The aircraft has been missing for a sufficient time that it will no longer have any fuel remaining if it was airborne. 
Authorities are not yet certain what caused the incident, but are pessimistic as to whether any survivors will be found. 
A wooden cargo pallet and two buoys had been recovered, but are now believed to have been from a ship. 
If no survivors are found, then this would be the worst aviation disaster since the November 2001 American Airlines Flight 587 crash. 
The jet was in a normal cruise at 840 kilometres per hour at about 10,700 metres above sea level when it disappeared, almost four hours after having departed. 
The search is now in its third phase, which started on March 30 – April 1, 2010 and was originally announced to last 30 days. 
They also said that the plane's auto-pilot was not active, although they say that from the error messages it is impossible to determine the reason for it being inactive. 
Previously retrieved debris from the likely vicinity of the airplane's disappearance was yesterday revealed to actually be trash from passing ships. 
A fuel slick also thought to be from the plane, has also been confirmed to have come from another source, most likely a ship. 
Reuters reports that an electrical short circuit during turbulence may have caused the plane to plunge into the Atlantic Ocean. 
Investigators have already given up looking for the cockpit voice recorder and flight data recorder using the conventional method. 
