As we put the final touches on this issue, searchers ended their efforts to retrieve bodies and wreckage from Air France Flight 447, an Airbus A330 flying from Rio de Janeiro to Paris, which disappeared over the equatorial Atlantic Ocean in the early morning hours of June 1, 2009. All 228 passengers and crew died in the accident. This May, searchers using deep-sea equipment found the wreckage after three other expeditions failed. They retrieved the all-important cockpit voice and flight data recorders and, amazingly, the information stored in them for almost two years under 288
Game-Changer?
As we put the final touches on this issue, searchers ended their efforts to retrieve bodies and wreckage from Air France Flight 447, an Airbus A330 flying from Rio de Janeiro to Paris, which disappeared over the equatorial Atlantic Ocean in the early morning hours of June 1, 2009. All 228 passengers and crew died in the accident. This May, searchers using deep-sea equipment found the wreckage after three other expeditions failed. They retrieved the all-important cockpit voice and flight data recorders and, amazingly, the information stored in them for almost two years under more than 12,000 feet of water was retrieved.
Key Takeaways:
- The flight recorders for Air France Flight 447, which crashed in 2009 killing all 228 on board, were recovered two years later from over 12,000 feet of water, yielding crucial data.
- Preliminary reports indicate the accident started with a loss of airspeed indications, likely due to iced pitot tubes, leading to the disengagement of automation.
- Despite these conditions, the crew reportedly failed to recognize and recover the aircraft from a high-altitude stall, prompting the author to call this a "game-changing event" for aviation safety across all aircraft types.
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