Thread: Air France Airbus goes down

[quote=Plan B;1099232]

LE BOURGET, France (AFP) - The Air France jetliner that crashed in the Atlantic between Brazil and West Africa with 228 people on board hit the ocean intact and did not break up in mid-air, the French bureau leading the investigation said Thursday.
A month-long probe into the June 1 disaster also found that defective air speed monitors on the Airbus A330 were "a factor but not the cause" of the crash, the worst in Air France's history.
"The plane was not destroyed while in flight," said Alain Bouillard from the BEA accident investigation agency as it released its first report on the loss of Flight 447 from Rio de Janiero to Paris.
"The plane appears to have hit the surface of the water in flying position with a strong vertical acceleration," he said, adding that the Airbus came down in the water belly-first.
"The plane was intact at the time of impact," Bouillard told a news conference at BEA headquarters in Le Bourget outside Paris.
There had been speculation that problems with the Airbus' airspeed sensors, or pitot tubes, may have caused the plane to stall or fly dangerously fast, causing a high-altitude breakup.
But investigators said that they had ruled out a mid-air breakup after carefully examining the 640 pieces of debris that have been recovered from the crash zone hundreds of kilometres off Brazil's coast.
The airliner's fin was discovered still attached to part of its base structure, further strengthening the view that the plane was all in one piece when it hit the water.
No inflated life jackets were found among the debris, said Bouillard, adding that "the passengers were obviously not prepared for an emergency sea landing."

So, were any passengers found with safety vests on? That would be a better indicator of the state of the plane at impact. If on but s/v weren't inflated maybe they listened to pre -flight safety which is quite clear about NOT inflating a vest until OUTSIDE the plane. Or were the s/v just floating around the debris ?

The lead investigator said the air speed sensors were "one of the factors but it's not the only one" that led to the crash as the plane flew through turbulence.
"It's a factor but not the cause.

Not a fact , Pilots, nor ACARS DID NOT report turbulence at any time.

"We are still some distance away from establishing the causes of the accident," he said.
French investigators have focused on the air speed sensors which fed inconsistent readings to the cockpit shortly before it plunged into the Atlantic.
No distress call was received from the pilots, but there was a series of 24 automated messages sent by the plane in the final minutes of the doomed flight, investigators say......

"The airliner's fin .."

"The plane appears to have hit the surface of the water in flying position with a strong vertical acceleration,"

Well, Call the press as that would be rewriting a few of Newton's laws wouldn't it? Im hoping this is a typo

This report has a lot of errors, omissions and supposition.
Like the passengers safety vests weren't inflated. Were any passengers found with vests on? If they weren't inflated maybe they listened to pre -flight safety which is quite clear about NOT inflating a s/vest until OUTSIDE the plane.
Or maybe they weren't utilized at all as the plane fell spinning and no one could be expected to put on a life vest under those conditions.

"one of the factors but it's not the only one" that led to the crash as the plane flew through turbulence.."
Is also not a fact , Pilots, nor ACARS DID NOT report turbulence at any time.

[quote=MustavaMond;1090233][quote=BenDoverMax;1089314]

Originally Posted by Plan B

Evidence Air France broke apart midair - Yahoo!Xtra News



Every single crash is different. How severe the loss of life depends on the angle of impact, speed and fuel aboard .


There have even been survivors from mid air break ups, ( yes that seems like sheer, blind luck I will admit . )

we all hope to be the one's walking (if lucky enough legs/back not broken) out of a plane crash. more than likely, kiss your ass goodbye.

test failures should have surfaced and corrected during extensive test programs. is the industry experiencing in-service failures that should have been dentified during testing?

these are not newly introduced aircraft with over 10 years of flying history (corrections welcome).

is this human error or aircraft fault???