Air France Crash Debris Turning Up In The Atlantic Ocean

London—Each piece of wreckage pulled from the ocean could help solve the mystery of Air France Flight 447.

Gregory Feith, former National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) investigator: “Whether it is metal from the aircraft, or any kind of debris, which could indicate some sort of aircraft failure.“

Monday, a U.S. Navy team will deliver two high-tech listening devices designed to detect the plane’s two black boxes as far down as 20,000 feet. A French nuclear submarine is also being deployed.

Commander Christophe Prazuck, French military spokesman: “She will try to find the acoustic pings emitted by the black box.“

Those ‘acoustic pings’ are only sent for another 23 days. Every hour is critical…each piece of wreckage or personal item providing a clue to investigators.

Authorities say they have recovered hundreds of passenger belongings. They have also found at least 19 bodies, but they are still trying to determine if the speed sensors, vital to the plane’s safety, iced over and malfunctioned. Airbus recommended replacing (those) sensors…and while Air France had started replacing the sensors, Flight 447 had not been upgraded.

The search is focusing on where the plane sent its final automated messages. They detailed a series of catastrophic failures that include troubling data about the plane’s air speed. The messages could also indicate whether the pilot was attempting to turn the plane back toward land.