Oreilles d’Or

The French for “golden ears” – a nickname for submariners trained to detect acoustic signals.

The French submarine Emeraude has joined the search off the coast of Brazil for the flight recorders of Air France Flight 447, which crashed June 1. Reporting for the Times of London, Charles Bremner wrote:

On board the Emeraude, crewmen called “golden ears” were straining to pick up in their headsets the acoustic pings aircraft black boxes are supposed to transmit for 30 days under water.

Nothing is better equipped for such faint sounds than an attack submarine with sophisticated sonar gear for detecting vessels deep in the ocean, naval officers said.

Bremmer noted that the French Navy was not optimistic about finding Flight 447’s flight recorders, and quoted a military spokesman, Major Patrick Prazuck:

There are uncertainties about the accident site. The ocean floor is rugged so it’s going to be very difficult and we’re going to need a lot of luck.