Investigators Still Searching for Cause of Air France 447 Crash – Investigators still don’t know what caused the Air France flight 447 from Rio de Janeiro to Paris, to plunge into the Atlantic Ocean on May 31, 2009. There were 228 people on board.

A mid-air explosion has been ruled out after autopsies on 16 bodies found floating in the ocean, had no burn marks. The clothing was missing from the bodies indicating that they were possibly stripped off as they fell from approximately 35,000 feet. There was no water in their lungs which would have been a sign of drowning. However, because the bodies were found more than 50 miles apart, investigators believe that the plane broke apart before it hit the ocean.

Investigators Still Searching for Cause of Air France Crash

An investigation has centered on the inconsistent readings from its airspeed sensors. It is believed that ice-clogged probes could have confused the plane’s computers thus allowing the pilots to fly too fast or too slowly into a storm. Air France has indicated that it completed replacing sensors on their fleet of 34 carriers on the weekend.

The head of the Airbus parent company, Louis Gallois, said that there was probably more than one reason for the crash. “In such an accident, there is not one cause. It’s the convergence of different causes creating such an accident. It is essential for everybody to know what happened and we know that it’s not easy. I hope we find the black box.” The black boxes can emit a signal for up to 30 days following a crash. There are two more weeks to find them before the signal begins to fade.