Flight AF 447 on 1^st June 2009

A330-203, registered F-GZCP

Sea Search Operations
Phase 2: 27 July - 17 August 2009

• The « Pourquoi Pas? » conducted the second phase of searches using diving equipment and towed sonar.
• SAR - Système Acoustique Remorqué.(in French)

Because of the importance for the investigation of finding the wreckage, the French government decided to launch another phase of undersea searches. To prepare this third phase, the BEA formed an international group, to which it associated Airbus and Air France.

The efforts will be focused on two main areas:

1. Defining the search zones: expanding the collection of data around the last known position, refining the modelling of the structures of the current in this zone around the date of the accident, estimating the drift of bodies and debris, and proposing a probability distribution in relation to the localisation of the wreckage.
2. Selection of the means to conduct the searches and recover the relevant parts of the wreckage.

The preparatory work must be completed in January 2010 so that the means can be deployed in the zone from February 2010 onwards.