The South Atlantic Anomaly And The Disappearance Of Flt 447

This one again belongs to the skunk works forum!

So was it a thunderstorm into which the missing French Airbus 330 flew into that resulted in a systems malfunction that caused it to ‘crash’? But…



If the weather did not cause its disappearance, then what did? A modern aircraft like the Airbus 330 has a host of on board back-up systems that ensure that a failure in of any one is adequately backed up by not one but two systems. Surprisingly, in this case all back-up systems failed simultaneously! So could there be another explanation?

I wonder how many are aware of the South Atlantic Anomaly which is known for the malfunctions generated in spacecraft and the mysterious physical phenomena reported by astronauts. It is a region of intense radiation caused by a dip in the Earth's magnetic field over the lower coast of Brazil.

Though the proton belt (the lower of the two bands in the Van Allen radiation belt) is 1200-1300 kilometers high, but there is one spot over the South Atlantic, off the lower coast of Brazil, known as the Atlantic Anomaly. It dips as close as 200 kilometers (about 124 miles) from the Earth's surface.

Is it possible that this anomaly had dipped even further to have affected the Air France jet as it flew into the area?



The South Atlantic Anomaly. Red is most intense

The approx location of the Air France jet when it went off the radar is marked with a red arrow. This is well within the anomalous region. There is also a so called ‘magnetic grid’ on Earth:




The Atlantic Vertex is marked in red

The best-known magnetic Vortices are the Bermuda Triangle, off North America’s Eastern coast, the Dragon’s Triangle, off the coast of Japan, (the Japanese call it the Ma-no Umi or the Devil’s triangle) and the South Atlantic vortice, and each of the twelve geographic areas is known to exhibit instances of magnetic anomalies and other unexplained phenomena.

Could there have been an interaction between the proton belt which may have dipped to within a few kilometers from the earth’s surface and the South Atlantic magnetic vortex to have produced an intense magnetic field anomaly through which the plane disappeared probably into another dimension? Is this the reason why NO debris has been found so far?

Imagining planes flying into other dimensions is bizarre! Stuff of science fiction. But the possibility cannot be completely ruled out!

Cheers!


Pics courtesy: Paranormal Encyclopedia
news.bbc.co.uk...
www.paranormal-encyclopedia.com...

When they reported a bright flash of light My first thought was, maybe the flew into a timeslip... yeah just as crazy but there have been reports of bright flashes of light assocated with the phenomenon.

One of the better papers writen on Timeslips

Really interesting, but isn't it more likely this anomaly just skewed the instruments?

When you say the anomaly is about 200km from the earths surface is that from the ocean floor or the ocean? I know little about this, so is this phenomena in the stratosphere?

I have heard of this South American anomaly, and I have read that even the space station is in danger when it flies over the zone.

But the thing is that the location of the planes dissapearance is wrong in the image you have posted.

Take a look at the image from the BBC website.




BBC

Hope you see the error.

Yes, but probably the anomaly was so large due to the interaction between the magnetic vortex and the proton belt (one of the two lower belts of the Van Allen belt), that it caused a rip in space-time?



Approx 200 km from the surface. It's between the mesosphere and thermosphere. In this case it could have dipped to a few kms above the surface.

Cheers!

Even if there was an extreme electrical failure, as is indicated by the automatic technical responses sent during the last minutes of the flight, why didn´t the Ram Air Turbine, which is designed to automatically deploy when all power is lost and provide power for basic flight instrumentation and minimum hydraulic power, function? You would figure that a RAT deployment would have also been sent as a technical message, since so many other events about the conditions on board the aircraft were sent, but I have not seen anything in the press that indicates this happened.

The only thing that makes sense to me is if all the electrical systems on board failed, which apparently included all the backup systems, as well as the last resort RAT system, then the airliner must have been exposed to an EMP like phenomena as suggested in this thread. Usually, the RAT will auto-deploy when it detects that there is no electrical power available to the aircraft. However, if the entire electrical circutry onboard the aircraft is physically destroyed, there is nothing that can be done, and even if the RAT deployed, the power generated would have been unusable. This may be the prime reason why no distress messages were sent by the pilots. The radios were toasted. Perhaps the computer which sent the technical messages was somehow a bit more shielded against this EMP effect that the other electrical systems were. This could also explain the cabin depressurisation. Without any electricity, you cannot maintain pressurisation, which is why that message was sent out indicating pressure loss. I doubt the aircraft broke up in flight. If it really did crash into the Atlantic, it went in whole.

[edit on 6-6-2009 by fockewulf190]

reply to post by peacejet

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Yes, my bad! The red arrow (if that's what you're meaning) should have been a trifle higher than what is shown! But it is still well within the area.

Cheers!

All this sounds so much like LOST that it isn`t funny anymore.
But yeah, the location is off if we are to believe the reports.

But are we sure that the location of the supposed "crash" given to us is correct? It took ages for the officials to release that the flight is gone. Maybe it really did disappear way more south, right where the anomaly is.

Though RAT provides emergency electricity needed to keep critical systems running, such as hydraulics, flight controls, and key avionics, it comes back to electrical power to run the systems. Now if there is EM interference like what this aircraft may have experienced, then all electronic systems would have gone on the blink, though the RAT may have still been working.

Cheers!

Mike, I was editing my post when you responded. I agree with your theory, somehow the whole electrical system was fried, some systems failing faster than others. Unlike many military planes, there is no shielding that I know of that protects commercial aircraft from EMP type phenomena. Shouldn´t there be data available from some Earth observation satellite showing a fluctuation of Earth´s magnetic field during the time and location of the accident?

Yeah, who knows? Maybe they landed somewhere on an island in the late 1950's making that a mystery to the folks back then. I loved the article, though it was quite long so I bookmarked it to read the rest later.

I've just been reading another post which claims that the wreckage picked up from the sea Isn't part of the missing Air France flight. So placing red arrows on a map saying this is where the plane came down would seem to be a bit premature. If Mikes right and there was increased magnetic activity in that area then the planes compasses could well be off meaning that the jet could of flown off course before running out of fuel and crashing into the sea. Maybe the search for it is being carried out in the wrong place? Is that possible?

reply to post by fockewulf190

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fockewulf, (love the nick, BTW!)

Don't know about the Airbuses....but on the B757/767 the RAT will be deployed with a sensing of N1 loss in BOTH engines. Because, IF a dual-engine flame-out, you need hydraulic pressure for flight controls. Boeing's design has the RAT operating a hydraulic pump....until the crew can either (and) re-start one or both engines, and APU. ANY of those three, and the generator can supply enough power for the electiric HYD pumps. I think Airbus allow, once RAT deploys (remember, it cannot be retracted in flight) Airbus allows the crew to select from HYD to ELEC, depending on their greatest need and configuration. BUT, I'd have to look that up.

Anyway...of course a dual flame-out is top priority....getting at least one re-start. ANY thing like this, of course, means a divert to your ETOPS alternate. Remember, ETOPS require a suitable diversion airport within a specified "time" distance....usually 120 minutes, but some airplanes are certified to as much as 133 minutes (some, on certain routes...180!!! The B777, for instance).

Now...all of the above was really to assuage people's fears, and provide info for normal emergency (now that is certainly an oxymoron!)procedures we all have trained for. AF447 is an entirely different situation, and a real mystery.

reply to post by mikesingh

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Now that we've described the various emergency equipment available to modern airplanes, I'd like to ask you about the SAA.

Particularly, from what I've read on it, it is a phenomenon that merely suggests the VA Belts dip lower than normal, due to some irregularity in the Earth's magnetic field flux lines in that particular region.

However, I seriously and truly doubt they EVER dip as low as 10-15 KM above the surface!!! (35,000 feet is slightly less than 7 miles, for comparison's sake).

AND....about a dozen or so other airplanes flew through the region that night...safely.

I hate to say it....too early to place blame but, I saw a study published by a meteorologist who used satellite WX data, and the track of the airplane, along with its position report times and ETA times that ATC had, combined with the time hacks of the WX images. Perhaps, and this is based on the data this guy put out, in my opinion perhaps the crew simply didn't divert widely enough around the worst spots in that cluster/line of thunderbumpers.

I have faced similar WX conditions....you can assess how densely packed they are (the intense cells) and sometimes it is just more prudent to accept a very wide deviation...usually results in only a few minutes extra time.

Of course, they were in a non-RADAR environment (for ATC purposes). A clearance to deviate off-track can be slow to obtain, especially using HF radio. Of course...there is always Captain's Emergency Authority. Depending on the amount of traffic in the area, if you suspect your deviation will result in a traffic conflict, you change altitude 500 feet. You announce on the Air-to-Air frequency your position and intentions. AND modern airplanes have TCAS, so you can see where everyone else is, within a range of 40 NM.

I think this may also just be a tragic accident....wrong place, wrong instant...in fastly changing and developing weather. Extreme turbulence, if it occurs in dry air, will not show up on the airborne WX RADAR.


EDIT: Here's the linky from another thread, provided by Harlequin


www.weathergraphics.com...

let me know if you need help deciphiring some of the arcane technical stuff...such as the Flight Plan and whatnot...


[edit on 6/6/0909 by weedwhacker]

reply to post by weedwhacker

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I tend to agree with you, here in Florida we have had severe thunderstorms originating in the GUlf or Atlantic every day for about two weeks now. Tropical formations and storms are just a normal occurence for the time of year.

reply to post by mikesingh

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I see you have jumped on the "Air France Mystery" as well! Your hypothesis could be as good as any, who knows at this time. Something did happen that was rather strange, especially with no trace of wreckage being found. Magnetic anomaly, UFO mass abduction, slipstream, terrorism, military cover-up, or tragic accident of normal incidence- the mystery is still out. I can't imagine what the families must be going through not even knowing what exactly happened to the plane, what chaos. I would be interested to see if there was any odd solar activity at the time to coincide with the disappearance, I am thinking that a flare could possibly cause the magnetic anomaly to descend to 30,000 feet.

they have found the bodies from the plane. so the other dimension theory won't work here. but the whole story is quite interesting.

I like this theory... I have come across these magnetic anomolies on threads before and I am very intrigued by them. Unfortunately like someone has said, we have to wait for more information.

The thing I find the weirdest about all this... on top of EVERYTHING else that is weird about this... Is that there is only a 32minute gap in radar coverage. I mean how long is the flight overall?

What are the changes that if the planes going to go down it would go down here, which is also the deepest part of the ocean?

Seems to me like someone was aware of these facts... and possibly the anomaly.... and the rest as they say.......

reply to post by czacza1

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They found two bodies from the plane, along with a piece of luggage.


www.cnn.com...

reply to post by jokei

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ok, let's fullfil our ATS motto here, and annihilate some ignorance.
a magnetic anomaly is de facto below the earth's surface.
it's not in the stratosphere, but can be detected from space.
and it is not to be mixed-up with solar flares which interact with earth's magnetic field.

now the term "anomaly" simply refers to a significant modification of the earth's magnetic field, due for example to local oceanic crust variations, upper mantle structure, and magmatic activity.

but these "anomalies" are very tiny, and if those zones were to affect that much navigation systems and electronics, a lot of airplane and ships were already missing ...