Breakthrough in Air France Investigation

There may finally be a break in the investigation of last year's fatal crash of Air France Flight 447: Investigators have turned up new clues in an analysis of data taken after the crash, and may be able to determine the location of the plane's missing black boxes. Recovering black boxes, which release homing signals for 30 days after a crash, would be a major step in determining the causes of the accident that left 228 people dead. The new data has helped narrow the search area and a spokesman for the defense ministry said, "It is possible this will help us find important pieces of wreckage." Investigators still face major obstacles in locating the boxes, however, and the spokesman continued, "We are still far from certain. The search zone still equates to an area the size of Paris and we have to find an object the size of a shoebox in seabed terrain which looks like the Andes."