Pilot error emerges as the most likely cause of Air France crash
By John Lichfield in Paris[snip]
Wednesday, 18 May 2011Pilot error is emerging as the most likely cause of the crash of the Air France Rio-Paris airbus which plunged into the South Atlantic in June 2009, killing all 228 people on board.
Preliminary investigation of black-box flight recorders, found three miles down in the ocean last month, suggest there was no major technical failure in the Airbus A330.
Separately, The Independent has learned that investigators believe the senior pilot may have been absent from the cockpit when the aircraft dived into the ocean four hours into its flight. His absence was not, in itself, unusual. There were two less-experienced pilots aboard.
EXCERPT: read entire article at above link
EDIT: the author of the above piece is apparently a rather well respected political journalist. Its the "if Walter Cronkheit is saying it, then it must be true." credibility stamp of approval.
Vol Rio-Paris: la thèse d'une erreur humaine fait bondir les pilotes (Pilots Outrage At Human Error Theory)
It is too early to mention the theory of a pilot error in the RIO-Paris Airbus crash on 1st June 2009, the SNPL has strongly reacted, refusing that the pilots who died in that catastrophe could be thrown to the lions.The pilot’s ire has been triggered by two articles on the Fig’s internet site. In the unions crosshairs , there is the information that the first analysed sections of the recorders seem to exonerate Airbus.
To support for this information, the article relied on a telex Airbus sent their clients, reassuring them that at this stage of the first analyses of the DFDR, Airbus has no immediate recommendation to the airplane operators.
Hasty conclusion
Thus was relaunched the speculative track of « a crew error » as the Fig title implied., which was, to the outraged SNPL a rather hasty conclusion, (as) the link between the telex and the conclusion of a possible blame put on the crew is an astonishing shortcut, said Jean-Louis Barber, president of SNPL / Air France ALPA. “The accident results from a chain of events and one cannot isolate one without replacing it in the chain”.The BEA which is in the process of analysing both boxes and has confirmed that the recordings could be extracted has promised a report for this summer.
That timing seems, to the SNPL coherent with the task at hand. There was the same cautious reaction from Airbus, the spokesperson of which declared to have been shocked by the shortcut that points at the pilots as probable culprits.
“We have just informed the operators of our airplanes that they could go on flying the airplane –an Airbus A330- without any new recommendation, and in all safety; It’s the 7th telex Airbus has sent since the accident. They were all validated by the BEA.
Reminder : the pitot heads that were equipping flight 447 are suspected of having frozen, and being if not the main cause, at least one of the factors of the accident. Thus, Airbus which is legally responsible for that element, had soon after the crash advised on the replacement of that sensor model. So it’s quite awkward to let Airbus so quickly off the hook.