Who’s to Blame for Flight 447?

Daily Beast ^ | July 29, 2011 | Clive Irving

[lbryce]

The pilots did it. Put bluntly, that seems to be what the latest report by French air crash investigators on the loss of Air France flight 447 two years ago is saying. More precisely, the pilots had not been trained to deal with the sudden emergency they faced and lost control.

What the investigating body, France’s Bureau of Investigation and Analysis (BEA), are not saying, at least not overtly, is that the crash should never have happened–and, but for a technical failure, would not have.

Air crash investigation reports always deliver a torrent of technical jargon that has been through many drafts. The goal is to be sensitive toward those who can end up getting blamed, but then the language becomes impersonal. So let’s not forget the victims. And what they went through.

This is the stark reality of the end of Flight 447:

Eleven minutes after 2 a.m. on June 1, 2009, the 216 passengers bound for Paris from Rio de Janeiro were plunging toward the Atlantic Ocean at a rate of 10,000 feet a minute. But for the restraint of seat belts, they would have been tossed around the cabin like loose luggage.

They would have been fully aware of their plight. The airplane, an Airbus A330, had lost its ability to fly. During the fall its nose reared up far more steeply than in a takeoff, and it stayed there. It was in an aerodynamic stall. As it fell, the Airbus turned right, away from its heading to Europe and, three minutes after the descent began, it was heading back toward Brazil. With its nose still pointed sharply up, its wings dipped slightly left and at a forward speed of just over 120mph, the airplane hit the Atlantic.

[RoadTest]

One could see this accident as a picture of the greater accident that the New World Order is causing across the whole globe. Like the pilots of Flight 447, they are operating under the illusion that they know what they’re doing; whereas in fact, they don’t.

[SkyDancer]

"Saying AF447 pilots didn't know how to handle emergencies is pure baloney. "

Well apparently they didn't. That's why they crashed. The CVR recorded nothing but confusion on the flight deck. If your plane is going down and the nose is pointed up and you're under full power, what is that called? That plane hit the water slightly tail down, almost flat.

[CodeToad]

I blame the pilots. The airplane was flyable, there were plenty of instruments to tell them they were stalled, and they took every wrong action.

[CodeToad]

“Saying AF447 pilots didn’t know how to handle emergencies is pure baloney.”

They crashed a flyable airplane. Sorry, but your statement doesn’t match reality.

[hamboy]

It’s not the pilots I worry about it’s the plane. I’ll fly Boeing, thank you.

You didn't ever look at the airline disaster statistics though?  Click http://www.airdisaster.com/statistics/ or http://www.airfleets.net/crash/stat_plane.htm which aircraft the most event?  Boeing 737 has the most accident at 138 with 4,274 fatalities versus 6,819 built todate.  The highest accident Airbus is A300 (250 to 300 seating capacity) have 27 with 1,423 casualties versus 561 built.  Boeing 747 accidents is 43 with 3,698 fatalities versus 1,418 built.

Now you can draw your conclusion which manufacturer makes the better airplane... :-)

[tsowellfan]

You didn't ever look at the airline disaster statistics though?

Yeah, and more people died in the 100 year old apartment building where my uncle lives than in the building next door that was just built last month.

[hamboy]

. . .plane is going down and the nose is pointed up and you're under full power, what is that called? That plane hit the water slightly tail down, almost flat.

Did you read other related article in the net?

http://www.ibtimes.com/articles/153621/20110528/air-france-flight-447-black-box-data-jet-trajectory-report.htm

http://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2011/05/air-france-447-what-the-black-box-tells-us/239598/

[SkyDancer]

No, what I was referring to was the flight deck crew not realizing they were in a stall. I know what a stall is, was just making a statement about the crew knowledge is all.

Regards,

[hamboy]

You're still blaming the dead pilots.  Airbus 330 is fly-by-wire.  Pilots rely on the computer.  The article [click here] says "autopilot disengaged after speed readings became unreliable, forcing the two co-pilots in the cockpit to take over, just as the jet traversed a storm, bla-bla-blah."

[SkyDancer]

Nope - I’m just reiterating what’s been going around. I’m waiting for the official determination report.

[hamboy]

You said, "It’s not the pilots I worry about it’s the plane. I’ll fly Boeing," right?

Lookie here...  Here's another Boeing 737 while we're threading here!

http://ca.news.yahoo.com/photos/caribbean-airlines-jet-crash-1312055791-slideshow/caribbean-airlines-jet-seen-broken-cheddi-jagan-international-photo-192025857.html

[tsowellfan]

Lookie here... Here's another Boeing 737 while we're threading here!

Yes, and every passenger walked away. Amazing!

[hamboy]

I’m waiting for the official determination report.

I guess they'll probably put blame the onboard computer... 

Read this article [click here]...

[SkyDancer]

I receive the NTSB Reporter and they have pretty good reporting. Airbus seems too reliant on computers. True, sophisticated aircraft these days need them. One thing a computer can’t do is make a sandwich. One thing it can do is follow instructions. It received inputs and told the crew what it saw.

[hamboy]

Since pilots becoming more reliant on onboard computers, I wonder if onboard computer event logs also being recorded in the blackbox... Event log file(s) will show everything the onboard computer executed...