What caused Air France crash 2009?
What caused Air France crash 2009?
Air France flight AF447 from Rio de Janeiro to Paris crashed on June 1, 2009, killing everyone on board. French investigators found that the crew had mishandled the situation arising from the loss of speed data from sensors blocked with ice and caused an aerodynamic stall by holding the aircraft’s nose too high.
What caused the Air France crash?
A combination of technical failure involving the plane’s Pitot sensors during the storm and the pilots’ inability to react to the plane stalling led to it plunging into the sea at a speed of 11,000ft (3,352m) per minute, French investigators concluded in 2012.
How did they find Air France 447?
The aircraft’s voice recorder and flight data recorder were recovered from the ocean floor in May 2011 after an extensive search using miniature submersible vehicles. The Bureau of Investigation and Analysis said the data indicated that Flight 447 crashed because the aircraft’s speed sensors gave invalid readings.
What are the major factors that led to Air France flight 447 accident?
The BEA’s final report, released at a news conference on 5 July 2012, concluded that the aircraft suffered temporary inconsistencies between the airspeed measurements—likely resulting from ice crystals obstructing the aircraft’s pitot tubes—which caused the autopilot to disconnect, after which the crew reacted …
What did Air France 447 passengers feel?
What the passengers would certainly have felt, and been alarmed by, were intense buffeting and turbulence. Remember, the flight was passing through the top of a major thunderstorm.
What happens if a plane hits water?
Once an aircraft has landed on water, passengers and staff are then evacuated. There is no single figure which dictates precisely how much time crews have before the aircraft sinks, but the structure of the plane will, in most cases, allow enough time. Most aircraft also have life rafts.
Did Air France 447 passengers suffer?
The article continues: “On the night of 31 May 2009, the pilots of Flight 447 certainly did not serve their passengers well.” The plane was suffering from a loss of lift – or a stall – and its airspeed sensors had malfunctioned.
How fast did Air France 447 hit the water?
11,000 feet per minute
Less than two seconds later, with a forward airspeed of just 107 knots and a descent rate of 11,000 feet per minute, Air France flight 447 slammed belly-first into the Atlantic Ocean. In a fraction of a second, like so many candles, 228 lives flickered and went out.
What really happened aboard Air France 447 Popular Mechanics?
As Popular Mechanics found in our cover story about the crash, published in December 2009, the data implied that the plane had fallen afoul of a technical problem—the icing up of air-speed sensors—which in conjunction with severe weather led to a complex “error chain” that ended in a crash and the loss of 228 lives.
Were there any children on flight 447?
Many were parents, and eight were children. The passengers on the ill-fated Air France Flight 447 were from nations throughout Europe as well as from Africa, South America, Asia, the United States and Canada.
