Air France Flight Likely Broke Apart in Flight

The search for the black boxes from Air France Flight 447 is underway and may prove very difficult, if not impossible. Without the boxes - and perhaps even with them - we may never know definitively what happened to Flight 447. Officials have announced that the debris fields found in the Atlantic and some of the data that was automatically transmitted from the plane as it encountered trouble indicate that the plane may have broken up in flight.

Perhaps the best evidence of the in-flight break-up theory is that the debris fields that were discovered nearly 24 hours after the plane is believed to have crashed were separated by over 30 miles on the open ocean. Experts are speculating that an in-flight break-up would explain the two debris fields. The trajectory of one piece of the plane may have taken it several miles away from a piece that would have broken off earlier.

Preliminary searches have indicated that the water depth and clarity in the areas of the debris fields are such that finding and retrieving the black boxes may not be possible. Air and naval searches in the area are still focused on trying to locate the likely entry point of the aircraft and submarines are scanning the ocean floor for any clues as to the whereabouts of the boxes.

The black boxes are programmed to emit an identification signal for up to 30 days after a plane crashes.