I was not able to find a lot of information on the aircraft communications time line past the first couple of days of the search. Of the information I was able to obtain, this is the short time line I was able to put together.
Following each, the ‘[#]’ links to the reference article where information was obtained.
0200 GMT – pilot sent a manual signal local time saying he was flying through an area of “CBs” — black, electrically charged cumulonimbus clouds that come with violent winds and lightning. [1]
0200 GMT – pilot reports turbulence [2]
0210 GMT – Autopilot had disengaged [1] [2] [3]
0210 GMT – Key computer system had switched to alternative power [1]
0210 GMT – Controls needed to keep the plane stable had been damaged [1]
0210 GMT – Alarm sounded indicating the deterioration of flight systems. [1]
0213 GMT – Failure of systems to monitor air speed [1]
0213 GMT – Failure of systems to monitor altitude [1]
0213 GMT – Failure of systems to monitor [1]
0213 GMT – Control of the main flight computer failed [1] [2]
0213 GMT – Control of spoilers failed [1]
0214 GMT – Loss of cabin pressure [1]
0214 GMT – Complete electrical failure [1]
0214 GMT – Cabin in Vertical Speed [2] [3]
The latest information on the wreckage and remains recovery:
A French nuclear submarine has arrived at the scene of the Air France crash in the ocean off Brazil to start searching for the flight’s data recorders.
The “black boxes”, which emit a locator signal for about 30 days, could be up to 6,100m (20,000ft) deep, on the bed of the Atlantic.
They could provide vital clues as to why the Airbus A330 crashed on 1 June.
Brazilian air and sea searches have now recovered 41 bodies from the plane, which had 228 people on board.
The submarine, and Brazilian naval and air forces, have a large and remote area of ocean to search.
Debris from the plane, which was flying from Rio de Janeiro to Paris, has been found some 1,000km (600 miles) north-east of the Fernando de Noronha islands. The islands are about 320km off the north-eastern coast of Brazil.
‘Very complicated’
French military spokesman Captain Christophe Prazuck said the submarine – the Emeraude – should be able to cover an area of 26 sq km each day. It has advanced sonar equipment on board.
“There are big uncertainties about the accident site, the ocean floor is rugged… so it’s going to be very difficult,” he told French radio.
“It’s going to be very complicated and we’re going to need a lot of luck” to find the plane’s data recorders.
The US is also joining the search, sending two sophisticated listening devices, which will be deployed on two large vessels hired by France. They will be towed in a grid pattern across the search area.
If the aircraft’s two black boxes are located, a mini-submarine called the Nautile will be sent down to retrieve them. The vessel, which has a crew of three and is about 8m long, is the same one which explored the wreck of the Titanic.
FULL ARTICLE: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/8092715.stm
I have been following the news reports pretty closely. A lot of speculation surrounds, what the call the doomed flight, but until they get the ‘black boxes’ this is mostly speculation. However there are some unique bits of data that the aircraft’s monitoring systems sent to AirBus (or maybe Air France, it’s not clear to me where the messages were sent) that the events leading up to the crash occurred over a 10-15 minute time period. Plenty of time for pilots to issue a ‘Mayday’ message if they’d had any indication of an impending problem.