Investigators tries to determine possible cause of crash

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Play VideoAir France crash confirmed

Investigators on both sides of the Atlantic Ocean are trying to determine what brought Air France Flight 447 down.

Potential causes include violently shifting winds and hail from towering thunderheads lightning or some combination of other factors.

The crew made no distress call before the crash. But the plane's system sent an automatic message just before it disappeared, reporting lost cabin pressure and electrical failure.

The jet was cruising normally, at 840 kilometers per hour, at an altitude of around 10 thousand meters just before it disappeared. But just north of the equator, a line of towering thunderstorms loomed.

A Brazilian Air Force plane takes part in search operations of the missing Air France jet, at an airport of Fernando de Noronha, northeast of Brazil, Tuesday, June 2, 2009.(AP Photo/Eraldo Peres)

Bands of extremely turbulent weather stretched across the Atlantic toward Africa.

A French official said even a fierce tropical storm would probably not have brought the plane down. But, without the "Black boxes", the causes of the disaster remain unclear.