Pilots report seeing fire on ocean surface along missing airliner’s path (Update: wreckage spotted)
Pilots flying a commercial jet from Paris to Rio de Janeiro for Brazil’s largest airline, TAM, spotted what they thought was fire in the Atlantic Ocean along the same flight path of an Air France jet that vanished Monday, the airline said in a statement e-mailed to The Associated Press.
Brazilian Air Force spokesman Col. Jorge Amaral said authorities were investigating the pilots’ sighting, according to the Agencia Brasil official news service.
“There is information that the pilot of a TAM aircraft saw several orange points on the ocean while flying over the region … where the Air France plane disappeared,” Amaral said. “After arriving in Brazil, the pilot found out about the disappearance (of the Air France plane) and said that he thought those points on the ocean were fire.”
Air France is reporting that the aircraft’s systems sent an automated message to their control centers advising of a failure in the on-board electrical systems and a loss of cabin pressure. No voice messages from the pilots have been reported.
More on this as I hear more.
Update: Search aircraft from the Brazilian Air Force have spotted debris including plane seats. That doesn’t confirm it’s the lost plane, true, but it’s strong evidence.
