BEA releases interim report on Air France Airbus A330 accident

The French Bureau d'Enquêtes et d'Analyses (BEA) released an interim report based on the initial evidence gathered in the course of the investigation of the June 2 accident involving an Air France A330.

Some of the findings are:

* the meteorological situation was typical of that encountered in the month of June in the inter-tropical convergence zone;

* there were powerful cumulonimbus clusters on the route of AF447. Some of them could have been the centre of some notable turbulence;

* several airplanes that were flying before and after AF 447, at about the same altitude, altered their routes in order to avoid cloud masses;

* twenty-four automatic maintenance messages were received between 02:10 and 02:15 via the ACARS system. These messages show inconsistency between the measured speeds as well as the associated consequences;

* visual examination showed that the airplane was not destroyed in flight; it appears to have struck the surface of the sea in a straight line with high vertical acceleration.