The French investigation unit Bureau d'Enquêtes et d'Analyses (BEA) today showed undersea pictures of the wreckage including jet engines, the aircraft's wing, landing gear and windows. According to a number of reports including this one from Sky.com: "Officials confirmed identifiable bodies had been found and will be raised to the ocean surface, but would not say how many there were. The recovery operation, which could begin in three weeks to a month, will be funded by the French government."
The original story: Robots dive deep underwater to solve airliner crash mystery
The Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI)-led expedition has not yet found the black boxes from Air France Flight 447 which could go a long way towards solving the mystery of exactly why the plane crashed. In a press conference today investigators said they are "confident that engineers can still read the data and recordings in the black boxes - if they weren't damaged in the crash."
The Air France plane was flying from Rio de Jeneiro to Paris, when it crashed into the on June 1, 2009, taking with it 228 people. Searchers have been unable to locate the aircraft in three attempts since then.
According to WHOI, the three REMUS 6000 autonomous undersea vehicles it is using in the search are designed to operate in depths up to 6,000 meters (19,685 feet or 3.73 miles). As each vehicle covers an area in a "mowing" pattern, it employs side-scan sonar to survey up to 600 meters to its left and right. Capable of staying underwater for up to 20 hours at a time, REMUS then returns to the ship, where scientists download its data. If the data contains evidence of any debris or other items of interest undersea, a REMUS 6000 will be dispatched to gather more detailed, up-close images using high-resolution cameras located on the bottom of the vehicle, the group stated.
BEA is updating its Website about the progress of the search.
Follow Michael Cooney on Twitter: nwwlayer8
Layer 8 Extra
Check out these other hot stories:
IT "geek squad" wins $319 million Mega Millions lottery
FBI wants you to solve encrypted notes from murder mystery
Get in the ring: protection US, Europe vow to hash out Internet personal privacy
Should smartphones be allowed in the courthouse?
NASA's "images" of life on Mars circa 1975
Welcome to Plato, Mo. (pop. 109) the mean population center of the United States
Men AND women might both be from Mars
FBI: How to be an expert at the black art of cryptography
US slowly, very slowly oozes rare earth assault
NASA star-gazer satellite recovers from 144-hour network glitch
Google Voice gets into Sprint Mobile phones