Air France jet plummeted into sea in three and a half minutes, crash report finds
Saturday, 31 May, 2011
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A dramatic account of how an Air France jet stalled and plunged to the sea in just three and a half minutes has been released.
French aviation safety group BEA published the report detailing the last movements of the pilot and co-pilots on flight AF447 from Rio de Janeiro to Paris which crashed in 2009 killing all 228 people on board.
The plane’s flight recorders were recovered from the sea only this month.
The account tells how an alert was set off by two engine stall warnings just over two hours into the flight. It reveals how the pilot and co-pilot were struggling with contradictory speed readings just before the plane fell into the Atlantic Ocean.
A statement said: “There was an inconsistency between the speeds displayed on the left side and the integrated standby instrument system (ISIS). This lasted for less than one minute."
The report said the plane had been experiencing heavy turbulence and icing that could have affected the airspeed data.
BEA released the information today to counteract media reports that Airbus had logged 32 instances of the same problem on similar aircraft types between 2003 and 2009.
An interim report is expected at the end of July.
The statement from BEA continued: “Only after long and detailed investigative work will the causes of the accident be determined and safety recommendations issued, this being the main mission of the BEA. The latter will be included in the final report."
by Dinah Hatch
Dinah
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