FACTBOX: Facts and speculation surrounding Air France crash

(Reuters) - An Air France flight carrying 228 passengers and crew crashed into the Atlantic Ocean on Monday en route from Rio de Janeiro to Paris.

Below are facts about the doomed flight and some of the speculation about what might have caused the disaster.

FLIGHT AF 447

May 31

2203 GMT - Air France says the plane, an Airbus A330-200, takes off from Rio airport with 216 passengers and 12 crew.

June 1

0148 GMT - The aircraft leaves Brazilian air force radar, flying normally at 35,000 feet at a speed of 453 knots.

0200 GMT - Air France says the plane crossed into a "stormy zone with heavy turbulence."

0214 GMT - The plane sends automatic messages indicating an electrical fault, Air France says. Prime Minister Francois Fillon says messages were sent regularly over a three minute period showing all "systems were out of order." Brazilian authorities are reported as saying messages also indicated a loss of pressure in the aircraft. No mayday or distress signal received.

0220 GMT - Air traffic controllers expect update from plane. Nothing happens. Soon after, it fails to enter Senegal airspace.

0910 GMT - Plane due to land in Paris, but never arrives. Half an hour later, Air France announces the plane is missing.

POSSIBLE SCENARIOS

Whatever happened to the plane, it was brutal and catastrophic. Here are some of the possible issues.

STORM - Air France says a combination of circumstances could have led to the crash, notably citing lightning and turbulence. The plane flew into a notoriously stormy area that shifts around the Equator, known as the Intertropical Convergence Zone.

Weather experts contacted by Reuters and quoted on the Internet confirm there were storms in the area and that the plane flew through as many as three thunderstorm clusters.

Pilots fly around bad storms when possible, but although the conditions were rough, a source told Reuters two Lufthansa jets passed through the same area just before and after the Air France plane, suggesting that no one thought the weather to be exceptionally bad or dangerous.