Air France Crash Crew Found Vertical Stabilizer

Brazil's air force said Monday — a key find that could help locate the black boxes and determine why the jet crashed.

Eight more bodies also were found, bringing the total recovered to 24 since Air France Flight 447 disappeared with 228 people on board, according to Air Force Col. Henry Munhoz.

The discoveries of debris and the bodies are all helping searchers narrow their hunt for the jet's black boxes, perhaps investigators' best hope of learning what happened to the flight. The data and voice recorders are located in the fuselage near the tail section of the jet.

William Waldock, who teaches air crash investigation at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in Prescott, Arizona, said that does not mean the black boxes will necessarily be located near where the debris was recovered, "but finding the tail narrows down the area even further."

Brazilian military officials have refused to detail the large pieces of the plane they have found. But a video on the Brazilian air force Web site entitled "Vertical Stabilizer Found" shows video of the piece — which keeps the plane's nose from swinging from side to side — being located and tethered to a ship.

The part had Air France's blue-and-red stripes, was still in its original triangular shape and was not visibly burned.

Waldock — who examined the photos and video of the stabilizer and rudder — said the damage he saw looks like a lateral fracture.

"That would reinforce the idea that the plane broke up in flight," he said. "If it hits intact, everything shatters in tiny pieces."

No signs of burn marks on the stabilizer offered scant clues: Any explosion or fire in the fuselage would likely not make its way back to the tail section, according to Waldock. Examining the fracture surfaces will also be key, Waldock said, since it will indicate from what direction the force came that snapped the piece.

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