Travel News - A330-200 Flight 447 PM Review

Just finished reading Popular Mechanics March 2012 article on the demise of AF447. I recommend it as must reading for all who fly SkyTeam. Good insight into the machines into which we put our selves, and the all too human, all too fallible, folks into whose hands we place our lives.

We fly knowing the risk is less than with any other form of transportation, still, we accept there is some risk.

Such is life - some risk in venturing forth, much reward for doing so.

Let us fly on.

And let us remember our fellow travelers who were on AF447

I read the full transcript in French (I'm a native French speaker) and the part of the story that seems completely unbelievable to me is why the co-pilot would knowingly climb into a stall. The fact that the computer warning for stall activated 75 times clearly means they knew they were in a danger zone (even if their airspeed indicators were wrong).

That's just stunning.

The first thing any grandmother who takes flying lessons in Florida is that, if you are about to enter into a stall, you descend.

That's not possible in every situation, of course. If you have a severe engine malfunction right at take-off, you have to be careful not to descend and crash.

But this plane was at cruising altitude. Descending should not have been a problem, not at least as far as airspace is concerned.

Even though the co-pilot was inexperienced, I simply cannot believe that he made this mistake without thinking he had a good reason to do it, some other explanation that we will probably never know.

Climbing knowingly into a stall is a little like saying the bus driver was having trouble with the engine so he swerved the bus straight into a brick wall.

Please continue to follow this thread in the FT Travel News Forum.
Thanks...
Obscure2k
Delta Moderator

Please accept my apologies for not fully understanding how this works.

I accept humbly that you can remove my post/thread - can you include a link to where it will be continued?

Kind regards....

I read the full transcript in French (I'm a native French speaker) and the part of the story that seems completely unbelievable to me is why the co-pilot would knowingly climb into a stall. The fact that the computer warning for stall activated 75 times clearly means they knew they were in a danger zone (even if their airspeed indicators were wrong).

That's just stunning.

The first thing any grandmother who takes flying lessons in Florida is that, if you are about to enter into a stall, you descend.

That's not possible in every situation, of course. If you have a severe engine malfunction right at take-off, you have to be careful not to descend and crash.

But this plane was at cruising altitude. Descending should not have been a problem, not at least as far as airspace is concerned.

Even though the co-pilot was inexperienced, I simply cannot believe that he made this mistake without thinking he had a good reason to do it, some other explanation that we will probably never know.

Climbing knowingly into a stall is a little like saying the bus driver was having trouble with the engine so he swerved the bus straight into a brick wall.

I join you in dismay and wonder... why pull the stick back when all indicators signal descend and gain speed. We are all too human and we all too often fail...

Now that this thread is in Travel News, I will invite the OP to send me a link to the story (which is part of the expectation of this forum per both its description and http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/travel-news/1210208-please-read-before-posting-how-post-travel-news-articles.html) and I can add to his thread-opener.

cblaisd, Moderator, Travel News