Posted on 10/24/2009 7:46:26 PM PDT by Saije
In a strongly worded internal memo, Air France has warned its pilots to be more vigilant about safety procedures and upbraided those blaming flight equipment for the crash of Flight 447 into the Atlantic in June.
No one knows what caused the accident, which killed all 228 people aboard and was Air France's deadliest crash. Pilots' unions said Saturday the company is trying to distance itself from blame — and shift attention to the possibility of human error — as the investigation drags on.
"Enough Scandals and False Debates about Flight Security!" reads the memo, sent to pilots Tuesday and obtained by The Associated Press on Saturday. It dismisses calls by pilots for new safety procedures following Flight 447's crash. "It suffices simply to apply our doctrine, our procedures," the memo says.
Erick Derivry of the SNPL union said he was "shocked" by the letter and that pilots were being made into "scapegoats."
Air France said in a statement that the memo was meant to be an internal document and insisted that it "has total confidence in its pilots."
The memo details the company's responses to concerns about Flight 447's airspeed sensors, known as Pitots. Air France replaced older models of the sensors amid concerns they could have iced over and sent false speed information to the pilots as the Airbus 330 ran into a thunderstorm far off Brazil's mainland.
Air France revealed in the memo that it has stopped a training program for pilots on how to manage a Pitot malfunction like that.
Planemaker Airbus told the airline that the simulation "does not loyally reproduce the chain of consequences in real situations," the memo says, adding that the exercise misled pilots into thinking such a chain of events was more likely than it is.
(Excerpt) Read more at google.com ...
Who has more to lose?Aibust pure and simple.The airbust company will try and hang this on the pilots who cannot defend against the claims.
Me? I suspect terrorism.
But that's just me, no?
I blame extraordinary weather conditions. This was a terrible storm. Cloud tops over 50,000 feet. The plane just should not have flown through that storm. It was ripped apart mid-air.
I dunno about the weather. Possible but given the reports of simliar errors leading to almost mishaps, I’m leaning towards a “coffin corner” flight regime due to the pitots/cpu malfuction. sad situation for all involved regardless of cause.
*shrug* I know a guy who lost an F-8 under similar conditions over North Carolina.
Strangely enough, it wasn’t terrorism or weather related break-up.
Sounds like they took a page from Zero’s book - blame somebody, anybody but yourself.
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