Air France pilots battled for 15 minutes to save doomed flight AF 447
Pastor Dale Morgan
Air France pilots battled for 15 minutes to save doomed flight AF 447*
Air France pilots battled for up to 15 minutes to save the doomed flight
that went missing over the Atlantic this week, electronic messages
emitted by the aircraft have revealed.
By Henry Samuel in Paris
Published: 1:47PM BST 04 Jun 2009
Details have emerged of the moments leading up to the disappearance of
flight AF 447 with 228 people on-board, with error messages reportedly
suggesting the plane was flying too slowly and that two key computers
malfunctioned.
Flight data messages provided by an Air France source show the precise
chronology of events of flight AF 447 before it plummeted into the sea
400 miles off Brazil on Monday.
These indicate that the pilot reported hitting tropical turbulence at
3am (BST), shortly before reaching Senegalese airspace. It said the
plane had passed through tall, dense cumulonimbus thunderclouds.
At this stage, according to a source close to the investigation cited by
Le Monde, the Airbus A330-200's speed was "erroneous" - either too fast
or too slow. Each plane has an optimal speed when passing through
difficult weather conditions, which for unknown reasons, had not been
reached by flight AF 447.
Airbus is expected to issue recommendations today to all operators of
the A330 model to maintain appropriate thrust levels to steady the
plane's flight path in storms.
At 3.10am, the messages show the pilot was presented with a series of
major failures over a four-minute period before catastrophe struck,
according to automatic data signals cited by the Sao Paulo newspaper, le
Jornal da Tarde.
At this time, the automatic pilot was disconnected – either by the pilot
or by the plane's inbuilt security system, which flips to manual after
detecting a serious error.
It is unclear whether the pilot wanted to manually change course to
avoid a dangerous cloud zone – an extremely difficult manoeuvre at such
high altitude.
At the same moment, another message indicates that the "fly-by-wire"
electronic flight system which controls the wing and tail flaps shifted
to "alternative law" – an emergency backup system engaged after multiple
electricity failures. This system enables the plane to continue
functioning on minimum energy but reduces flight stability. An alarm
would have sounded to alert the cabin crew to this.
Two minutes later, another message indicates that two essential
computers providing vital information on altitude, speed and flight
direction ceased functioning correctly.
Two new messages at 3.13am report electricity breakdowns in the
principal and auxiliary flight computers.
At 3.14am, a final message reads "cabin in vertical speed", suggesting a
sudden loss of cabin pressure, either the cause or the consequence of
the plane breaking up in mid-air.
Despite the precise details, sources close to the investigation
contested the chronology and denied that the two computers providing
altitude, speed and directional data malfunctioned.
The suggestion that the pilot gradually lost control of the plane
appears to counter reports that the plane exploded in mid-air.
These were lent more weight today after a Spanish pilot in the vicinity
at the time reported seeing an "intense white flash".
"Suddenly we saw in the distance a strong and intense flash of white
light, followed by a downward, vertical trajectory which broke up into
six segments," the chief pilot of an Air Comet plane from Lima to Madrid
told the Spanish newspaper, El Mundo. He has reported his observations
to investigators.
Some experts have supported the theory that the plane exploded, given
the wide area where debris has been found.
However, Brazil's defence minister, Nelson Jobim, said an explosion was
"improbable" given the 13-mile trail of kerosine spotted on the sea. "If
we have fuel slicks, it's because it didn't burn," he said.
Paul-Louis Arslanian, the head of the French air accident bureau in
charge of the investigation, also said there were other possible reasons
for wide debris area, such as high winds and choppy seas.
Yesterday he warned against hasty "speculation" and said that the search
would take time.
Four naval vessels and a tanker are in the area around 400 miles off
Brazil's northeastern coast. Some 11 spotter planes are searching for
more debris, after finding a seat and a 23-foot metal object thought to
be part of the fuselage. A French mini-submarine will arrive in the zone
next week.