IU alumna on Air France flight that went missing

IU alumna and 2001 Jacobs School of Music graduate Fatma Necipoglu is a presumed victim of the Air France plane that went missing over the Atlantic.

Necipoglu was on her way back from Brazil when the plane went missing, according to several Turkish Web sites. Necipoglu, 37, worked at the Eskisehir Anadolu University Conservatory. Necipoglu graduated from the IU School of Music in 2001 and was a harp player.

Air France Flight 447 left Rio De Janeiro at about 7 p.m. Sunday with 228 people on board. Air traffic controllers lost contact with the jet as it was entering violent thunderstorms and heavy turbulence along the equator.

About 14 minutes later an automatic message was sent reporting the electrical failure and a loss of cabin pressure. Air France said the message was the last it heard from Flight 447. If no survivors are found, it will be the worst air disaster since 2001.

What happened to the plane remains a mystery and French President Nicolas Sarkozy said “no hypothesis” is being excluded. Some experts dismissed speculation that lightning might have brought the plane down. But violent thunderheads — they reached more than 50,000 feet high in the flight’s path – can pound planes with hail and high winds, causing structural damage if pilots can’t maneuver around them.

Sarkozy said he told family members of passengers on Air France Flight 447 that prospects of finding survivors are “very small.”