Air France launches independent expert assessment of planes after AF447 disaster

Airbus A330-203 Air France. Photo: Fabien Koch

In an unprecedented move, an Air France spokesman announced today that the airline is to organise a mission of external assessment of its flights.

The mission will concentrate on flight security issues and comes in the wake of the flight AF447 disaster on June 1 which killed all 216 passengers and twelve crew aboard in circumstances which remain unclear.

“We have decided to deepen our analyses and examine all the processes and operating procedures which concern the security of our flights” said the announcement, which was initially addressed to Air France pilots only before being leaked to the press.

The statement also indicates that the mission “will be composed of recognised, independent and internationally-known experts in order to combine both French and international {airline} cultures.”

One of those experts will be a member of American carrier Delta Airlines, which is one of Air France’s partner companies.

This announcement follows the recent Air France directive which ordered all its pilots to undergo simulator training in parametered conditions similar to those known to have been experienced by the crew of AF447 during the flight’s final moments.

Those simulations include the scenario of the plane’s Pitot tubes – tubes which give airspeed indications to the crew – becoming blocked by rain and/or ice, leading to faulty speed readings and the eventual breakdown of flight computers.

Air France, Airbus (makers of the doomed A330-200 AF447 plane) and the BEA, the French crash investigating authorities, all say that although the apparent blocking of the Pitot tubes was “an element” in the crash, it was not its cause.