PARIS — Investigators using new computer calculations have narrowed their search for the black boxes of Air France Flight 447, which crashed into the Atlantic Ocean nearly a year ago, officials said Thursday.
Researchers have determined the area to be about the size of Paris, based on new analysis of data retrieved during the initial search efforts, when the flight recorders were still emitting “pinging” signals, said Gen. Christian Baptiste, French Defense Ministry spokesman. That is much smaller than the 770-square-mile zone targeted in a search effort last month.
“Does this mean we will find the black boxes? We are far from certain,” Baptiste told a news conference.
He said investigators still will be searching for recorders the size of a shoebox in a large area of Andes-like undersea terrain. The devices contain recordings of cockpit conversations and various data readings from the aircraft.
Searches will start today in the new zone.
All 228 people aboard were killed when the plane — en route from Brazil to France — crashed June 1 in a remote area of the mid-Atlantic. The voice and data recorders are believed to rest on a mountainous area of seabed, perhaps as much as 13,100 feet deep.
Without the black boxes, investigators have been unable to determine the cause of the crash.
