Brazilian Military Confirms it has Found Wreckage of Air France Plane

It seems that the Brazilian military has confirmed what most people assumed to be the case already - that an Air France jet that disappeared from radar and air traffic control had crashed into the Atlantic Ocean on its way from Rio de Janiero to Paris, France. There is very little word at this time as to what type of wreckage has been found and early reports are that there are no signs of bodies in the water.

Investigators may never have enough information from the downed plane to determine a definitive cause of the crash or what events may have transpired to bring the plane down. Instead, families of those lost and the companies involved will be left to wonder what went wrong and how such a horrific tragedy can be prevented in the future.

The wreckage site is consistent with the path that plane would have been on during its flight from Brazil to France. Shortly after the crash, media reports were quick to point out that there are large swaths of the Atlantic Ocean that have no radar coverage from air traffic control points. That would seem more reasonable, were it not for the fact that the technology exists - in the form of GPS and other satellite positioning systems - to know where every airplane is in the sky at any given moment. How is it possible that the airline industry and the bodies that regulate it haven't implemented this ubiquitous technology? This is not to say that the crash could have been prevented in any way - that we may never know. But in this day and age, we should never be left to wonder "where" a passenger jet ended up after it "disappeared." We should be comfortably beyond that now.