Source: SeattlePI.com

Other developments, which seem to focus on the bodies and rely on anonymous official sources:

The first 16 bodies analyzed had their clothes torn off, and did not have burn marks. (Buenos Aires Herald)

Most of the bodies had minimal clothing, no signs of burns, multiple fractures and no water in their lungs, according to a newspaper report. (Bloomberg)

A senior Brazilian official says there is little chance of finding all the victims. (Boston Globe/AP)

The following photo shows one of the biggest pieces of the wreckage found of which there is a media photograph:



Read more: http://blog.seattlepi.com/aerospace/archiv...

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Error messages from flight:

http://www.nytimes.com/imagepages/2009/06/...



The messages begin with a routine one, a problem in one of the lavatories. But an hour and 47 minutes later, another message indicates that the autopilot has switched itself off, an event that can be caused by a variety of problems.

Soon after, the plane reports it has lost a computer protection that overrides any commands from the cockpit that would threaten the flight’s stability. The Airbus has a computer that accepts commands to change various settings and transmits them to the rudder, flaps, ailerons and other parts, but only if such commands do not threaten stability. For example, the computer would not let the pilot pitch the nose so high that airflow over the wings would be disrupted and lift would be lost.

But the computer switched to a mode in which the protections either disappeared or could be overridden. Experts said that could happen if turbulence was so severe that the plane was thrown into an unusual attitude, but it might also be caused by the breakdown in the speed-sensing system.

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Another message indicates a problem with the rudder travel limiter, a system that prevents the pilot from turning the rudder too hard when the plane is flying fast.

The functioning of the rudder travel limiter was an issue in a previous Airbus crash, an A300 in New York in November 2001, but in this case the message might simply indicate that the computers, confused about the speed at which the plane was flying, decided to lock the rudder into the narrow range of motion allowed at high speed.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/13/world/13...