AF 447

Titlu: AF447: AF doit indemniser une famille
Sursa: http://www.lefigaro.fr/flash-actu/2010/03/12/97001-20100312FILWWW00306-af447-af-doit-indemniser-une-famille.php
Autor: AFP
Data: 12.03.2010

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La justice brésilienne a condamné hier la compagnie d'aviation française, Air France, à payer une indemnité de 1,15 million de dollars à l'une des 228 victimes du vol AF447 qui s'était abîmé en mer en juin 2009 entre Rio et Paris.
La 48e chambre civile de l'Etat de Rio de Janeiro a condamné la compagnie à verser pour préjudice moral 2,04 millions de reales (1,15 millions de dollars) à la famille de la procureur de cet Etat, Marcelle Valpaços Fonseca, décédée dans la tragédie, a annoncé le service de presse du Tribunal, qualifiant sa disparition de "perte irréparable". "Il est important de relever que la perte d'une fille et d'une soeur (...) représente une perte irréparable", a notamment déclaré le juge Mauro Nicolau Junior dans ses attendus, selon le service de presse.

Le 1er juin, un Airbus A330 d'Air France, effectuant le vol AF447 entre Rio de Janeiro et Paris avec 228 personnes à bord, s'était abîmé dans l'océan Atlantique, pour une raison encore inexpliquée selon les enquêteurs français, ne laissant aucun survivant. Parmi les victimes de cette catastrophe, la pire de l'histoire de la compagnie française, on dénombrait 32 nationalités, dont 72 Français, 59 Brésiliens et 26 Allemands.

Plusieurs actions en justice lancées

Depuis la catastrophe, plusieurs familles ont entrepris des actions en justice contre la compagnie française. Les dernière en date ont été engagées en novembre dernier par les parents de huit victimes auprès de deux états américains.

Hier, le Bureau d'enquêtes et d'analyses français (BEA), organisme public français chargé des enquêtes techniques sur les accidents d'avion, a par ailleurs annoncé que le début des recherches sous-marines pour retrouver les boîtes noires du vol AF447 avait été repoussé, un bateau américain ne pouvant rejoindre la zone dans l'immédiat.

L'Airbus A330 avait disparu brutalement à environ 1.150 km au large des côtes de Recife (nord-est du Brésil) dans la nuit du 31 mai au 1er juin et des recherches immédiatement engagées de part et d'autre de l'Atlantique. Le mystère reste entier sur les causes du crash.

Justitia braziliana a condamnat ieri compania de aviatie franceza, Air France la plata unei indemnitati de 1.15 milioane de dolari catre una dintre cele 228 victime ale zborului AF 447 care s'a prabusit in ocean in iunie 2009 intre Rio si Paris.

A 48-a camera civila a statului Rio de Janeiro a comandat compania la varsarea, pentru prejudiciu moral a sumei de 2.04 milioane reali (1.15 milioane dolari) catre familia procurorului acestul stat, Marcelle Valpaços Fonseca, decedata in tragedie, a anuntat serviciul de presa al tribunalului, calificand disparitia sa drept "pierdere ireparabila", dupa cum a declarat judecatorul Mauro Nicolau Junior in decizia sa, conform serviciului de presa.

Pe 1 iunie, un Airbus 330 al Air France, efectuand zborul AF447 intre Rio de Janeiro si Paris cu 228 persoane la bord, s'a prabusit in oceanul Atlantic, dintr'o cauza inca neelucidata dupa anchetatorii francezi, nelasand nici un supravietzuitor. Printre victimele acestei catastrofe, cea mai grava din istoria companiei franceze, se numarau 32 nationalitati, dintre care 72 francezi, 59 brazilieni si 26 germani.

Mai multe actiuni in justitie

Din momentul catastrofei, mai multe familii au intreprins actiuni in justitie contra companiei franceze. .......

Ieri, Biroul de anchete si analize francez (BEA), organism public francez insarcinat cu anchetele tehnice asupra accidentele de avion, a anuntat ca inceputul cautarilor sub-marine pentru gasirea cutiilor negre ale zborului AF447 a fost amanat, o nava americana neputand sa ajunga in zona in curand.

Airbus-ul 330 a disparut brusc la aprox 1 150 km in largul coastelor din apropierea Recife (NE Braziliei) in noaptea dintre 31 mai si 1 iunie si cautari au fost imediat angajate din ambele parti ale oceanului. Misterul ramana inca total asupra cauzelor dramei.

Traducere rapida si fara adaptare.

In ultima parte a articolului se vorbeste de ultima campanie de cautari (a 3-a) lansata de un francez = Pierre-Henri Nargeolet , un foarte cunoscut cautator de epave de nave si de avioane pe fundul marii ; omul care a stat 600 de ore la bordul Titanicului (underwater ). Prima campanie a fost organizata in graba imediat dupa accident, in iunie 2009, dar nu aveau materialul necesar pentru a repera semnalul cutiilor negre. A doua campanie a fost lansata imediat dupa, in august, la fel organizata rapid... Acum, au incercat sa se pregateasca mai bine, au adus si un mare specialist al interventiilor submarine profunde... sa speram ca vor gasi cutiile negre.

Titlu: Air France Black Box Search To Resume On March 25
Sursa: http://news.airwise.com/story/view/1268654320.html
Autor: Reuters
Data: 15.03.2010

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The search for the wreckage and black boxes of an Air France (AIRF.PA) aircraft which crashed into the Atlantic last year killing all 228 people on board will resume on 25 March, newspaper Le Figaro said.

Flight AF447, an Airbus A330, crashed into the sea between Rio de Janeiro and Paris on June 1. An initial search found pieces of wreckage and bodies but the flight recorders, which could provide clues to what happened, have not been found.

Le Figaro said France's air accident investigation agency, the BEA, which is in charge of the probe, would announce on Monday that rescuers would leave Recife in Brazil for the search zone off the coast on March 25, not March 15 as planned.

A person taking part in the investigation said the crew of an American ship had visa problems, which delayed its departure from the United States to Brazil, and difficult weather conditions then slowed its progress, Le Figaro said.

Once in the search area, two ships conducting the search will have a month to find the wreckage, which is probably at a depth of 4,000 metres (13,000 ft), locate the black boxes and then bring them to the surface, the paper said.

An Air France spokesman said he had no information on the Figaro report. The BEA could not immediately be reached for comment.

Air France's insurer AXA said on Friday it would appeal a Brazilian court ruling ordering the airline to pay USD$1.16 million in compensation to the family of a victim, as the decision had been made outside a committee set up to decide on compensation.

Titlu: Air France Crash Victims' Relatives Sue In US
Sursa: http://news.airwise.com/story/view/1269901255.html
Autor: Reuters
Data: 29.03.2010

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Relatives of passengers killed in an Air France crash off Brazil have filed nearly two dozen wrongful death lawsuits in Miami against Airbus, alleging that aircraft maker's A330 crashed because of flaws in the plane and its US-made components.

Airbus called the lawsuits baseless.

"We don't believe that they are well stated or well founded," said Airbus Americas spokesman Clay McConnell. "We will be moving to have them dismissed."

The lawsuits were filed in US district court by the families of passengers aboard Air France Flight 447, which crashed into the Atlantic Ocean on June 1, 2009, some 3-1/2 hours after taking off from Rio de Janeiro.

The Paris-bound plane plunged into the sea 680 miles (1,088 km) off Brazil during a storm, killing all 228 people aboard.

France's aviation investigation agency, the BEA, is leading a probe of the crash but has not determined the cause.

Last week it resumed a search for the plane's data recorders, which are believed to lie at a depth of 13,000 feet (4,000 metres) in the Atlantic off Brazil's northeast coast.

A Miami law firm, Podhurst Orseck, has filed the 23 wrongful death lawsuits in Florida on behalf of passengers' families and expects to file at least 10 more in the next few weeks, firm attorney Steve Marks said.

The identical lawsuits assert that the plane crashed because design and manufacturing defects left the pilots without accurate data to maintain altitude and air speed.

Speculation about the cause of the crash during a storm has focused on the possible icing of the aircraft's speed sensors, which appeared to give inconsistent readings and may have disrupted other systems.

The suits say that the weather radar, ice detector and airspeed indicator provided flawed information while other equipment malfunctioned and engines lacked sufficient power to enable the aircraft to recover from a stall.

Defendants include Airbus and France's Thales and their US subsidiaries. Also named are US companies Honeywell, Motorola, Intel, Rockwell Collins, Hamilton Sundstrand, General Electric, Goodrich, Rosemount Aerospace, Dupont, Judd Wire and Raychem.

Marks, the plaintiffs' attorney in Miami, said US courts have jurisdiction because the companies are either US-based or operate in the United States.

"So many US firms are component parts manufacturers, the US legal system has a unique interest in making sure the skies are safe," Marks said.

The crash was the first in-service fatal accident involving the A330, which first flew in 1992, Airbus spokesman McConnell said, adding that 667 of the aircraft are now in service.

Seven people were killed during a 1994 test flight in Toulouse, France, in a crash blamed on pilot error.

Air France is not named in the lawsuits because separate laws and treaties govern airline liability, Marks said.

The Brazilian government has set up a compensation committee with Air France's insurers and victims' families to determine what the families should be paid.

Earlier this month, Air France's insurance company, Axa, said it would appeal a Brazilian court's ruling for the airline company to pay USD$1.16 million in compensation to one crash victim's family. The insurer said then it did not accept the ruling as a precedent because compensation should be decided by the committee.

Titlu: Air France Crash Search Extended In Mid-Atlantic
Sursa: http://news.airwise.com/story/view/1273014630.html
Autor: Reuters
Data: 04/05/2010

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A deep-sea search for the wreck of an Air France plane that crashed into the Atlantic last year, killing all aboard, has been extended to cover a broader expanse of ocean, investigators said on Tuesday.

Air France flight AF447 between Rio de Janeiro and Paris crashed into a remote corner of the Atlantic during a storm on June 1, killing 228 people.

Although some of the wreckage was subsequently picked up from the sea surface, authorities failed to recover the black box flight recorders and investigators say they need to find them if they are to work out what went wrong with the plane.

Two sophisticated salvage vessels, using miniature submarines, have been scouring a 3,000 square km (1,860 square mile) area to try to locate the flight recorders of the Airbus A330, but without success.

The mission was due to end at the weekend, but the French air accident investigation authority (BEA) said on Tuesday the search would continue until May 25.

"The BEA believes that it is in fact still possible to localise the airplane wreckage in or near the zone that has just been explored," it said in a statement.

Air France and Airbus had agreed to pay EUR€$1.5 million each to finance the extension, the BEA said.

Speculation about the cause of the crash has focused on possible icing of the aircraft's speed sensors, which appeared to give inconsistent readings seconds before the plane crashed.

But investigators need to recover the flight recorders to confirm or deny that theory.

Titlu: Breakthrough In Air France Black Box Search
Sursa: http://news.airwise.com/story/view/1273150773.html
Autor: Reuters
Data: 06/05/2010

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France has found what could be the first concrete clues to the location of black box data recorders missing from last year's Atlantic jet disaster, but warned on Thursday there was no guarantee the breakthrough would lead to their recovery.

The defence ministry said the boost had come through detailed follow-up analysis of sonar readings taken in the first few weeks after an Air France jet crashed into the Atlantic killing 228 people on June 1 last year.

Finding the data recorders is seen as essential to help crash experts and relatives understand exactly what caused flight 447 to crash into a remote part of the Atlantic during an equatorial storm on its journey from Rio de Janeiro to Paris.

"It is probably the signal (of the boxes)," said General Christian Baptiste, deputy spokesman at the Defence Ministry.

The discovery of a possible 'ping' from at least one of the recorders on board the Airbus A330 has allowed experts to narrow the search to a few square kilometres from several thousand ahead of the anniversary of the airline's worst crash.

"Does this mean we have found the black boxes? We are still far from certain," Baptiste said. "The search zone still equates to an area the size of Paris and we have to find an object the size of a shoebox in seabed terrain which looks like the Andes," he told a news conference.

The recording which could contain the signal emitted from the recorder devices, buried until now behind background noise, was made on July 1, exactly one month after the crash.

Black box flight recorders are designed to emit homing signals for around 30 days.

"It is possible this will help us find important pieces of wreckage, and if we have a lot of luck a black box could be found in one of these pieces of wreckage," Baptiste said.

Two sophisticated salvage vessels, using miniature submarines, have been scouring a 3,000 square km area to try to locate the flight recorders of the plane.

Baptiste said the search was now about 400 kilometres northwest of Brazilian islands of Sao Pedro and Sao Paulo.

Air France said the breakthrough was "excellent news".

Recovery will depend on the depth where wreckage could lie, anywhere between 1 km (0.6 miles) and 4 km (2.5 miles) down.

Speculation about the cause of the crash has focused on possible icing of the aircraft's speed sensors, which appeared to give inconsistent readings seconds before the plane vanished.

Titlu: Search locates Air France flight AF447 crash site
Sursa: flightglobal.com
Autor: David Kaminski-Morrow
Data: 04/04/2011

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French investigators are confident that they have located the crash site of the Air France Airbus A330-200 which was lost over the South Atlantic nearly two years ago.

Flight AF447 came down while en route between Rio de Janeiro and Paris Charles de Gaulle on 1 June 2009.

While some floating debris, including the tail fin, was retrieved, the main wreckage from the jet - including the crucial flight recorders - could not be located.

Over the following months three extensive attempts to locate the wreckage were launched, each lasting several weeks, but without success.

But the Bureau d'Enquetes et d'Analyses says that a new search, which began last month, has turned up evidence of identifiable aircraft wreckage.

"We can say the accident site has been found," says a spokeswoman for the BEA, adding that further details will be released today.

"It's fantastic. It has been a big challenge."

AF447 was lost in extremely deep ocean water where the floor terrain is particularly harsh. The latest search effort has concentrated on sweeping a broad area within a circle some 40nm around the A330's last known position.

The BEA has not indicated precisely the location of the wreck relative to this position but states that the exploration team has been able to identify parts from data relayed by autonomous underwater vehicles.

Air France, which has co-funded the search effort with Airbus, confirms that the BEA has located the wreckage.

"This discovery, coming only days after the fourth sea search was launched, is good news indeed since it gives hope that information on the causes of the accident, so far unresolved, will be found," says Air France chief Pierre-Henri Gourgeon.

"I would like to thank not only the French authorities who employed hitherto unheard of means to pursue searches but also the crew of the [search vessel] Alucia and all the teams who are going to take part in, as we all hope, the retrieval of the flight recorders."

No immediate information is available on the next stage of the operation but the BEA previously said that, if a search was successful, a separate recovery phase would be initiated to retrieve the wreckage.

Titlu: Bodies Found In Air France Crash Wreckage
Sursa: http://news.airwise.com/story/view/1301919630.html
Autor: Reuters
Data: 04.04.2011

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Parts of the wreckage of an Air France plane found in the Atlantic at the weekend contain the bodies of some of the passengers who died when the aircraft crashed off Brazil in 2009, the French government said on Monday.

Air France flight 447, an Airbus A330 plane, crashed into the ocean en route from Rio to Paris, killing all 228 passengers and crew on board and a long search has so far failed to find flight recorders that could give clues to the cause of the accident.

The latest search, the fourth since the crash, is being carried out using a salvage vessel equipped with unmanned submarines. An initial underwater search had also found parts of wreckage and bodies.

France's BEA accident investigation authority said on Sunday it had found a large part of the plane's wreckage including the engine and parts of the fuselage, and Environment Minister Nathalie Kosciusko-Morizet said on Monday there were human remains inside.

"We have more than just traces, we have bodies... Identification is possible," she told France Inter radio.

Transport Minister Thierry Mariani said victims' families would be informed of the findings at a meeting at the end of the week and no further details would be made public before then.

"It's true that bodies have been seen, but given the sensitive nature of the subject we prefer to keep certain details for the families," he told France Info radio.

The discovery of the chunks of the Air France wreckage in a vast search radius of some 10,000 square km, has raised hopes that the aircraft's flight recorders, or black boxes, might now be found.

The aircraft vanished after hitting stormy weather over the Atlantic a few hours into the flight. Speculation about what caused the accident has focused on the possible icing up of the aircraft's speed sensors, which seemed to give inconsistent readings before communication was lost.

Si un articol cu primele poze ale epavei :

http://www.flightglobal.com/articles/2011/04/04/355094/pictures-first-images-of-air-france-a330-crash-site.html

Au descoperit si ridicat la suprafata ambele cutii negre.

Titlu: Air France Crash Body Recovered
Sursa: Reuters
Autor: http://news.airwise.com/story/view/1304646261.html
Data: 06.05.2011

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The body of one of the 228 victims of the Air France Rio-Paris flight that crashed into the ocean off Brazil in 2009 was lifted to the surface on Thursday from a depth of 3.9 km (12,800 feet).

The body -- preserved by high pressure and low temperatures as it lay in the submerged wreckage for nearly two years -- was still belted to an airline seat as French investigators brought it aboard their search vessel off Brazil's northeast coast from a robot submarine, a spokesman for the operation said.

It was the first attempt by the French search party, which recently recovered the two "black box" voice and data recorders from the wreckage, to bring up human remains from the seabed. "We'd been trying to bring it up since yesterday. It took a long time," said the spokesman, based at the national police headquarters in Paris.

"It's difficult because the bodies are well preserved on the seabed with the pressure and the temperature, but bringing them up through warmer water causes decomposition."

The search party located the wreckage of the Airbus A330 a month ago after nearly two years of scouring the seabed.

Investigators and relatives of the victims hope the flight recorders will explain what caused the airliner to plunge into the sea when it hit storms following its take-off from Rio de Janeiro in June 2009, killing all 228 passengers and crew.

The French Interior Ministry said in a statement that investigators on board the search vessel had taken DNA samples from the body, which would be sent back to France along with the two black boxes and used to try and identify the victim.

Theories about the cause of the disaster have focused on the possible icing up of the aircraft's speed sensors, which seemed to give inconsistent readings before communication was lost.

Din cate stiu (nu mai stiu unde am citit) , cele doua cutii negre au fost recuperate , dar sunt complet distruse. De fapt , se spunea acolo ca au gasit "parti din cele doua cutii negre"

Prima cutie neagra (cea care inregistreaza parametrii de zbor) trebuie adusa la Bourget pentru analiza BEA (Biroul de anchete si analize). Va ajunge la mijlocul lunii mai si se va sti daca e exploatabila in cateva zile.

Cea de-a 2-a cutie neagra (cea cu inregistrarile din cabina) a fost recuperata intacta si din cate am inteles ar contine inca inregistrari. De vazut cand va ajunge la Paris, probabil tot la mijlocul lui mai.

Sursa info : Le Figaro

@CalinCLJ : daca mai gasesti cumva sursa info despre cutiile negre distruse, nu ezita , e interesant

CalinCLJ a scris:

Din cate stiu (nu mai stiu unde am citit) , cele doua cutii negre au fost recuperate , dar sunt complet distruse. De fapt , se spunea acolo ca au gasit "parti din cele doua cutii negre"

Din fericire nu este asa si ne putem face sperante casa se elucideze cauza acestei catastrofe:

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AF447 flight-data and cockpit-voice recorder data is readable

By David Kaminski-Morrow

French investigators have confirmed that the flight recorders from the crashed Air France Airbus A330-200s contain readable data.

The Bureau d'Enquetes et d'Analyses said it had retrieved "all of the data" from the flight-data recorder and the "whole recording" of the final two hours of flight from the cockpit-voice recorder.

"Following operations to open, extract, clean and dry the memory cards from the flight recorders, BEA safety investigators were able to download the data over the weekend," it says.

"All of this data will now be subjected to detailed in-depth analysis."

BEA says it expects the work to take several weeks but will publish another interim report into the 1 June 2009 accident "during the summer".

The flight-data recorder was retrieved from the wreck of flight AF447 on 1 May while the cockpit-voice recorder was similarly recovered on 3 May.

sursa: flightglobal.com

Iata si confirmarea din partea BEA si anuma ca toate datele au fost extrase:

Citat :

Flight AF 447 on 1st June 2009

A330-203, registered F-GZCP

6 May 2011 briefing


Following operations to open, extract, clean and dry the memory cards from the flight recorders, BEA Safety Investigators were able to download the data over the weekend.


These operations were filmed and recorded in their entirety. This was done in the presence of two German investigators from BFU, an American investigator from NTSB, two British investigators from AAIB and two Brazilian investigators from CENIPA, as well as an officer from the French judicial police and a court expert.



These downloads gathered all of the data from the Flight Data recorder (FDR), as well as the whole recording of the last two hours of the flight from the Cockpit Voice Recorder (CVR).

In the framework of the safety investigation directed by the BEA, all of this data will now be subjected to detailed in-depth analysis.


This work will take several weeks, after which a further interim report will be written and then published during the summer.

Titlu: Initial AF447 evidence does not require operator action
Sursa: flightglobal.com
Autor: David Kaminski-Morrow
Data: 17.05.2011

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Airbus has issued an information telex to operators stating that no immediate action is required as a result of preliminary data from the Air France Airbus A330 accident.

While the telex, issued on 16 May, is not designed to establish a conclusion over the cause of the 1 June 2009 accident to flight AF447, it effectively points away from a catastrophic technical failure on board the aircraft.

Airbus declines to comment on the document. French investigation agency Bureau d'Enquetes et d'Analyses - which would have approved the release of the telex - has cautioned against speculation over the crash, stating that any conclusions not validated by its investigators are "null and void".

But a source familiar with the inquiry states that the advisory telex to operators "does not see a need" for any specific action as a result of initial evidence from the inquiry.

Such a telex is normally a reassurance to operators that there is no evidence of an occurrence which would require an urgent maintenance check or revision of operating procedures.

It follows the download of information from the flight-data recorder and cockpit-voice recorder from AF447, retrieved at the beginning of May after an intensive two-year hunt for the A330's wreckage in the South Atlantic.

The telex would not rule out the possibility of pitot tube icing - long suspected to have been an element of the accident sequence - but precautionary directives on this, and the appropriate pilot response to unreliable airspeed information, have already been issued by the European Aviation Safety Agency.

Flight AF447 came down en route from Rio de Janeiro to Paris in the vicinity of storm activity, with the loss of all 228 occupants.

Titlu: Tensions Dog Air France Crash Investigation
Sursa: http://news.airwise.com/story/view/1305813005.html
Autor: Reuters
Data: 19.05.2011

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Tensions Dog Air France Crash Investigation

A row has erupted between Air France and Airbus as pressure grows to explain the 2009 Rio-Paris plane crash using data recovered from black boxes.

The tensions were laid bare inadvertently by a senior official following days of finger-pointing in the media and the disclosure that the A330 aircraft suffered no major faults.

Air France chief Pierre-Henri Gourgeon urged the media to stay calm over the causes of the 2009 Atlantic plane crash, which are expected to become clear in a matter of weeks.

"It is impossible today to draw conclusions about any kind of responsibility," he told a news conference.

"Let's wait until the experts give us a coherent message before heading off in one direction or another and speculating," Gourgeon said, dismissing questions over his future as chief executive of parent Air France-KLM.

But in remarks picked up by a microphone afterwards and relayed to journalists, Gourgeon told a colleague: "The way I answer is a bit rude, but I have to because of Airbus."

Air France officials are said to be upset that Airbus quickly let it be known that an initial reading of black box data uncovered no significant mechanical problems, by telling airlines it did not plan immediate new safety recommendations.

"It is not very fair play," a source familiar with the airline's thinking said, adding it had broken a convention.

The airline seems particularly upset that the industry bulletin appeared in French newspaper Le Figaro, coupled with a story line blaming Air France pilots for the crash.

Europe 1 radio reported on Thursday that the pilots were not to blame, leaving uncertainty over what did cause the Airbus jet to dive into the Atlantic killing 228 people in June 2009.

The reputations of both companies are on the line over one of the world's most shocking and unexplained disasters and both face a criminal probe as well as potential claims from families.

The black box investigation is not only happening under the glare of media attention but also comes weeks before the Paris air show, at which Airbus hopes to announce large plane orders.

COMBINATION OF CAUSES?

Airbus has denied leaking the industry bulletin, which went out to over 100 airlines, but the huge media attention paid to the document has clouded the atmosphere of the investigation.

It says the airline bulletin had been approved by France's BEA crash investigation agency, which is leading the probe.

"Our relationship with Air France is strong," a spokesman for Airbus in Toulouse said.

"They are operating all our products including some 180 aircraft. We share with Air France the costs of the search and we all have an interest in supporting the investigation and understanding what caused the tragic loss of flight 447."

An Air France spokeswoman also denied any disagreements.

Gourgeon, a former head of France's civil aviation authority, said history had shown that air accidents were typically not caused by any individual event.

"An accident is the product of several elements coming together at one time and place," he said. Air France has reviewed all its safety measures, he added.

"If something appears from the investigation which we have not already covered by measures already taken then we will take them to be certain such an event never happens again."

Gourgeon was renewed in his post for four years by the airline group's board on Thursday but the decision must be approved by shareholders in July, raising the prospect that the move may overlap with the BEA's interim safety findings.

Asked whether he felt his position under threat if Air France took part of the blame, Gourgeon said the BEA's job was to establish causes but not to attribute responsibility.

Titlu: Avionul Air France s-a prabusit din cauza unor erori de pilotaj
Sursa: http://www.hotnews.ro/stiri-revista_presei_international-8732323-wsj-avionul-air-france-prabusit-din-cauza-unor-erori-pilotaj.htm
Autor: --
Data: 24.05.2011

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Avionul Airbus A330-200 al companiei Air France, care efectua un zbor intre Rio de Janeiro si Paris in iunie 2009, s-a prabusit din cauza unor erori de pilotaj, potrivit expertilor care au studiat rezultatele preliminare ale analizei cutiei negre, citati de publicatia The Wall Street Journal.

Pilotii Air France au fost "distrasi de functionarea defectuoasa a vitezometrelor si nu au actionat in mod corespunzator in ceea ce priveste celelalte sisteme vitale, neajustand tractiunea motorului aeronavei".

Potrivit surselor citate, inregistrarile de zbor arata faptul ca pilotii au fost petrurbati de alarmele primite de la mai multe sisteme automate de control, care s-au activat in momentul in care aeronava a intrat intr-o zona de turbulente pe ruta Rio-Paris. De asemenea, pilotii s-au confruntat cu un jivraj puternic, care nu a fost prevazut pentru altitudinea de 10.868 de metri la care zbura avionul. Stratul de gheata a impiedicat vitezometrele si alti senzori externi sa functioneze normal.

De asemenea, expertii sustin ca echipajul nu a urmat procedurile standard pentru mentinerea stabilitatii aeronavei.

Potrivit unor surse citate de revista germana Der Speigel, agentia franceza BEA a concluzionat ca pilotul Marc Dubois nu se afla in cabina in momentul in care au aparut primele semnale de urgenta.

Toate cele 228 de persoane aflate la bordul avionului au murit dupa ce aparatul s-a prabusit in ocean, in nord-estul coastelor Braziliei, la 1 iunie 2009. Zborul 447 s-ar fi confruntat cu o furtuna puternica, pe cand se afla la altitudine mare. Cincizeci de cadavre au fost descoperite in prima faza a operatiunii de cautare, impreuna cu mai mult de 600 de bucati din aparatul Air France. Recent, autoritatile au descoperit alte cadavre, dar si bucati din fuselaj, precum si cutiile negre ale aparatului.

Accidentul este considerat cel mai grav dezastru din istoria Air France.

Compania aeriana franceza si producatorul Airbus au platit pana in prezent 40.5 milioane de dolari pe cele patru operatiuni de cautare ale aparatului si victimelor.

Titlu: France To Reveal More On Air France Crash
Sursa: http://news.airwise.com/story/view/1306454528.html
Autor: Reuters
Data: 27.05.2011

Citat :

French crash investigators are preparing to set out in detail what happened just before an Air France airliner flying from Rio de Janeiro to Paris crashed into the Atlantic in 2009, killing all 228 on board.

The latest update from France's BEA air accident authority comes days before the second anniversary of one of the world's most haunting and unexplained plane disasters, which led to a USD$50 million search operation to recover the black boxes.

The BEA said it would publish details of the chain of events leading up to the crash in a note to be published on Friday.

It is the first update since the recorders were hauled up from the seabed in May, but will not try to explain the cause. A more complete interim report will be issued around mid-July.

Investigators are confident of finding out what caused the Airbus A330 airliner to crash on June 1, 2009, now that the aircraft's recordings have been found intact.

But they need more time to analyse data gathered from the black boxes and have dismissed a series of news reports about either pilot or technical problems.

"The technical investigation, which involves comparing a large number of elements, is only just beginning," French Prime Minister Francois Fillon said in a letter to victims' families, released on Thursday.

He backed their protests over media speculation on the cause of the disaster, which he described as incomplete or wrong.

Airbus told airlines last week no new safety recommendations had arisen from preliminary readings of the data recorder.

The bulletin was widely read as tipping the focus of the investigation towards either crew actions or a combination of human factors, including training, and technical problems.

"Clearly if there is no major malfunction, you generally pay close attention to the human factor," a French aviation source said, asking not to be identified.

Preliminary investigations last year suggested that speed sensors supplied by France's Thales gave inconsistent readings, based on automated messages sent from the aircraft.

Investigators have worked on the theory that the sensors, known as pitot probes, became iced at high altitude in a storm.

That could have set off an unpredictable chain of events.

In the worst previous accident linked to such sensors, in 1996, pilots of a Boeing 757 flown by Dominican airline Alas Nacionales were confused by poor speed data and lost control, according to records kept by the Flight Safety Foundation.

The jet struck the sea, killing all 189 people on board.

CREW REST

French unions have dismissed reports of pilot error. The new note could however shed light on reports that the captain of Flight 447 was not in the cockpit when things first went wrong.

The BEA said in a preliminary report last year that the aircraft had three pilots on duty. This was normal for the long overnight flight from Rio de Janeiro to Paris, allowing pilots to rest in rotation and leave two at the controls.

The 37-year-old co-pilot had the correct license allowing him to take over when the captain was resting.

The 32-year-old third pilot, who would have acted as co-pilot when the second pilot temporarily took command, was less experienced on the A330, having received his "type rating" six months before the crash and flown the Rio-Paris route once.

Citing what it described as an early glimpse of the report, France Info radio reported that after the loss of reliable speed readings, the autopilot disengaged and calculators went offline. The resulting confusion went beyond crew training, it said.

The BEA dismissed the possibility of a leak.

"The BEA has not supplied any details of the information note, which is still being finalised," a spokeswoman said.

The Wall Street Journal reported this week that the pilots might have become distracted by a flurry of cockpit warnings.

Spanish lawyer Ricardo Martin-Chico, putting forward a different hypothesis on behalf of an unidentified number of French and Brazilian families, said the plane could have been depressurised after losing its rudder because of flying at excessive speed when the pilots were unable to know how fast it was flying.

The lawyer said the group was suing Air France and Airbus over an alleged design flaw in the plane -- the latest in a series of claims to be lodged, including several in the United States.

Info complementare aici si aici, in asteptarea raportului factual BEA de azi.

Nota info BEA de azi in engleza :

http://www.bea.aero/fr/enquetes/vol.af.447/point.enquete.af447.27mai2011.en.pdf

Pe site e dispo di varianta in franceza, germana si portugheza : http://www.bea.aero/fr/enquetes/vol.af.447/vol.af.447.php

Titlu: Raport: Avionul Air France prabusit in Oceanul Atlantic a cazut 3.000 de metri pe minutSursa: http://www.hotnews.ro/stiri-international-8745773-raport-avionul-air-france-prabusit-oceanul-atlantic-cazut-3-000-metri-minut.htm
Autor: --
Data: 28.05.2011

Citat :

Aparatul Air France care a cazut in 2009 in Oceanul Atlantic s-a prabusit in trei minute si jumatate de la aparitia primelor probleme, informeaza Telegraph, care citeaza date descoperite de anchetatori dupa analizarea primei cutii negre. Toate cele 228 de persoane aflate la bordul avionului Airbus A330-200 au murit in urma tragediei care a avut loc la 1 iunie 2009. Aparatul efectua o cursa Rio de Janeiro - Paris.

Avionul a pierdut din viteza si a zburat intr-un unghi de incidenta mare, in timp ce pilotul aparatului Air France nu era in cabina, el aflandu-se intr-o pauza de odihna. Operatorul aerian francez a adaugat ca decizia pilotului de a se odihni este o procedura standard in timpul zborurilor pe distante lungi.

Imediat dupa ce avionul a inceput sa se prabuseasca, cel mai tanar dintre piloti, Pierre-Cédric Bonin (32 de ani), "s-a luptat sa salveze aparatul", in timp ce secundul David Robert (37 de ani) a incercat sa-l trezeasca pe capitan. Marc Dubois (58 de ani) a revenit in cabina la circa un minut si jumatate de la inceputul problemelor, insa nu a preluat controlul aeronavei, care a fost pilotata de ajutoarele sale.

Bonin a inclinat aparatul in asa fel incat botul aeronavei sa fie mai sus, pozitie pe care aparatul si-a mentinut-o pana la impactul final cu suprafata apei, produs la o viteza de aproape 200 km/h.

Expertii in domeniul aviatiei s-au intrebat de ce pilotul a pozitionat botul avionului in sus si nu in jos, pentru a redobandi controlul si a recastiga viteza. Defectiunea unor senzori pare insa ca a indus in eroare echipajul aparatului.

Bureau d'Enquêtes et d'Analyses (BEA), agentia franceza ce conduce ancheta, a spus ca cei doi copiloti au decis sa intoarca avionul usor spre stanga, pentru a evita o zona de turbulente.

Doua minute mai tarziu, pilotul automat al aeronavei s-a decuplat, instrumentele au inceput sa arate ca viteza s-a redus dramatic, iar sirena care arata ca avionul zboara la un unghi de incidenta mare a sunat.

BEA sustine ca, timp de aproape un minut, pilotii au primit date contradictorii despre viteza avionului, determinandu-i sa inalte botul aeronavei si sa urce aparatul la viteaza maxima cu inca circa o mie de metri. In acel moment, dupa ce a ajuns la altitudinea de 11.500 de metri, avionul a inceput sa se prabuseasca, balansandu-se dintr-o parte in alta.

Cutia neagra a indicat faptul ca avionul Airbus A330-200 s-a prabusit timp de 3.5 minute, cazand circa 3.000 de metri pe minut. Ulterior, senzorii de viteza si-au revenit, iar aparatul a recastigat din viteza, insa nu a mai reusit sa se redreseze.

Compania AirFrance a laudat "cei trei piloti talentati", spunand ca "ei au demonstrat o atitudine complet profesionista si au fost decisi sa-si duca sarcinile la indeplinire pana in ultimul moment".

Un nou raport al BEA este asteptat in luna iulie. Agentia franceza a precizat ca nu a stabilit inca o cauza a tragediei, adaugand insa ca nu a fost vorba de o defectiune a motoarelor.


Cel mai grav dezastru din istoria Air France

Toate cele 228 de persoane aflate la bordul avionului au murit dupa ce aparatul, care efectua un zbor intre Rio si Paris, s-a prabusit in ocean, in nord-estul coastelor Braziliei, la 1 iunie 2009. Zborul 447 s-ar fi confruntat cu o furtuna puternica, pe cand se afla la altitudine mare. Cincizeci de cadavre au fost descoperite in prima faza a operatiunii de cautare, impreuna cu mai mult de 600 de bucati din aparatul Air France. Recent, autoritatile au descoperit alte cadavre, dar si bucati din fuselaj, precum si cutiile negre ale aparatului.

Accidentul este considerat cel mai grav dezastru din istoria Air France.

Compania aeriana franceza si producatorul Airbus au platit pana in prezent 40.5 milioane de dolari pe cele patru operatiuni de cautare ale aparatului si victimelor.

Titlu: Air France Crash Sparks Pilot Mystery
Sursa: http://news.airwise.com/story/view/1306809097.html
Autor: Reuters
Data: 31.05.2011

Citat :

The Air France airliner that crashed into the Atlantic in 2009 was out of control for four minutes, investigators said, in a report raising questions about how crew handled a "stall alarm" blaring out in the cabin.

Information gleaned from black boxes, and recovered almost two years after the disaster killed 228 people, confirmed that speed-readings in the Airbus cockpit had gone haywire, believed to be linked to the icing of speed sensors outside the jet.

As Air France pilots fought for control, the doomed A330 dropped 38,000 feet, rolling left to right, its engines flat out but its wings unable to grab enough air to keep flying.

The plane crashed on June 1, 2009, en route from Rio de Janeiro to Paris. Black boxes stopped recording at 0214 GMT.

France's BEA crash investigation agency said in a detailed chronology of the crash that commands from the controls of the 32-year-old junior pilot on board had pulled the nose up as the aircraft became unstable and generated an audible stall warning.

Aviation industry sources told reporters that this action went against the normal procedures which call for the nose to be lowered in response to an alert that the plane was about to stall.

This type of aerodynamic stall is nothing to do with a stall in the engines, both of which kept working as crew requested.

"A stall is the moment at which a plane stops flying and starts falling," said David Learmount, operations and safety editor at the British aviation publication Flight International.

An aircraft industry safety consultant said the standard guidance in the Airbus pilot manual called in this event for the pilot to lower the nose by pushing the control stick forward.

"The BEA is now going to have to analyze and get to bottom of how crew handled this event," said Paul Hayes, safety director at Ascend Aviation, a UK-based aviation consultancy.

"The big question in my mind is why did the pilot flying (the aircraft) appear to continue to pull the nose up," he said.

French investigators said the emergency began with the autopilot disengaging itself two and a half hours into the flight and the junior pilot, who had been in control at take-off, picked up manually and saying "I have control".

The autopilot appears to have responded to a loss of reliable airspeed information. This was accompanied moments later by the disembodied voice of a recorded "stall" alert.

It is what happened next that is likely to fuel most theories on what preceded the crash, but Air France and its main pilots union insisted faulty speed probes were the root cause.

In a passage likely to attract particular scrutiny, the BEA said the pilot "maintained" the nose-up command despite fresh stall warnings 46 seconds into the four-minute emergency.

"The inputs made by the pilot flying were mainly nose-up," the report added.

The Airbus jet climbed 3,000 feet to 38,000 feet despite the crew having decided earlier against a climb, and then began a dramatic descent, with the youngest pilot handing control to the second most senior pilot a minute before impact.

The captain returned after "several attempts" to call him back to the cockpit but was not at the controls in the final moments, according to information gleaned from black boxes.

By the time the 58-year-old returned, just over a minute into the emergency, the aircraft was in serious trouble: plunging at 10,000 feet a minute with its nose pointing up 15 degrees and at too high an angle to the air to recapture lift.

The BEA did not provide extracts of the transcript for the last minute before the jet hit the water with its nose up.

It promised a fuller interim report which could say more about the causes of the crash in July.

SLIGHT TURBULENCE AHEAD

Relatives of victims had waited long for the report.

"It's very emotional to see the unrolling minute by minute or second by second at some points of what happened," said John Clemes, vice president of the families' support group.

"You automatically think of your family member and how they were living through this. It's the events that caused the deaths of 228 people so it's traumatic and moving."

The BEA report put to rest speculation that the pilots recklessly flew into the centre of an equatorial storm cell.

Pilots had decided calmly to alter course slightly to avoid turbulence shortly before the crisis. But the pilot did tell flight attendants to prepare for a "little bit of turbulence".

"In two minutes we should enter an area where it'll move about more than at the moment; you should watch out," he told cabin staff. "I'll call you back as soon as we're out of it."

Air France said the crew had displayed a "totally professional attitude" and stayed committed to the end.

The crew's response to stall warnings contrasts with advice to pilots contained in an Airbus training seminar in October last year, according to a document obtained by reporters.

In large red capital letters, the slide presentation says that in the event of a stall warning, pilots should "APPLY NOSE DOWN PITCH CONTROL TO REDUCE AOA (ANGLE OF ATTACK)".

Two aviation industry sources said the drill in force at the time of the accident was to apply full thrust and reduce the pitch attitude of the aircraft, which means lowering the nose.

Later guidance calls for pilots to push the nose down and adjust thrust as necessary, they said, asking not to be named.

Despite the apparent anomaly, aviation experts said it was early and most probably far-fetched to blame the miscommands -- so basic one compared it to hitting the accelerator instead of the brake when facing a car collision -- on a conscious error.

"One of the weird things about this is that the aircraft was definitely stalled, because the crew had had a stall warning, but they were not doing anything to recover from the stall," Learmount said. "It was almost as if they didn't know the aircraft was stalled, because they could have recovered."

The report and a more detailed follow-up are eagerly awaited by lawyers representing victims' families, but cannot be used in many courts. A separate French criminal probe is also under way.

Raportul BEA pune in cauza pilotii, mai ales pe cel mai tanar dintre ei care a actionat contrar a ceea ce trebuia sa faca in situatia de cabrare si cu sondele Pitot obturate.

Raportul in engleza :

http://www.bea.aero/fr/enquetes/vol.af.447/note29juillet2011.en.pdf

In franceza :

http://www.bea.aero/fr/enquetes/vol.af.447/note29juillet2011.fr.pdf

Disponibil si in germana si portugheza :

http://www.bea.aero/fr/enquetes/vol.af.447/vol.af.447.php

Titlu: A330/340 change to inhibit autopilot if airspeed unreliable
Sursa: flightglobal.com
Autor: David Kaminski-Morrow
Data: 02.08.2011

Citat :

Europe's safety authority is to order Airbus A330 and A340 operators to upgrade flight-control computer software to prevent autopilot engagement should airspeeds become unreliable.

Autopilot and auto-thrust on the types will automatically disconnect, and the aircraft will revert to alternate law, in cases where significant differences emerge between the airspeed sources.

This condition can arise if, for example, the pitot system becomes contaminated with ice.

Previously the European Aviation Safety Agency warned that, under such circumstances, it was possible for two airspeed sources to show similar - but nevertheless erroneous - data.

This would permit the crew to re-engage the autopilot while the airspeed data was unsound, potentially resulting in the autopilot transmitting unexpected commands to the flight-control system - such as an abrupt pitch-up.

EASA had cautioned pilots, in a December 2010 directive, to resist re-engaging the autopilot until they had carried out a cross-check of speed indications to ensure that the airspeed data was reliable.

Since that directive was issued, new primary flight-control computer software has been developed which, EASA states, will "inhibit autopilot engagement under unreliable airspeed conditions".

In a proposed new directive for the A330 and A340 the authority is intending to instruct operators to upgrade the primary computers with the new software standard.

EASA has opened the planned directive to consultation but has yet to fix an implementation date. The requirements of the previous precautionary directive to pilots will "not be cancelled yet", it added, in order to allow time to finalise software certification and service bulletins.

Titlu: New Air France Mishap Revives Crash Debate - Report
Sursa: http://news.airwise.com/story/view/1315350245.html
Autor: Reuters
Data: 06/09/2011

Citat :

An Air France flight in July suffered similar technical problems to a jet that crashed into the Atlantic two years ago, French media reported on Tuesday, reigniting a debate over the disaster's causes.

Air investigators told France's Le Figaro newspaper the details of the latest incident involving one of the company's Airbus jets might make them think again about what made flight AF447 crash off the coast of Brazil in 2009.

Investigators have so far stopped short of explicitly blaming the pilots for the 2009 disaster, which killed 228 people -- but their reports have highlighted mistakes they said were made on the flight deck.

Pilots' unions and Air France insist the faulty flight equipment was mostly to blame. Both Airbus and Air France are facing criminal probes in France and lawsuits on both sides of the Atlantic.

In its online edition on Tuesday, Le Figaro said it had obtained a report on an incident on an Air France flight from Paris to Caracas in July.

"This incident certainly takes on a particular importance in the light of the Rio-Paris accident," a source close to the investigation was quoted as saying.

"It will help us to understand whether there was a problem with the Airbus or in the training received by flight crew in manual aircraft handling at high altitude," the source said.

Two crew were injured in the July incident which occurred on an Airbus A340, Le Figaro said.

The BEA confirmed it had opened an investigation, but refused to say whether the flight experienced problems similar to the 2009 crash of the Airbus A330.

Le Figaro said the report showed that like AF447, the A340 hit severe turbulence while cruising at 35,000 feet, and accelerated rapidly, causing the autopilot to switch itself off.

The jet then climbed sharply and began to lose speed, as with AF447, but managed to remain in flight thanks to a reduction in the turbulence and the rapid response by the crew, the newspaper said.

Air France was not available to comment.

An airline security source close to Airbus told Le Figaro the July incident was clearly complex, and would revive speculation over the aircraft maker's role in the 2009 crash.

The BEA air accident authority has said the pilots lacked training to handle the freezing of speed sensors and failed to discuss stall alarms as the Airbus jet plummeted 38,000 feet.

Air France disputes this and says instruments went haywire.

Titlu: Zborul Air France Rio - Paris: Dezastrul aviatic din 2009 a fost cauzat de "defectiuni tehnice si eroare umana" - raportul final
Sursa: hotnews.ro
Autor: I.R.
Data: 05/07/2012

Citat :

Defectiunile tehnice si eroarea umana au dus la prabusirea avionului apartinand Air France in oceanul Atlantic in iunie 2009, dezastru aviatic in care si-au pierdut viata 228 de oameni, se arata in raportul final asupra accidentului, potrivit BBC. Autoritatea aviatica franceza, BEA, da astfel vina pe tehnica aeronavei Airbus A330 si pe actiunile nepotrivite ale pilotilor.

Avionul a disparut din raza radarelor deasupra oceanului, in timpul zborului Rio de Janeiro - Paris. A durat aproape doi ani de zile pana au fost recuperate inregistrarile de date. Operatiunile de recuperare s-au incheiat in iunie 2011, insa corpurile a 74 dintre victime din cele 228 nu au fost gasite.

Cutia neagra a fost gasita dupa 23 de luni de cautari de catre submarinele robot.

In aprilie anul trecut, oficialii francezi anuntau ca robotii subacvatici au localizat, pe fundul Oceanului Atlantic, ramasite umane ale victimelor accidentului aviatic, precum si motoarele aparatului, cutia neagra si bucati importante din fuselajul aparatului Airbus A330-200.

BEA a precizat ca dezastrul a inceput in momentul in care senzorii de viteza nu au mai functionat cum trebuie, in timpul unor turbulente.

Capitanul se afla intr-o pauza de odihna iar co-pilotii au facut mai multe greseli, una dintre acestea fiind ca au directionat aeronava in sus, in loc de in jos, in momentul in care a inceput sa piarda viteza. Capitanul s-a intors in pauza, insa nu a reusit sa mai schimbe cursul dezastruos al evenimentelor.

"Echipajul aproape ca pierduse total controlul situatiei", a declarat anchetatorul sef BEA. Acesta nu au inteles ca avionul pierde viteza in timp ce cobora cu 3.352 m pe minut.

Raportul final face 25 de noi recomandari de siguranta, pe langa cele solicitate in raportul preliminar de anul trecut. Acestea includ instruire mai buna pentru piloti si imbunatatirea sistemelor de avarie ale avioanelor.

Anchetatorii au gasit ca vinovata atat compania Airbus, cat si Air France, ceea ce a dus la un conflict intre cele doua pe marginea raspunderii. Ambele sunt anchetate de magistratii francezi sub acuzatia de omucidere.

Un raport juridic va fi publicat saptamana viitoare.

Dupa dezastrul din 2009, Air France a inlocuit senzorii de viteza pe toate aeronavele Airbus.

Accidentul aviatic de pe 1 iunie 2009 este considerat cel mai grav din istoria Air France. Compania aeriana franceza si producatorul Airbus au platit pana in prezent 40.5 milioane de dolari pentru cele patru operatiuni de cautare.