Clueless In Paris

Frances equivalent to the NTSB-the Bureau dEnqutes et dAnalyses, or BEA-on July 2 released its interim report on the loss of Air France Flight 447, an Airbus A330 that crashed into the equatorial Atlantic Ocean early on the morning of June 1. To geeks like me who pore over these things, the interim report is extremely valuable in assembling and organizing in one place many-but not all-of the known facts about this tragedy. It is not, however, a final report and does not state a probable cause for the accident. Its initial findings and some of its details, however, are important. Just as important? The interim report highlights how clueless officials are in understanding what went wrong and how it might be prevented in the future.

Key Takeaways:

• The BEA's interim report on Air France Flight 447 compiled known facts but did not state a probable cause, primarily due to the missing flight and cockpit voice recorders, leaving investigators "clueless" about the exact sequence of events.
• ACARS messages revealed 23 warnings and faults, including "inconsistency in speed measurements" (erroneous airspeed), and noted that other aircraft successfully avoided the severe weather Flight 447 apparently entered.
• Wreckage analysis indicated the aircraft was not destroyed in flight but impacted the ocean in a relatively level attitude with a high vertical descent rate, with the BEA focusing on erroneous airspeed as a precipitating event.
• The report drew criticism for including irrelevant details (e.g., search and rescue delays), omitting crucial autopsy data, and containing unexplained ACARS messages, hinting at contentious international cooperation.

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