Monday, June 8, 2009
ആര്എസ്എസില് യോജിപ്പിന്റെ മേഖലകള്: ജ:കെ.ടി.തോമസ്
നാഗ്പൂര്: ആര്എസ്എസിനെതിരെ യാതൊരു മുന്വിധികളും തനിക്കില്ലെന്ന് ജസ്റ്റിസ് കെ.ടി.തോമസ്. രേശംബാഗില് ആര്എസ്എസ് തൃതീയ വര്ഷ സംഘശിക്ഷാ വര്ഗിന്റെ സമാപനപരിപാടിക്ക് അയച്ചുകൊടുത്ത സന്ദേശത്തിലാണ് അദ്ദേഹം വ്യക്തമാക്കിയത്. ആര്എസ്എസിന്റെ പ്രവര്ത്തനങ്ങളെയും പരിപാടികളെയും തുറന്ന മനസ്സോടെയാണ് താന് സമീപിക്കുന്നത്. വിയോജിപ്പിനേക്കാളേറെ യോജിപ്പിന്റെ വിശാലമായ മേഖലകളാണ് ഈ സംഘടനയില് തനിക്ക് കണ്ടെത്താനായതെന്ന് ജസ്റ്റിസ് കെ.ടി.തോമസ് ചൂണ്ടിക്കാട്ടി.വിമര്ശനത്തേക്കാളേറെ ആദരവാണ് സംഘപ്രവര്ത്തനങ്ങളോടുള്ളത്. ‘ഭാരതം ഒന്ന്, ഭാരതീയരൊന്ന്’ എന്ന ആര്എസ്എസിന്റെ ആശയത്തെ യാഥാര്ത്ഥ്യമാക്കേണ്ടതുണ്ട്. ഭാരതത്തെ ഒരു മതേതര ജനാധിപത്യ രാഷ്ട്രമാക്കി നിലനിര്ത്താന് വേണ്ടുന്ന പരിശ്രമങ്ങള് ഭരണഘടനാ നിര്മാണ വേളയില് നടന്നു. ഏകീകൃത സിവില് നിയമം ആവശ്യപ്പെടുന്ന 44-ാം വകുപ്പ് അതിന്റെ ഭാഗമാണ്. എന്നാല് അതിനുവേണ്ടിയുള്ള വാദങ്ങളെ വര്ഗീയമെന്ന് മുദ്ര കുത്തുകയാണ് പ്രഖ്യാപിത മതേതരവാദികള് ചെയ്യുന്നത്. ‘ഞാന് ആദ്യം ഒരു ഭാരതീയനാണ്’ എന്ന് അഭിമാനത്തോടെ അവകാശപ്പെടുന്നവ എത്ര ഭാരതീയരുണ്ട് എന്നതാണ് ഇന്നത്തെ ചോദ്യമെന്ന് ജസ്റ്റിസ് തോമസ് പറഞ്ഞു.ന്യൂനപക്ഷ സമുദായക്കാരനായതിന്റെ പേരില് ഈ നാട്ടില് ആര്ക്കെങ്കിലും അരക്ഷിതാവസ്ഥയുണ്ടെന്ന് താന് കരുതുന്നില്ല. എണ്ണംകൊണ്ട് ഏറ്റവും ചെറിയ മതവിഭാഗത്തില്പ്പെട്ട തനിക്ക് ഇതുവരെ അത്തരമൊരു അസ്തിത്വ പ്രതിസന്ധിയുണ്ടായിട്ടില്ല. അത്തരം വാദമുഖങ്ങള് ഉന്നയിക്കുന്നവരോട് ആദ്യം ഭാരതീയനെന്ന നിലയില് ചിന്തിക്കണമെന്നാണ് പറയാനുള്ളത്. മതവിശ്വാസം പൗരബോധത്തെ ഹനിക്കുന്നതാവരുത്. അത് തീര്ത്തും സ്വകാര്യമാവണമെന്നതാണ് തന്റെ അഭിപ്രായമെന്ന് ജസ്റ്റിസ് തോമസ് പറഞ്ഞു.
RECIFE, Brazil/PARIS - Searchers found 15 more bodies from a crashed Air France jet on Sunday and retrieved a large amount of debris from the plane that plunged into the Atlantic ocean in the worst air disaster since 2001.
Nearly a week after the Airbus A330 crashed on its way from Rio de Janeiro to Paris killing all 228 people on board, a total of 17 bodies have been recovered, following the discovery of two unidentified males on Saturday.
Investigators are considering the possibility the speed sensors on Flight 447 may have iced up and Air France said late on Saturday it was accelerating the replacement of speed sensors on all its Airbus long-haul planes.
Brazil's navy and air force said in a statement on Sunday night that they had retrieved seven more bodies and were transporting them along with the two corpses found on Saturday to the islands of Fernando de Noronha, 230 miles off the coast of Brazil.
Of the nine corpses, four were male and four were female, while the sex of the other body could not be identified.
A French ship picked up eight bodies on Sunday, the Brazilian military said, without giving further details.
"Hundreds of items are being found and being stored until we know where they should go," Brazilian Air Force spokesman Henry Munhoz told reporters in the northeastern city of Recife, where the bodies and debris will eventually be brought.
STRUCTURAL COMPONENTS FOUND
Brazil's military declined to give details about the debris found on Sunday, saying only that it was "structural components."
Brazilian network Globo reported on its website that a refrigerated truck used to store corpses was waiting on Fernando de Noronha. Brazilian media also said police were taking DNA samples from passengers' relatives to help identify the bodies.
Twelve Brazilian planes, one equipped with radar equipment that can detect material in the water, two French planes, one French ship and five Brazilian navy ships are searching the area about 680 miles northeast of Brazil's coast.
France also has sent a nuclear-powered submarine that should arrive on Wednesday to search for the black box flight data recorders that will be crucial to understanding why the plane fell from the sky as it passed storms on Monday.
The plane's pilots may have set the aircraft at a dangerous speed because they were relying on faulty speed readings, investigators say.
Air France said it had begun the switchover of speed sensors five weeks before the crash but only after disagreeing with Airbus over the planemaker's proposal to carry out tests before replacing them.
An Airbus spokesman declined to comment and said it could only discuss the investigation with French air authorities .The head of France's air accident agency BEA said on Saturday it was too soon to say if problems with the speed sensors, known as pitot tubes, were in any way responsible.
LOST DATA
The agency said the A330 had sent out 24 error messages in four minutes including one indicating a discrepancy in speed data. It said similar problems had happened before.
Air France said it had first noticed in May 2008 that ice in the sensors was causing lost data in planes like the A330, but that it failed to agree with Airbus on steps to take.
According to Air France, Airbus offered to carry out an in-flight test on new sensors this year but the airline decided to go ahead and started changing them anyway from April 27.
It did not say whether the crashed plane had the new sensors but its last maintenance hangar visit was on April 16.
Some of the A330s 50 or so other operators defended the plane's safety record at an airlines meeting in Kuala Lumpur on Sunday, saying the crash was an isolated incident.
Airbus has faced problems with the speed sensors dating to at least 2001, forcing changes in equipment as well as the pilot's flight manual, according to online filings.
In 2001, France reported several cases of sudden fluctuation of A330 or A340 airspeed data during severe icing conditions and Airbus was ordered to change the cockpit manual, according to the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration.
Nearly a week after the Airbus A330 crashed on its way from Rio de Janeiro to Paris killing all 228 people on board, a total of 17 bodies have been recovered, following the discovery of two unidentified males on Saturday.
Investigators are considering the possibility the speed sensors on Flight 447 may have iced up and Air France said late on Saturday it was accelerating the replacement of speed sensors on all its Airbus long-haul planes.
Brazil's navy and air force said in a statement on Sunday night that they had retrieved seven more bodies and were transporting them along with the two corpses found on Saturday to the islands of Fernando de Noronha, 230 miles off the coast of Brazil.
Of the nine corpses, four were male and four were female, while the sex of the other body could not be identified.
A French ship picked up eight bodies on Sunday, the Brazilian military said, without giving further details.
"Hundreds of items are being found and being stored until we know where they should go," Brazilian Air Force spokesman Henry Munhoz told reporters in the northeastern city of Recife, where the bodies and debris will eventually be brought.
STRUCTURAL COMPONENTS FOUND
Brazil's military declined to give details about the debris found on Sunday, saying only that it was "structural components."
Brazilian network Globo reported on its website that a refrigerated truck used to store corpses was waiting on Fernando de Noronha. Brazilian media also said police were taking DNA samples from passengers' relatives to help identify the bodies.
Twelve Brazilian planes, one equipped with radar equipment that can detect material in the water, two French planes, one French ship and five Brazilian navy ships are searching the area about 680 miles northeast of Brazil's coast.
France also has sent a nuclear-powered submarine that should arrive on Wednesday to search for the black box flight data recorders that will be crucial to understanding why the plane fell from the sky as it passed storms on Monday.
The plane's pilots may have set the aircraft at a dangerous speed because they were relying on faulty speed readings, investigators say.
Air France said it had begun the switchover of speed sensors five weeks before the crash but only after disagreeing with Airbus over the planemaker's proposal to carry out tests before replacing them.
An Airbus spokesman declined to comment and said it could only discuss the investigation with French air authorities .The head of France's air accident agency BEA said on Saturday it was too soon to say if problems with the speed sensors, known as pitot tubes, were in any way responsible.
LOST DATA
The agency said the A330 had sent out 24 error messages in four minutes including one indicating a discrepancy in speed data. It said similar problems had happened before.
Air France said it had first noticed in May 2008 that ice in the sensors was causing lost data in planes like the A330, but that it failed to agree with Airbus on steps to take.
According to Air France, Airbus offered to carry out an in-flight test on new sensors this year but the airline decided to go ahead and started changing them anyway from April 27.
It did not say whether the crashed plane had the new sensors but its last maintenance hangar visit was on April 16.
Some of the A330s 50 or so other operators defended the plane's safety record at an airlines meeting in Kuala Lumpur on Sunday, saying the crash was an isolated incident.
Airbus has faced problems with the speed sensors dating to at least 2001, forcing changes in equipment as well as the pilot's flight manual, according to online filings.
In 2001, France reported several cases of sudden fluctuation of A330 or A340 airspeed data during severe icing conditions and Airbus was ordered to change the cockpit manual, according to the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration.
Sunday, June 7, 2009
Air France replaces speed sensors
Air France said it began noticing sensor problems in May 2008
Air France has said it is accelerating replacement of speed monitors on Airbus planes following the disappearance of a jet over the Atlantic six days ago.
It said it had noticed problems arising from icing on the monitors last year and had begun changing them in April.
There has been speculation that faulty data on the old-type sensors may have caused the crash of the Rio de Janeiro-Paris flight with 228 people on board.
Brazil says two bodies from the missing plane have been recovered.
See a map of the plane's route
Items - including a case with a ticket for the flight - were also picked up on Saturday - some 800km (500 miles) north-east of Brazil's Fernando de Noronha islands where the AF Flight 447 disappeared in turbulent weather.
Investigators' warning
Investigators say that sensors on board the missing Airbus 330 were providing "inconsistent data" in the minutes before it went missing.
Air France said it began noticing sensor problems in May 2008
Air France has said it is accelerating replacement of speed monitors on Airbus planes following the disappearance of a jet over the Atlantic six days ago.
It said it had noticed problems arising from icing on the monitors last year and had begun changing them in April.
There has been speculation that faulty data on the old-type sensors may have caused the crash of the Rio de Janeiro-Paris flight with 228 people on board.
Brazil says two bodies from the missing plane have been recovered.
See a map of the plane's route
Items - including a case with a ticket for the flight - were also picked up on Saturday - some 800km (500 miles) north-east of Brazil's Fernando de Noronha islands where the AF Flight 447 disappeared in turbulent weather.
Investigators' warning
Investigators say that sensors on board the missing Airbus 330 were providing "inconsistent data" in the minutes before it went missing.
On Saturday, Air France said that in May 2008 it had begun noticing "incidents of loss of airspeed information during cruise flight" on its A330s and A340s jets - although only a "small number" of incidents had been reported.
The airline said it then contacted Airbus, who sent a recommendation to replace the monitors.
However, Air France stressed that the manufacturers had not made this a safety requirement.
The statement said that "without prejudging a link with the causes of the accident, Air France has accelerated this [replacement]programme".
It added that this did not necessarily mean the aircraft was not safe to fly.
French investigators also warned against drawing early conclusions.
Data recorders
The statement came as the Brazilian air force announced that two male bodies and debris from the Air France plane had been recovered.
Air force spokesman Jorge Amaral said objects linked to passengers known to be on the flight were also found. Those included a suitcase with an Air France ticket and a backpack with a computer inside.
"It was confirmed with Air France that the ticket number corresponds to a passenger on the flight," Col Amaral said.
A blue seat was also found, and Air France is checking the serial number to see whether it came from the flight.
The remains were found not far from where the last signal from the plane was received, and taken to the islands of Fernando de Noronha.
Experts on human remains are on their way to examine the find.
The items were the first to be definitely linked to the plane, nearly six days after the crash.
But the BBC's Gary Duffy in Sao Paulo says the authorities are adopting a cautious approach after previous reports of debris being found proved false.
Correspondents say that much of the search effort so far has been focused on finding flight data recorders, which have sonar beacons - or "pingers" - attached to them.
But French officials say there was no guarantee the beacons were still attached to the flight recorders, and they may have been separated in the impact of the crash.
A French submarine is being sent to join in the search. It has sonar equipment that could help locate the airliner's flight data recorders.
The US is also sending specialised listening equipm
The airline said it then contacted Airbus, who sent a recommendation to replace the monitors.
However, Air France stressed that the manufacturers had not made this a safety requirement.
The statement said that "without prejudging a link with the causes of the accident, Air France has accelerated this [replacement]programme".
It added that this did not necessarily mean the aircraft was not safe to fly.
French investigators also warned against drawing early conclusions.
Data recorders
The statement came as the Brazilian air force announced that two male bodies and debris from the Air France plane had been recovered.
Air force spokesman Jorge Amaral said objects linked to passengers known to be on the flight were also found. Those included a suitcase with an Air France ticket and a backpack with a computer inside.
"It was confirmed with Air France that the ticket number corresponds to a passenger on the flight," Col Amaral said.
A blue seat was also found, and Air France is checking the serial number to see whether it came from the flight.
The remains were found not far from where the last signal from the plane was received, and taken to the islands of Fernando de Noronha.
Experts on human remains are on their way to examine the find.
The items were the first to be definitely linked to the plane, nearly six days after the crash.
But the BBC's Gary Duffy in Sao Paulo says the authorities are adopting a cautious approach after previous reports of debris being found proved false.
Correspondents say that much of the search effort so far has been focused on finding flight data recorders, which have sonar beacons - or "pingers" - attached to them.
But French officials say there was no guarantee the beacons were still attached to the flight recorders, and they may have been separated in the impact of the crash.
A French submarine is being sent to join in the search. It has sonar equipment that could help locate the airliner's flight data recorders.
The US is also sending specialised listening equipm
SEARCH FOR FLIGHT AF 447
1 June: Contact lost with plane over mid-Atlantic
2 June: First debris spotted from the air includes an airline seat. Brazilian defence minister says debris is from missing plane
3 June: More debris spotted, including a 7m-wide chunk of metal. Fuel slick seen on ocean surface
4 June: Buoys and pallet recovered from ocean said to be from plane. Officials later retract statement
6 June: First two bodies, plus suitcase and backpack found, along with seat thought to be from the plane
7 June: Three additional bodies recovered, more sighted
1 June: Contact lost with plane over mid-Atlantic
2 June: First debris spotted from the air includes an airline seat. Brazilian defence minister says debris is from missing plane
3 June: More debris spotted, including a 7m-wide chunk of metal. Fuel slick seen on ocean surface
4 June: Buoys and pallet recovered from ocean said to be from plane. Officials later retract statement
6 June: First two bodies, plus suitcase and backpack found, along with seat thought to be from the plane
7 June: Three additional bodies recovered, more sighted
More bodies found from lost jet
Brazilian searchers found confirmed debris from the plane on Saturday
More bodies have been recovered from the Atlantic in the area where a French jet disappeared last week, bringing the total number to 17, officials say.
Dozens of pieces of debris from the Air France plane were also picked up by Brazilian and French ships.
They were found some 1,000km (600 miles) north-east of Brazil's Fernando de Noronha islands where the Airbus disappeared with 228 people.
Meanwhile, the investigation is looking into faulty speed sensors on the plane.
Brazilian and French ships recovered 15 bodies on Sunday - six days after the crash. Two bodies had been retrieved on Saturday.
Brazilian officials say four of the bodies are of men and four are of women. There is no word on the others.
See a map of the plane's route
The remains will be taken by ship to the nearby archipelago of Fernando de Noronha, before being moved to the Brazilian city of Recife, where a temporary mortuary has been established.
Relatives of those on board the AF 447 flight have already provided DNA to help in the identification process.
A Brazilian navy spokesman said search crews were working despite poor weather.
He said about 100 objects had been spotted in the crash zone, including seats with the Air France logo and oxygen masks.
Some have spoken of "a sea of debris", the BBC's Gary Duffy in Sao Paulo reports.
A total of six ships and 14 planes from France and Brazil are involved in the operation.
Speed sensors
The investigation is increasingly focusing on the aircraft's speed sensors, which had been providing inconsistent data in the minutes before it disappeared in turbulent weather.
Brazilian searchers found confirmed debris from the plane on Saturday
More bodies have been recovered from the Atlantic in the area where a French jet disappeared last week, bringing the total number to 17, officials say.
Dozens of pieces of debris from the Air France plane were also picked up by Brazilian and French ships.
They were found some 1,000km (600 miles) north-east of Brazil's Fernando de Noronha islands where the Airbus disappeared with 228 people.
Meanwhile, the investigation is looking into faulty speed sensors on the plane.
Brazilian and French ships recovered 15 bodies on Sunday - six days after the crash. Two bodies had been retrieved on Saturday.
Brazilian officials say four of the bodies are of men and four are of women. There is no word on the others.
See a map of the plane's route
The remains will be taken by ship to the nearby archipelago of Fernando de Noronha, before being moved to the Brazilian city of Recife, where a temporary mortuary has been established.
Relatives of those on board the AF 447 flight have already provided DNA to help in the identification process.
A Brazilian navy spokesman said search crews were working despite poor weather.
He said about 100 objects had been spotted in the crash zone, including seats with the Air France logo and oxygen masks.
Some have spoken of "a sea of debris", the BBC's Gary Duffy in Sao Paulo reports.
A total of six ships and 14 planes from France and Brazil are involved in the operation.
Speed sensors
The investigation is increasingly focusing on the aircraft's speed sensors, which had been providing inconsistent data in the minutes before it disappeared in turbulent weather.
Air France has said it is stepping up the process of replacing speed monitors on board its Airbus planes.
The company said it had first noticed problems with speed monitors a year ago and began replacing them a few weeks before the accident.
But investigators said it was too soon to say if problems with the sensors were in any way responsible.
On Saturday, the Brazilian navy recovered the first confirmed debris from the plane, including a briefcase containing a ticket for Flight 447.
Other debris linked to the flight included a blue seat and a backpack containing a computer.
The remains were found not far from where the last signal from the plane was received on Monday, and were taken to the islands of Fernando de Noronha to be examined by experts.
The search for the plane's flight data recorders - or black boxes - continues.
The company said it had first noticed problems with speed monitors a year ago and began replacing them a few weeks before the accident.
But investigators said it was too soon to say if problems with the sensors were in any way responsible.
On Saturday, the Brazilian navy recovered the first confirmed debris from the plane, including a briefcase containing a ticket for Flight 447.
Other debris linked to the flight included a blue seat and a backpack containing a computer.
The remains were found not far from where the last signal from the plane was received on Monday, and were taken to the islands of Fernando de Noronha to be examined by experts.
The search for the plane's flight data recorders - or black boxes - continues.
Monday, June 1, 2009
UPDATE 7-Air France plane crashes into Atlantic with 228 aboard
PARIS, June 1 (Reuters) -
An Air France plane with 228 people on board was presumed to have crashed into the Atlantic Ocean on Monday after hitting heavy turbulence during a flight from Rio de Janeiro to Paris.
The airline offered its condolences to the families of the passengers, making clear it did not expect to find survivors.
At least 60 of those on board were French, roughly 60 were Brazilians and two were Slovaks, their countries said.
Air France (AIRF.PA) said the Airbus flew into stormy weather four hours after take-off from Brazil and soon afterwards sent an automatic message reporting electrical faults.
A company spokesman said several of the plane's mechanisms had malfunctioned.
"It is probably a combination of circumstances that could have led to the crash," he said, adding that the airliner might have been hit by lightning.
Aviation experts said lightning strikes on planes were common and were not enough alone to explain a disaster.
The Brazilian air force said the plane was far out over the the sea when it went missing.
Military planes took off from the island of Fernando de Noronha off Brazil's northeast coast to look for it and the Brazilian navy sent three ships to help in the search.
France sent one of its air force planes from west Africa.
STORM PATCH
On its flight northeast from Rio, the jetliner would have had to pass through a notorious storm patch shifting around the equator known as the Intertropical Convergence Zone.
"It is a zone in the tropics where you can have particularly deep thunder clouds," said Barry Gromett, a meteorologist at the London Weather Centre.
The carrier said 216 passengers were on board, including seven children and one baby, as well as 12 crew members.
The passenger list was not released, but French tyre company Michelin said the head of its Latin American operations, Luis Roberto Anastacio, had been on the flight.
Tearful relatives and friends were led away by airport staff after they arrived at Roissy expecting to greet the passengers.
About 20 relatives of passengers also arrived at Rio's Galeao airport on Monday morning seeking information.
Bernardo Souza, whose brother and sister-in-law were on the flight, complained he had received no details from Air France.
"I had to come to the airport, but when I arrived I just found an empty counter," he said.
Senior French government minister Jean-Louis Borloo ruled out the possibility of a hijacking.
"It's an awful tragedy," he told France Info radio.
If no survivors are found it will be the worst loss of life involving an Air France plane in the firm's 75-year history.
The plane was an Airbus 330-200 (EAD.PA) powered with General Electric (GE.N) engines. If the plane is confirmed to have crashed, it would be the first time an A330 has been lost during an operational airline flight.
Air France said the plane had 18,870 flight hours on the clock and went into service in April 2005. It last underwent maintenance in a hangar in April this year.
The last major incident involving an Air France plane was in July 2000 when one of its Concorde supersonic airliners crashed just after taking off from Paris, bound for New York.
All 109 people on board were killed along with at least four on the ground. (Additional reporting by Jean-Baptiste Vey, Gerard Bon, Astrid Wendlandt and Tim Hepher in Paris, Pedro Fonseca in Rio; editing by Crispian Balmer and Richard Meares)
PARIS, June 1 (Reuters) -
An Air France plane with 228 people on board was presumed to have crashed into the Atlantic Ocean on Monday after hitting heavy turbulence during a flight from Rio de Janeiro to Paris.
The airline offered its condolences to the families of the passengers, making clear it did not expect to find survivors.
At least 60 of those on board were French, roughly 60 were Brazilians and two were Slovaks, their countries said.
Air France (AIRF.PA) said the Airbus flew into stormy weather four hours after take-off from Brazil and soon afterwards sent an automatic message reporting electrical faults.
A company spokesman said several of the plane's mechanisms had malfunctioned.
"It is probably a combination of circumstances that could have led to the crash," he said, adding that the airliner might have been hit by lightning.
Aviation experts said lightning strikes on planes were common and were not enough alone to explain a disaster.
The Brazilian air force said the plane was far out over the the sea when it went missing.
Military planes took off from the island of Fernando de Noronha off Brazil's northeast coast to look for it and the Brazilian navy sent three ships to help in the search.
France sent one of its air force planes from west Africa.
STORM PATCH
On its flight northeast from Rio, the jetliner would have had to pass through a notorious storm patch shifting around the equator known as the Intertropical Convergence Zone.
"It is a zone in the tropics where you can have particularly deep thunder clouds," said Barry Gromett, a meteorologist at the London Weather Centre.
The carrier said 216 passengers were on board, including seven children and one baby, as well as 12 crew members.
The passenger list was not released, but French tyre company Michelin said the head of its Latin American operations, Luis Roberto Anastacio, had been on the flight.
Tearful relatives and friends were led away by airport staff after they arrived at Roissy expecting to greet the passengers.
About 20 relatives of passengers also arrived at Rio's Galeao airport on Monday morning seeking information.
Bernardo Souza, whose brother and sister-in-law were on the flight, complained he had received no details from Air France.
"I had to come to the airport, but when I arrived I just found an empty counter," he said.
Senior French government minister Jean-Louis Borloo ruled out the possibility of a hijacking.
"It's an awful tragedy," he told France Info radio.
If no survivors are found it will be the worst loss of life involving an Air France plane in the firm's 75-year history.
The plane was an Airbus 330-200 (EAD.PA) powered with General Electric (GE.N) engines. If the plane is confirmed to have crashed, it would be the first time an A330 has been lost during an operational airline flight.
Air France said the plane had 18,870 flight hours on the clock and went into service in April 2005. It last underwent maintenance in a hangar in April this year.
The last major incident involving an Air France plane was in July 2000 when one of its Concorde supersonic airliners crashed just after taking off from Paris, bound for New York.
All 109 people on board were killed along with at least four on the ground. (Additional reporting by Jean-Baptiste Vey, Gerard Bon, Astrid Wendlandt and Tim Hepher in Paris, Pedro Fonseca in Rio; editing by Crispian Balmer and Richard Meares)
Nick Baker's Weird Creatures
Frankenstein Fish, Invisible Lizards and Real Gremlins are just some of the wild and wacky zoological oddities featured in Season 2 of Nick Baker's Weird Creatures.
Premiering Monday, Jan. 5 at 9 p.m. ET/10 p.m. PT on Animal Planet, this eight-part series transports viewers to some of the most remote corners of the globe to find animals with unusual, to say the least, characteristics.
Nature's strangest animals are the stars of this intriguing series and Nick Baker's Weird Creatures travels the world to turn the cameras on these anomalies. Developed over time, these creatures' bizarre evolutionary features haven't done much for their social life but have helped them to survive some of the most inhospitable climates on earth.
Each episode, expert naturalist and host Nick Baker - along with specialists from the British Natural History Museum - showcases one of these quirky creatures by getting up close and personal in their native habitat. Studying these creatures since childhood, Baker is fulfilling his dream of tracking down these living oddities while taking viewers along for the ride.
Highlights from Nick Baker's Weird Creatures
Frankenstein Fish, Invisible Lizards and Real Gremlins are just some of the wild and wacky zoological oddities featured in Season 2 of Nick Baker's Weird Creatures.
Premiering Monday, Jan. 5 at 9 p.m. ET/10 p.m. PT on Animal Planet, this eight-part series transports viewers to some of the most remote corners of the globe to find animals with unusual, to say the least, characteristics.
Nature's strangest animals are the stars of this intriguing series and Nick Baker's Weird Creatures travels the world to turn the cameras on these anomalies. Developed over time, these creatures' bizarre evolutionary features haven't done much for their social life but have helped them to survive some of the most inhospitable climates on earth.
Each episode, expert naturalist and host Nick Baker - along with specialists from the British Natural History Museum - showcases one of these quirky creatures by getting up close and personal in their native habitat. Studying these creatures since childhood, Baker is fulfilling his dream of tracking down these living oddities while taking viewers along for the ride.
Highlights from Nick Baker's Weird Creatures
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