1 AUGUST 2011

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Article from BTNews 1 AUGUST 2011

Airbus v Air France over South Atlantic disaster

A row is brewing between Air France and Airbus as to who was to blame for the disaster which overtook AF447 on 1 June 2009. 

French accident investigators have appeared to say that the essential fault was down to crew error.  The Bureau d'Enquetes et d'Analyses (Bureau of Investigation and Analysis) says the pilots failed to recognise that the aircraft, flying at +35,000ft, found itself in a stall condition.  The pilots had not received any training for this state of affairs and did not apply the textbook remedies, which might have averted the tragedy.  The cause of the condition was probably due to the icing up of an on-board icing indicator known as a pitot tube.

Air France said there were multiple probable factors behind the loss of the Airbus with all 228 people on board and that a chain of events had started with technical data problems.  It said investigators had not found any reason to question the crew's technical skills.

What is clear is that the ‘plane plunged for over three minutes, nearly came out of the stall and hit the ocean at 125 mph.  Probably terrified passengers were never given any information nor a distress call made.  A full report is expected to be published in several months’ time. www.bea.aero

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