Air France A320 Crashes Into The Sea

[Gerard]

Just breaking now on CNN that an Air France A320 on a training mission has crashed into the Meditteranean Sea. Reports are that there was a crew of 5 on board.

[Chris102]

Plane with 7 aboard crashes into Mediterranean, official says
Posted: 12:32 PM ET
PARIS, France (CNN) — A plane with seven people aboard crashed into the Mediterranean Sea on Thursday, a French regional government official told CNN.

The Airbus A320 Air New Zealand jet was on a training flight when the crash occurred about 5 p.m. (11 a.m. ET), said the official at the Maritime Prefecture in Toulon, France.

There were no immediate reports of survivors, but rescue efforts involving French navy vessels and a helicopter had been launched. Floating debris had been located, the official said.

The test flight took off from Perpignan in southern France, the official said. A civilian vessel saw the crash take place off the coast near Perpignan.


http://cnnwire.blogs.cnn.com/

[Matt Molnar]

A few minutes ago a French official said there was no hope of finding survivors. RIP. :(

XL Germany was leasing the aircraft from NZ but was due to return it this week...it seems this was some sort of inspection flight for NZ to verify the plane was in good condition upon its return. An NZ captain, three NZ engineers, a New Zealand CAA inspector and two XL pilots were on board.

Today is the 29th anniversary of Air NZ's crash into Mount Erebus which killed 257 people.

[mirrodie]

Wow, didnt hear about this at all. Any more updates?

[Alessio]

Air NZ was about to receive this aircraft after maintenance from XL Airways Germany, the aircrew of 7 lost their lives in the crash.