The narrative discusses the 10-year anniversary of the Air France Flight 447 crash, a tragedy that occurred on June 1, 2009. The Airbus A330, registered as F-GZCP, departed from Rio de Janeiro for Paris, but crashed into the Atlantic Ocean just three hours and 45 minutes into the flight. The sequence of events leading to the crash was unique and raised questions about the level of automation in aviation and the training available for pilots of automatized aircraft.
The flight crew consisted of three pilots: Captain Marc Dubois, First Officer David Robert, and Co-Pilot Pierre-Cédric Bonin. The plane was almost 11 hours long, and the crew must always consist of three pilots for each to take a break. During takeoff, Dubois activated the autopilot, which is a common practice during airline operations.
The flight encountered turbulence near the intertropical convergence zone (ZCIT), and Bonin expressed concerns about the altitude and the temperature. Dubois, however, showed lack of concern and was not very assertive in managing the cockpit. Bonin, who was to take over the flight operation, was not ready for this position.
The flight entered a rare atmospheric condition known as a cumulonimbus (Cb), which resulted in the accumulation of ice crystals inside the pitot tubes, causing the loss of airspeed indication. The autopilot disengaged, and Bonin took control of the plane. However, he made the unthinkable move of pulling back on the sidestick, causing the plane to climb steeply beyond the maximum altitude for its weight.
The flight director system, despite the loss of all valid data, showed a nose-up command, which might have induced Bonin to keep pulling on the sidestick. The alarms were sounding all over the cockpit, and they didn't shut off those alarms. The A330 began to descend rapidly, with the nose up, and lost lift, causing the plane to crash.
In the aftermath, several improvements were proposed, including increasing the time during which the black boxes emit the signal, sending the data via satellite, modifying and adding high altitude, manual flight training for the pilots, and introducing a surprise effect in simulator training.
1. The Airbus A330 flight from Air France, registered as F-GZCP, left Rio de Janeiro for Paris on May 31st, 2009, and hit the Atlantic Ocean 3 hours and 45 minutes after takeoff .
2. The plane was developed by Airbus in the 90s, incorporating the flight envelope protection system .
3. The flight was almost 11 hours long, and the crew consisted of three pilots, Captain Marc Dubois, First Officer David Robert, and Co-pilot Pierre-Cédric Bonin .
4. Bonin, the co-pilot, had 2936 flying hours, most of which were managing the cockpit, and had flown manually during flight simulator sessions .
5. The flight entered the ETOPS zone at 10:17 pm, and Dubois made a joke about having to learn to swim, indicating a lack of concern about the flight's safety .
6. Bonin was concerned about the altitude and the external temperature, and Dubois showed a lack of concern about Bonin's concerns .
7. At 11:08 pm, Robert suggested a detour on the left to avoid a tropical storm, but Bonin ordered the autopilot to perform a 20° turn to the left .
8. The plane was equipped with AA model pitot tubes, which had been identified as susceptible to blockage by ice crystals under rare atmospheric conditions .
9. When the autopilot disengaged at 11:10 pm, Bonin took control and started pulling the sidestick back and to the left to correct the plane's bank .
10. After Bonin started pulling back on the sidestick, Robert tried to understand the alarms and failures on the instrument panel, but did not turn off the alarms or cancel them .
11. The plane was plummeting, but no one noticed or believed it, as the human body does not feel the acceleration of a constant descent rate .
12. The black boxes were not found at the time of the accident, but were later located by a group of mathematicians and statisticians using Bayesian inference .
13. The report suggested several improvements for aviation, including increasing the time during which black boxes emit a signal, ensuring the flight recorder can be ejected in case of a crash, and adding high altitude, manual flight training for pilots .