[porwolf]

On a radio program today I heard from a probability specialist how the Air France plane wreck was finally located on the bottom of the Atlantic. The specialist discussed both the Malaysia Air and the Air France plane losses and the method by which they finally located the Air France plane. I understand That the theory was developed in WW2 by the British to find locations of U-Boats. Basically it uses all unsuccessful search attempts, ocean currents, and all available data to finally pin point a likely location of the crashed Air France plane. It is a long process. The specialist also pointed out that it took 6 days before the first pieces of the Air France wreck were located floating on the Atlantic. And it took two years to finally locate the plane wreck after the probability theory was applied. Then it was found within one week!

From Wikipedia:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Air_France_Flight_447

"2011 search and recovery[edit]In July 2010, the US-based search consultancy Metron had been engaged to draw up a probability map of where to focus the search, based on prior probabilities from flight data and local condition reports, combined with the results from the previous searches. The Metron team used what it described as "classic" Bayesian search methods, an approach that had previously been successful in the search for the submarine USS Scorpion. Phase 4 of the search operation started in the area identified by the Metron study as being the most likely resting place of flight 447.[119]


Cable ship Īle de Sein was assigned to assist in the recovery of materials from the ocean floor.Within a week of resuming of the search operation, on 3 April 2011, a team led by the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution operating full ocean depth autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs) owned by the Waitt Institute discovered, by means of sidescan sonar, a large portion of debris field from flight AF447.[119] Further debris and bodies, still trapped in the partly intact remains of the aircraft's fuselage, were located in water depths of between 3,800 to 4,000 metres (2,100 to 2,200 fathoms; 12,500 to 13,100 ft). The debris was found to be lying in a relatively flat and silty area of the ocean floor (as opposed to the extremely mountainous topography that was originally believed to be AF447's final resting place).[citation needed] Other items found were engines, wing parts and the landing gear.[120]

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