A puzzle to solve

You really must not be into following the news or what is going on around you or may be a frog in your own little pond, if by now you do not know about the plane crash of Air France, Flight 447. This crash happened on this past Sunday, when the plane was on its way to Paris, France from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil carrying 228 people. The jet flew through towering thunderstorms and apparently disintegrated in the air or when it slammed into the Atlantic Ocean. There was no sign of alarm or distress signals from the plane that it was in a crisis and it just disappeared from the radar.

Search crew were sent in via Brazilian ships to the presumed location of crash to search for debris of the plane and to find the black box to recreate the scenario of what might have happened that caused the crash. Since it has been days now, it has been assumed that there are no survivors from the crash and there is very little to no hope of finding any. This crash is the world’s worst commercial crash since 2001. Investigators are in pursuit of the black box of the plane to get vital information on the last few minutes before the crash to find out exactly what happened that caused the plane to crash. The black box records the voice of the pilots and records data of the flight.

It has been said that this plane of four years, had been built in a way that just lightning could not have brought it down and that there must have a series of failures that lead to the planes system shutting down, disintegrating in the sky. When the plane falls apart in the sky, there is no way that escape slides can be out for the survivors if any, to slide out. Due to bad weather and cloudy conditions, US satellites are not able to gather information about the debris that might be floating on the waters where the crash occurred and the search/Navy ships have 2,300 square miles to cover, to collect any wreckage they can spot.

Time is of the essence in this case, since the flotsam will be washed away from the scene or sink, and the black box that emits signal of its presence will die after a 30-day period after which it might be difficult to find or use. Have you ever misplaced your cell phone leaving it on silent or vibrate mode? I have done it many times (I never learn, do I?) and the search for the phone then becomes a pain. You can call your cell many times but you would never know where it is unless your ears are tuned to the vibration of the phone or your eyes can see the light from the flashing phone hiding beneath the car seat cushion. If you do not find the phone on time, the battery dies out on you and you are left purely with luck to find the phone. I hope this will not be the case with the crew trying to find the black box of Flight 447 to solve the mystery of its crash.