Air France hails crew, passengers as it closes A330 investigations

Crew “were committed to carrying out their task of piloting the aircraft to the very end”, Air France said as it put to bed investigations into the 2009 AF 477 accident this week.

Receiving the final French Accident Investigation Bureau report on the Airbus A330 that went down over the Atlantic in less than four minutes on 1 June up to three years ago en route from Rio to Paris, Air France revealed staff were “properly trained and qualified” while aircraft system were “functioning in accordance with design and met” proper certification standards.

The airline explained the analysis found that the incident that saw up to 228 passengers and crew perish with the aircraft was a result of “several factors”, with staff unable to “apply the appropriate action” once systems began to malfunction.

“The BEA report describes a crew who acted in line with the information provided by the cockpit instruments and systems, and the aircraft behaviour as it was perceptible in the cockpit: instrument indications, triggering and stoppage of the alarms, aerodynamic noise, aircraft vibrations,” a statement from the airline read.

“In this deteriorated aircraft cockpit environment, the crew, with the skills of one flight captain and two first officers, were committed to carrying out their task of piloting the aircraft to the very end.”

Paying respect to the memory of passengers and crew members who lost their lives in the accident, Air France added that it would focus on improving flight safety procedures and hopes aeronautical and air transport players will adhere to safety recommendations included in the final report.

Recommendations include:
organization of back-up and improvement of communication systems,
instrumentation, alarm systems and operational logic and aircraft protection laws,
crew training and information programmes and resources to be provided by the manufacturers, authorities and airlines, particularly in specific situations with an element of surprise, the stall recovery procedures having been modified since the accident,
analysis and sharing of feedback within the aeronautical industry.

Sourced: etravelblackboardasia