Air France Flight Declares “Mayday” Over Atlantic Because of Severe Turbulence

Scary news just posted on The Aviation Herald website. Simon reports that an Airbus A330-220 was flying from Rio de Janeiro to Charles de Gaulle in Paris when the crew issued a Mayday alert on the international emergency frequency, indicating the aircraft had encountered severe turbulence over the Atlantic.

According to Simon, “The Mayday call was relayed by the crew of a TAM Airbus A330-200.”

This aircraft appears to be AF Flight 445 GIG-CDG and the route the aircraft was following is very close to that which AF Flight 447 was on when it disappeared.

af445_a332_f-gzck_atlantic_091130_sat.jpg

Thanks much to PBB subscriber Brian Rynott for this head’s up.