AVIATION/ AF FL447 BLACK BOX SEARCH TO RESUME

French accident investigators say they will begin a 3rd search for the black boxes of an AIR FRANCE airliner plane that crashed over the Atlantic Ocean this past summer. Air France Flight 447 was on International A330 Service from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, to Paris, France, when it crashed in a storm, on June 1. All 228 passengers and crew onboard Flight 447 were killed in the crash. The head of the French BEA, Jean-Paul Troadec, announced the move in Rio de Janeiro after meeting relatives of the dead. The new search of the Atlantic Ocean is due to begin in February 2010. The cause of the accident is still unknown although investigators believe the plane's speed sensors had been "a factor" involved in the crash. Troadec was in Brazil to brief relatives about the current stage of the investigation before a new report into the crash is published in Paris next week. "We tried to convince the families that we are conducting the investigation with the full intention of getting to the truth," he said.

Troadec said a number of experts, including some from the US Navy and NTSB would assist in the new search for cockpit audio and data recorders. Private contractors will also be hired to help. He said the searches would take place over a 3 month span about 600 miles off Brazil's NE coast. Investigators will use sonar and robot submarines. However, they say the search will be challenging as ocean depths where the airliner went down reach about 23000 feet. One of the relatives that Troadec met said that the renewed search was welcome but it was important to remember that 178 bodies had yet to be recovered. He said: "We have expectations of recovering these remains and giving them a dignified burial." Troadec said the forthcoming BEA report contained no surprises but would highlight new details, "notably in terms of safety recommendations". The crash was the worst disaster in the 75-year history of Air France.