Pitot probe trial

The trial of flight AF447 from Rio to Paris (228 dead) begins this Monday in criminal court.Airbus and Air France have been charged with manslaughter. The pilot was betrayed by the flight data.

More than 13 years after the crash of an Airbus A330 from Rio de Janeiro to Paris on June 1, 2009 that killed 228 people, Airbus and Air France will go on trial today from October 10 to December 8, 2022. It is They were charged with involuntary manslaughter, and the court decided, among other things, “to take into account the seriousness of the multiple incidents of lost speed indications that occurred on 15 other flights between May and May 2008. They were accused of “misconduct”. 2009”.

“Pilot Conversation”

The discovery of the black box in 2011, two years after the crash, provided a better understanding of the string of human and technical failures that led to the disaster. The problem was the pitot probe. Placed in the front of the aircraft, these tubes can measure velocity. While crossing the thunderstorm, the probe probably froze and provided no useful information to the pilot.
While the plane was approaching the equator, the functioning pilot and co-pilot began toga procedures to follow in the event of a stall.

2 hours 11 minutes 3 seconds GMT.

“Am I in Toga?” asks the pilot on duty.
“I still have the engine. What happens?” the co-pilot replies.

2 hours 11 minutes 32 :
Pilot on duty: “I can’t control the plane anymore. I can’t control the plane at all.”

2:11:43
The captain gets into the cockpit.
Pilot on Duty: “What’s wrong? I don’t know. I don’t know what’s going on.

2:12:04.
Pilot on Duty: “You’re going crazy, aren’t you? What do you think?”

2:12:13.
Copilot: What do you think? What do you think? What should we do?

2:12:15.
Captain “I don’t know, I’m down”

2 hours 12 minutes 27.
Copilot: “You go up… you go down, down, down, down.
Pilot on Duty: “Are you ready to get off now?

2:12:32.
Captain: No, I’m going there!

2:12:33.
Pilot on duty: “Can I go up? Alright, let’s go down.

2:12:44.
Commander: “That’s impossible.”

2:13:25.
Pilot on duty: “What…why are you still descending at full speed?

2:13:39.
Copilot: “Pull, tug, tug, tug.

2:13:40.
Shift captain: “But the nose was fully up from the front.”
Captain: “No, no, don’t pull.”
Co-pilot: “Then please get off.”

2 hours 13 minutes 45 seconds.
Copilot: “Then let me fly. I’ll fly.”

2 hours 14 minutes 05.
Captain: “Watch out, you’re pitching up”.
Copilot (who was in charge of piloting): “Are you pitching up?
Pilot in Charge: “Well, we’re at 4000 feet.”

2:14:18.
Commander: “Now shoot!
Pilot on duty: “Come on, pull, pull, pull.”

2:14:28.
End of recording.

Within four minutes, the A330 will hit the Atlantic Ocean. There were no survivors. Thirteen years later, the families of the victims, as well as the pilots’ union, want justice to establish who was responsible.