis throughout on fun and games. The ship is so long you could operate two London Eye Ferris wheels side-by-side atop its decks and there would still be room between them for the giant 12-foot-by-22-foot LED screen at the dive-in movie theater.

Disney Dream

130,000 tons; 1,115 feet long; 2,500 capacity

The Happiest Place on Water isn’t quite the size of 510-acre Disneyland. But with character visits, a 3-D movie theater and the 765-foot long Aqua Duck, the first-ever shipboard “water coaster,” there’s never a dull moment aboard the Mouse’s most herculean vessel. And crowds are limited to a fraction of what streams into the park each day.

Celebrity Eclipse (also Solstice and Equinox)

122,000 tons; 1,033 feet long; 2,850 capacity

Longer than four 747s, Celebrity’s newest A-lister is so mammoth that its 19 decks literally block out the sun for those in its wake. Luckily, plenty of daylight on the top level keeps this ship’s most unusual feature — a real grass lawn — green and healthy enough for lawn games like bocce and croquet.

Princess Diamond (also Sapphire)

116,000 tons; 964 feet long; 2,670 capacity

The crown jewel in the Princess fleet is three times the size of London’s Buckingham Place and has nearly twice as many rooms. This elephantine ship could swallow five Taj Mahals. Features fit for royalty include daily afternoon tea, a wide variety of restaurants — most without a surcharge — martini bars and more than 700 cabins with balconies.

Famous people killed in airplane disasters

by Shazy | 1:30 AM in disasters, flight, history, killing, natural disasters, passengers, pilot error, Plane crash, plane crashed, plane crashes, runway, singer, united states |

Famous people killed in airplane disasters - Unfortunately, there are far to many famous people killed in airplane crashes and disasters. It seems like their celebrity and stardom does them no favors when something goes wrong with the pilot, the airplane or the weather.

Not sure if you are aware of it or not, but fifty years ago on February 15th, the United States figure skating team dies on Sabena Flight 548. It was a Boeing 707 plane. The plane was trying to land in Brussels when it crashed killing all 72 people on board and one on the ground. Aboard that flight was nine time champion, Maribel Vinson-Owen. “RISE”, Sabena flight 548 movie was made about the incident.
Famous people killed in airplane disasters

It was this unfortunate anniversary that brought me to thinking about this subject. Then I realized the number of celebrities and famous people that past in this manner. At the end of my list, I ask that you not only leave your comments, but also include those that I may have left off the list.
“We Are Marshall” 1970 plane crash

This was the tragic plane crash when the entire Marshall University Thundering Herd football team died. They were Southern airways flight 932 victims. There was a movie made by the name of “We Are Marshall” about the incident. Great movie and great program. They have returned their proud football tradition producing top talent and championships. Marshall University Thundering Herd football alums playing in the NFL, there are quite a few of them. Chad Pennington, Troy Brown, Randy Moss, Byron Leftwich Marshall University Thundering Herd players in the NFL. And by the looks of things, there are more on the way.

Aaliyah dies in plane crash

Aaliyah plane crash at the age of 22 caught people by surprise and was a real tragedy. She had just gotten her career to the heights of stardom when this happened. Here number one song “Age Ain’t Nothing But a Number” had widely been accepted and she was set to star in a new movie. The crash changed everything.

Aaaliyah’s parents lawsuit wrongful death was most out of frustration most believe. It had to be difficult to lose your daughter. Aaliyah’s parents settle crash lawsuits and moved on with their live.

There are many other cases when celebrities and famous plane crashes have occurred, but I want to get your input. What do you think of the list above and who should be added to it? Tell me your thoughts on Famous people killed in airplane disasters.
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