Air France crash blamed on technical failure and human error
A combination of technical failure and human error has been blamed for the deaths of 228 people in an Air France crash in 2009.
Flight 447 was travelling from Rio de Janeiro to Paris when it was plunged into the Atlantic in less than four minutes in a storm.
In a report released today, French aviation officials blamed the disaster on the ergonomics of the Airbus A330 and mistakes by the pilots.
The series of problems which led to the crash began when speed sensors failed during turbulence.
When the aircraft stalled, the co-pilots, who were in control of the aircraft during the Captain’s rest break, failed to take the correct action and pointed the nose of the aircraft up instead of down.
Chief investigator Alain Bouillard said the co-pilots had not understood that the plane was in a stall because of false data from sensors about the aircraft’s position.
Under those conditions, only a well-experienced pilot with a clear understanding of the situation could have stabilised the plane, he said.
"In this case, the crew was in a state of near-total loss of control," explained Bouillard.
According to the report, when the Captain returned to the flight deck he was unable to rectify the situation.
The report makes 25 new safety recommendations alongside 25 called for in a preliminary report last year.
In a statement, Air France said the report describes a crew who "acted in line with the information provided by the cockpit instruments and systems, and the aircraft behaviour as it was perceptible in the cockpit: instrument indications, triggering and stoppage of the alarms, aerodynamic noise, aircraft vibrations, etc".
It said the reading of the various data did not enable them to apply the appropriate action.
"In this deteriorated aircraft cockpit environment, the crew, with the skills of one flight captain and two first officers, were committed to carrying out their task of piloting the aircraft to the very end. Air France wishes to pay tribute to their courage and determination in these extreme conditions."
The airline said it is currently improving flight safety procedures and had anticipated the implementation of the majority of the report’s recommendations, such as changes to the crew training programmes.
Both Airbus and Air France are under investigation by French magistrates for alleged manslaughter and a separate judicial report is due to be released next week.
by Bev Fearis
Bev
Editor in chief Bev Fearis has been a travel journalist for 25 years. She started her career at Travel Weekly, where she became deputy news editor, before joining Business Traveller as deputy editor and launching the magazine’s website. She has also written travel features, news and expert comment for the Guardian, Observer, Times, Telegraph, Boundless and other consumer titles and was named one of the top 50 UK travel journalists by the Press Gazette.
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