Air France Flight 447
Landing gear from Air France Flight 447 photographed from a REMUS 6000 autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV). (BEA/Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution)
On June 1, 2009, Air France Flight 447 from Rio de Janeiro to Paris crashed several hundred miles off the northeastern coast of Brazil and landed deep in the ocean on some of the most rugged seafloor terrain on Earth.
On April 4, 2011, a search team led by the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) located the wreckage of the Airbus jet some 3,900 meters (nearly 2.5 miles) below the surface of the Atlantic Ocean.
Only after locating the airplane's flight data and cockpit voice recorders and analyzing the wreckage itself could investigators with the French Bureau of Investigation and Analysis (BEA) sufficiently answer questions related to the cause of the crash and help avoid a similar disaster in the future.
News Releases
David Gallo Selected for Explorers Club Lowell Thomas Award
WHOI-led Team Locates Air France Wreckage
WHOI Conducts Latest Search for Air France Flight 447
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WHOI in the News
A New Ship’s Mission: Let the Deep Sea Be Seen
Multimedia
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REMUS 6000
Used to find and identify the wreckage of Air France Flight 447 more than 2 miles beneath the surface of the Atlantic Ocean.
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