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TechnoratiRio-Paris flight lost speed data during three-minute plunge into Atlantic
Pilots lost vital speed data as the Air France 447 Rio-Paris flight began a three-minute plunge into the Atlantic Ocean, according to information released by investigators Friday. Brazilian victims’ families dismissed the report’s findings as “nothing really new”.
En route from Rio de Janeiro to Paris on 1 June 2009, the Airbus A330 plane ran into heavy turbulence and, apparently, icing on probes measuring speed before it went down, killing 228 people.
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The pilots of Air France flight 447 saw different and invalid speeds on their instruments before the Airbus A330-203 crashed into the Atlantic, according to investigators at France's BEA aviation safety agency.
“We have no valid indications,’ one of the pilots said, the black box reveals.
Detailing information collected from two flight recorders, or black boxes, recovered from the plane's sea-bed wreckage early this month, the agency found there was an inconsistency between the speeds displayed on the left side, and the integrated standby instrument system.
The situation lasted for less than one minute.
The aircraft climbed to 38,000 feet and stalled; the descent lasted three and a half minutes.
The two co-pilots were in control at the time because the captain, who had left the cockpit to take a rest, returned but did not take over the controls.
Friday’s findings were released to correct what the agency called “"the partial and more or less contradictory information published in the media”, and are meant to “establish the circumstances of the accident but not the causes".
A full report is expected by the end of July.
“We still don’t know if the airplane had a fault, we will have to wait for the BEA report at the end of July,” Nelson Faria Marinho of the Brazilian families’ group said after the report was released.
Both Airbus and Air France are being probed for manslaughter in the case.
Comments (1)
Rio-Paris flight lost speed data during three-minute plunge into
One terrifying aspect of Air France Flight 447 that received little attention, but which is in my opinion of utmost importance is this: "THE CAPTAIN OF THE AIRCRAFT WAS ON A LEGITIMATE "BREAK," AND OUT OF THE COCKPIT, DURING THE TIME THE AIRCRAFT WENT THROUGH A VIOLENT THUNDERSTORM AND PLUNGED INTO THE OCEAN!" The tape recorder reveals that he rushed back to the cockpit where the confused co-pilot didn't know what he was doing, and the pilot
could not figure out "FAST ENOUGH" what to do to stabilize the aircraft!
And here is where I believe the bad rules of "break taking" at Air France caused the loss of 228 people, and where Air France is responsible for: "The pilots knew from the aircraft's weather information center and from air traffic controllers that there was a violent thunderstorm ahead of them. They decided to punch through the storm, even though other airline companies have policies to divert the aircraft from the regular flight path, and go around such storms - for safety reasons. The fact that the captain of the Air France light 447 took a break, and LEFT THE CABIN WHILE THE AIRCRAFT WAS ABOUT TO GO THROUGH THAT THUNDERSTORM, IS TOTALLY UNCONSCIONABLE AND TOTALLY IRRESPONSIBLE -in my opinion!" He should have stayed put, and have taken his break 10 or 15 minutes later - after the aircraft had passed safely through the storm!
I do not dispute the fact, or the legitimacy of the rule, that pilots need to take a break after after a specific time of flying. But the break rules must be changed at Air France, and new rules must MANDATE that both pilots must be in control while a flight is expected to go through a violent thunderstorm or any other weather turbulence at their flight path! If the captain had delayed his break until the aircraft had passed through that violent thunderstorm, 228 lives might have been saved! Simply put it: "Break times should not be written on stone - especially when one is 5 miles up in the sky, and going through violent weather conditions!" Nikos Retsos, retired professor
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