Tim Vasquez , former U.S. Air Force meteorologist, author, software engineer, and head honcho of the storm chaser hangout Stormtrack Forums has done a complete meteorological analysis of the weather conditions which may have resulted in the loss of Air France Flight 447.
posted by spock on Jun 2, 2009 - 26 comments

Air France flight AF 447 has gone missing over the atlantic. The flight left Rio at 2200 GMT on Sunday, and was due to land at 0910 GMT in Paris, but contact was lost at 0130 GMT, some 186 miles northeast of the Brazilian city of Natal. It had 216 passengers and 12 crew on board, including three pilots. The passengers included one infant, seven children, 82 women and 126 men. [more inside]
posted by ArkhanJG on Jun 1, 2009 - 125 comments

Nine days ago, an Air France flight en route from Paris to Mexico City, and not due to stop in the US, was refused entry into American air space, and had to be temporarily re-routed to Martinique. The reason? A Colombian journalist (exiled in Paris) named Hernando Calvo Ospina was on board. His crime? As a left-wing book author and contributor to Le Monde Diplomatique, Ospina has written critically of US policies, and of the CIA's covert role in Latin America.
posted by ornate insect on Apr 27, 2009 - 25 comments

Air France: Apparently abandoning any pretence that traveling economy in the back of an A330 is an enticing experience, they've launched this site which looks back at the days when women wore fur, men smoked pipes and air travel was glamorous. Quite a few nice little movie vignettes of life chez Air France from the ‘50’s and ‘60’s.
posted by marvin on Apr 24, 2006 - 22 comments