Air France A330 - Missing over Atantic

I don't think it was an ELT Spike. regardless time has long since past for it to still be airborne given the fuel on board.:nonod:

I really pray they find folks floating in rafts alive soon!

Has that ever happened?
 
I really pray they find folks floating in rafts alive soon!

Has that ever happened?

Not quite the same thing. The Sky Queen was a flying boat. She ditched next to a Coast Guard cutter and the crew on the cutter saw her ditch and were prepared for her. Not quite the same thing as searching the Atlantic for some rafts. However, much time has passed now and we know there were no survivors of the Air France flight. Tragic.
Bermuda Sky Queen rescue

On 14 October 1947, the American-owned Boeing 314 flying boat Bermuda Sky Queen, carrying sixty-nine passengers was flying from Foynes, Ireland to Gander, Newfoundland. Gale force winds had slowed her progress and she was running low on fuel. Too far from Newfoundland and unable to make it back to Ireland, the captain, Charles Martin, twenty-six-year-old ex-Navy pilot, decided to fly toward USCGC Bibb (WPG-31) which was on Ocean Station Charlie in the North Atlantic. The plane’s captain decided to ditch and have his passengers and crew picked up by Bibb. In 30-foot (10 m) seas, the transfer was both difficult and dangerous. Initially the Bibb’s captain, Capt. Paul B. Cronk, tried to pass a line to the plane which taxied to the lee side of the cutter. A collision with the cutter ended this attempt to save the passengers. With worsening weather, a fifteen man rubber raft and a small boat were deployed from the ship. The raft was guided to the escape door of the aircraft. Passengers jumped into the raft which was then pulled to the boat. After rescuing 47 of the passengers, worsening conditions and the approach of darkness forced the rescue’s suspension. By dawn, improved weather allowed the rescue to resume and the remaining passengers and crew were transferred to the Bibb. The rescue made headlines throughout the country and upon their arrival in Boston, Bibb and her crew received a hero’s welcome for having saved all those aboard the ditched Bermuda Sky Queen.

This event spurred ratification of the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) treaty establishing a network of ocean weather stations in 1947. A second conference in 1949 reduced the number of Atlantic stations to ten but provided for three Pacific stations.
 
Has that ever happened?
Finding survivors in life rafts? Sure, boat and plane catastrophes at sea in relatively warm (>68*F 20C) water will typically have survivors for at least several hours if not weeks and months. Remember the movie with Tom Hanks and his buddy Wilson; Cast Away, IIRC? That was a true story.

The Navtex receiver, a small 2.5" paper tape initial alerting unit for the GMDSS system, if left for world wide mode (which only a few companies do due to the serious paper requirements, but companies like Crowley did because we had fleet everywhere) goes off with an EPIRB/ELT/PLB in the ocean on average I'd say 4 times a day. I'd hazard to guess that 2 of those a week are typically small spotter and inter island aircraft & helicopters operating offshore jobs. Most of them will have survivors in rafts for awhile.
 
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The advertising isn't free. FedEx paid to have their name in the movie. It happens all the time in modern movies and the line of business is called "product placement". Advertisers know that viewers time shift, e.g. TiVo, past TV advertising. Product placement in Hollywood films is a way to get back in front of consumers.

If you look at old movies you will notice that they have few if any product placements.

Compare with some modern movies such as the Austin Powers film trio. Those movies go so far as to make a mockery of product placement but the companies still pay for the spots whether they are put in good light or bad. The advertisers have a say in the script.

The same thing happens in video games. You would be surprised to see what goes on behind the scene if, god forbid, someone makes a video game where vehicle brand A can go faster than vehicle brand B. The marketing folks get their underwear in wads and the letters start flying from their lawyers.
 
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FedEx received a lot of free advertising from that movie. It's a win win for the movie producers and the company.

While I agree with that in economic principle and moral imperative, having spent nearly a decade around Hollywood sets providing and operating equipment, I can promise you, that's not how those people think lol. Fair and equitable win win means you left money on the table. Fed Ex gained nothing in reality since the exposure is all reinforcing exposure (nobody was initially exposed to FedEx as a company by the movie) and it is showing a huge loss of customer merchandise, some of it irreplaceable; not exactly a positive image especially when some audience members are left with the impression of it being a true story.

No no, I will guaranty there was a lot of dealing and a large sum of money changed hands, I'm just wondering who was top and who was bottom at the end of the f- fest...:D;)
 
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When it comes to using the Fed-Ex trademark, Fed-Ex was on top and controlled its image. While there was lost merchandise the advertising moral of the story was that Fed-Ex employees don't forget the customer. That was the point of Tom Hanks hand delivering the surviving package.

There was another big product placement by Wilson sporting goods.

Every trademark that shows up in movies is there on purpose and via a product placement contract. Every single one without exception. The movie makers would not risk filming a movie only to have it shut down by a trademark owner over a beer can or cigarette pack or magazine cover or . . . anything no matter how inconsequential it might seem to a layman.
 
Here is an example of the hardball that the entertainment industry plays. A friend helped finance the following movie. It was shut down for using an unlicensed song. A layman might think that using the song was free advertising but that's not how it works. For these amateur film makers it was live and learn. Hollywood execs are beyond live and learn, they have exotic cars to pay for and can't afford mistakes.

http://11th-hour-films.com/

I'm done. I'm guilty of drifting this thread too far from the tragedy that it tries to prevent. Sorry.
 
From one of the biggest airline disasters in history to movie product placement. The award for biggest thread creep has a new winner.
 
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0162222/trivia?tab=tr&item=tr0753056

Contrary to popular belief, FedEx did not pay the filmmakers anything for their presence in the movie. The director has made this clear in a number of interviews. While FedEx was very concerned when they heard about the project, they had no objections to the finished script and offered support during filming, with the company later stating that the movie was very good for FedEx business in general and in overseas markets in particular.


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cast_away

FedEx

FedEx paid nothing for product placement in the film.[2] FedEx CEO Fred Smith did make an appearance as himself for the scene where Chuck is welcomed back, which was filmed on location at FedEx's home facilities in Memphis, Tennessee. Although the idea of a story based on a FedEx plane crashing "gave the company a heart attack at first", the overall story was seen as positive and the company saw an increase in brand awareness in Asia and Europe following the film's release.[3]


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cast_away#cite_note-1

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cast_away#cite_note-2
 
From one of the biggest airline disasters in history to movie product placement. The award for biggest thread creep has a new winner.

HAH! You think it is digression and creep but before this thread ends Hollywood will be mentioned again after the movies start coming out and how the story will alter to fit the sponsor's wants will be the topic then.... It's all related baby.:rofl::D;)
 
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Any bets if the movie version of the drinks and displayed products will be accurate to an AF flight originating in Rio or what they get from highest bidder in a market?
 

What's missing from those stories is the rest of the story. Fed-Ex controlled the script with respect to their brand. Control can happen at least two ways. 1) A writer had a feel for the industry and wrote stuff that Fed-Ex approved or, 2) A clueless writer got schooled by his superiors after Fed-Ex's brand managers complained.

The hokey story about Fed-Ex's CEO saying golly gee willakers, Hollywood did a good job, let's leave them alone, simply doesn't hold water. If that is his perception then fine. He's clueless. The fact is that his brand managers tweaked the story before he saw it.

I wasn't there but I know how these turds get polished.
 
Any bets if the movie version of the drinks and displayed products will be accurate to an AF flight originating in Rio or what they get from highest bidder in a market?

I'll watch and report. We always try to get on AF when going to Europe. Real food, real silverware and half bottles of wine.
 
Trick is, if they are accurate to the AF placements, I don't think they have to pay for the use.
 
Trick is, if they are accurate to the AF placements, I don't think they have to pay for the use.

The movie makers will have to make decision. If they take the angle that the movie is a documentary, i.e. fact, then they have some liberty with respect to fair use. The tradeoff is that they will enjoy lesser protection in copyright law.

One can bet that Air France wants nothing to do with movie. I have a hard time imagining anyone that would want their brand on the airplane with maybe the exception of the black box manufacturer.

My guess is that it will end up being a made for TV piece of garbage. The movie makers will have a blurb at the beginning saying that the movie is "based on" fact to try and give them some credibility. Then they will add some love story plot to nudge the film into the fiction realm and enjoy greater copyright protection. The depicted airline won't resemble any existing airline. There might be some brands associated with the love story. Maybe a booze company or Hallmark e-cards or some crap.

Just my guess.
 
The movie makers will have to make decision. If they take the angle that the movie is a documentary, i.e. fact, then they have some liberty with respect to fair use. The tradeoff is that they will enjoy lesser protection in copyright law.

One can bet that Air France wants nothing to do with movie. I have a hard time imagining anyone that would want their brand on the airplane with maybe the exception of the black box manufacturer.

My guess is that it will end up being a made for TV piece of garbage. The movie makers will have a blurb at the beginning saying that the movie is "based on" fact to try and give them some credibility. Then they will add some love story plot to nudge the film into the fiction realm and enjoy greater copyright protection. The depicted airline won't resemble any existing airline. There might be some brands associated with the love story. Maybe a booze company or Hallmark e-cards or some crap.

Just my guess.

Nothing they can do about that though...:rofl:

You're most likely correct WRT the movie outcome.
 
I'm having trouble imagining the movie. There are no survivors. Who is the hero?

There might be more of a story from the perspective of the airplane hunters that found the wreck.
 
I'm having trouble imagining the movie. There are no survivors. Who is the hero?

There might be more of a story from the perspective of the airplane hunters that found the wreck.

I doubt a movie either except for a documentary showing how all the small deficiencies in design, selection, training combined into this situation where a small single point electronic failure could cascade into a complete loss.
 
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