French investigators are inquiring into why it took six hours between when Air France Flight 447 disappeared and an emergency was declared.

An interim report released Thursday gives a play by play of the contact between the control towers in South America and Africa as they slowly began to realize that the plane is lost. The details show that control operators on the ground were discussing the flight's whereabouts for hours after the plane had crashed.

About eight hours after the plane crash, the first ship is sent but finds no debris. Finally, authorities determine that crash is closest to Brazil and that Brazil should handle the search.

The report is based on transcripts from the control towers, and the plethora of acronyms makes it hard to read. Still, it's fascinating once you get used to all the capital letters. I've copied out of the report from two sections and arranged it so that it's in chronological order below.