Official Report - Preliminary Conclusions on the AF447 Accident

Based on the initial evidence collected during the investigation, the following facts were established:

• the crew had the licenses and qualifications for the flight,
• the aircraft certificate of airworthiness in a state of validity, it was maintained in accordance with the regulations,
• the aircraft had departed from Rio de Janeiro without technical problems experienced, except in one of the three panels of radio management,
• no problems were reported by the crew at Air France or in its contacts with the Brazilian controllers,
• no distress message was received by the control centers or other aircraft,
• there was no satellite telephone communications between aircraft and ground
• the last radio contact between the crew and the control of Brazil took place in 1 h 35 min 15. The aircraft arrived at the edge of the range radar control centers in Brazil,
• 01 to 2 pm, the crew tried unsuccessfully for the third time, to connect to ADS-C control Dakar
• until the last point of the auto position, received 2 h 10 min 34, the flight took place on the planned route in the flight plan,
• the weather was consistent with that commonly found in June in the intertropical convergence zone,
• there was a powerful cluster of cumulonimbus clouds on the road to the AF 447. Some of them could be home to a strong turbulence,
• several aircraft that have evolved before and after the flight AF 447, substantially at the same altitude, have altered their course to avoid cloud masses,
• twenty-four messages for automatic maintenance were received between 2 and 10 h 2 h 15 via ACARS. It appears from these messages inconsistency of measured speeds and the associated consequences,
• 2 h before 10, no maintenance message was received from the flight AF 447, with the exception of two messages on the configuration of toilets,
• procedures of the operator and the manufacturer to specify the actions performed by the crew in doubt indications of speed,
• The last message was received ACARS to 2 h 14 min 28,
• there was no transfer between the flight control centers of Brazil and Senegal,
• between 8 am and 8 pm 30, the first messages trigger alert has been issued by the control centers of Madrid and Brest,
• body and the first elements of the aircraft were found June 6,
• elements identified from all areas of the aircraft,
• Visual examination shows that the aircraft was not destroyed in flight, it seems to have struck the water line of flight, with a strong vertical acceleration.