THE PLANE left Rio’s international airport at 7.30pm local time (11.30pm Irish time). At 10.30pm the plane made its last contact with Brazilian air traffic control, telling Brazilian controllers it was 565km past the Brazilian city of Natal, out over the Atlantic towards air space monitored by air traffic control in the Senegalese capital of Dakar.
At 10.48pm local time, the plane left Brazilian Atlantic radar coverage located on the island of Fernando de Noronha. It was reportedly flying normally at 35,000 feet and at 840km per hour. At 11.20pm, the plane failed to make radio contact as scheduled with controllers on Fernando de Noronha. The controllers informed air traffic control in Dakar about the failure.
At 2.30am local time on Monday morning, Brazil’s air force scrambled a C-130 Hercules and a P-95 Bandeirante maritime patrol aircraft to begin looking for the missing aircraft.
At 8.30am local time, Air France informed controllers on Fernando de Noronha that the missing aircraft had sent a message saying it was experiencing technical problems about 100km from the Tasil position in the mid-Atlantic, a point 1,228km from the city of Natal.
Brazil’s defence minister Nelson Jobim said the country’s rescue efforts were being co-ordinated from Fernando de Noronha and that it was working closely with France which has organised a search and rescue operation out of a French military base in Senegal.
By yesterday evening Brazil had five planes and two helicopters looking for signs of the missing aircraft. It had also sent three naval ships to look for signs of the missing aircraft, though they will not reach the region where the plane went missing until tonight. The US military has also offered its help in the search for the plane, while Spain has also sent an aircraft to join the search.
Brazilian airforce colonel Jorge Amaral said the search operation was being complicated because searchers do not have an exact point for where the plane went missing, leaving authorities searching a huge stretch of ocean. Merchant ships have been asked to look out for signs of the plane.
On board were 126 men, 82 women, seven children and one baby as well as 12 crew. Fifty eight Brazilians were on board the flight, according to Air France. They included Pedro Luis de Orleans e Bragança (26) a descendant of Brazil’s last emperor as well as the cabinet chief of Rio de Janeiro’s mayor.
Stunned family and friends in Rio were being briefed by Air France officials at the airport and a hotel in the city.
A French couple told the Folha de S.Paulonewspaper how they failed to make the flight only to hear later about its disappearance. "It is a miracle, we should have been on the plane," said medical professor Claude Jaffiol. He and his wife had been on holiday in Brasília. A friend, the Dutch consul in Rio, tried to intervene when the couple were not allowed to board. "He did everything to get us on the plane, but without success. It was full." Another two passengers missed the flight when one of them realised at check-in his passport was two months out of date. His US travel companion decided to also miss the flight.
"It was a stupid error which saved my life and that of my friend as well," said João Marcelo Calaça to Rio's O Globonewspaper. "I turned on the TV and felt a shiver when I saw the news." On board the flight were three Italians who had travelled to the south of Brazil to deliver a donation to a region devastated earlier this year by floods. Rino Zandonai, director of the Trentini Nel Mondo association, Giovanni Batista Lenzi, a regional deputy and Luigi Zortea, the mayor of Canal San Bovo in Trento, had visited the town of Gaspar to make a donation of €22,000 to flood victims.
The official release of the names of those on board has been delayed because some passengers did not include a contact number on their boarding card, as requested by Brazilian authorities.
Air France says it will not release names until the families of those on board have been informed.