Plane debris found in path Air France jet took

Brazilian military pilots spotted an airplane seat, a life jacket, metallic debris and signs of fuel in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean today as they hunted for a missing Air France passenger jet that carried 228 people. They found no signs of life. The pilots spotted two areas of floating debris about 35 miles apart, about 410 miles beyond the Brazilian island of Fernando de Noronha, roughly along Flight 447’s path from Rio de Janeiro to Paris, says Air Force spokesman Jorge Amaral. “The locations where the objects were found are toward the right of the point where the last signal of the plane was emitted,” Amaral said. “That suggests it might have tried to make a turn, maybe to return to Fernando de Noronha, but that is just a hypothesis.” Amaral says authorities would not be able to confirm that the debris is from the plane until they can retrieve some of it from the ocean for identification. Brazilian military ships are not expected to arrive at the area until Wednesday. The discovery came more than 24 hours after the jet went missing, with all feared dead. Michael and Anne Harris, a couple who had lived in Lafayette, were onboard the plane. Michael Harris was a geologist in Devon Energy’s Rio de Janeiro office. For a profile of Michael and Anne Harris, click here.