Flight 447 was 'coming apart' in the air

Ten minutes later a flurry of automated messages began: The autopilot had disengaged, a key computer system had switched to alternative power. Controls needed to keep the plane stable had been damaged. An alarm sounded indicating flight systems had deteriorated.

Three minutes after that, systems needed to monitor air speed, altitude and direction failed, and then the main flight computer and wing spoilers failed as well.

The last message, at 11:14 p.m., reported loss of cabin pressure and complete electrical failure — catastrophic events in a plane that was likely already plunging toward the ocean.

French and Brazilian officials had already announced some details about the messages, but a more complete chronology was published Wednesday by Brazil's O Estado de S. Paulo newspaper, citing an unidentified Air France source.

The burst of messages — sent automatically by the jetliner's computer systems — don't explain what caused the disaster, which destroyed the plane carrying 228 people from Rio de Janeiro to Paris late Sunday night.

The reasons for the crash will more likely be in "black box" data and cockpit recorders, which may lie in wreckage on the rugged ocean floor.

While military planes and ships struggling through heavy winds found more jet debris Wednesday, the lead French investigator said the black boxes might never be found, due to fierce tropical weather and undersea mountains and valleys that drop as much as three miles down.

"This clearly looks like the story of the airplane coming apart," the official said. "We just don't know why it did, but that is what the investigation will show."

The last word from the pilot was a manual signal at 11 p.m. local time saying he was entering an area of "CBs" — black, electrically charged cumulonimbus clouds that come with violent winds and lightning.

Satellite data show towering thunderheads were sending 100 mph updraft winds into the jet's flight path.

Nicolas Petteau, Air France spokesman, referred questions about the messages to the French accident investigation agency, BEA, whose spokesman, Martine Del Bono, said the agency won't comment. Brazil's Defense Minister Nelson Jobim also declined to comment, saying that the accident "investigation is being done by France; Brazil's only responsibility is to find and pick up the pieces."

Just what caused these failures is a mystery, although turbulence, violent winds and lightning in the thunderstorms could have contributed to a combination of problems.

"These are telling us the story of the crash. They are not explaining what happened to cause the crash," said Bill Voss, president and CEO of the Flight Safety Foundation in Alexandria, Va. "This is the documentation of the seconds when control was lost and the aircraft started to break up in air."

One fear — terrorism — was dismissed Wednesday by all three countries involved in the search and recovery effort. France's defense minister and the Pentagon said there were no signs that terrorism was involved, and Jobim said "that possibility hasn't even been considered."