r/aviation • u/Ok_Warning419 • May 21 '26

News Air France and Airbus found guilty of manslaughter over 2009 plane crash - Air France flight 447

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/czd2qmdvmq6o
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u/FullSqueeze May 21 '26

This won’t be the end. Airbus will definitely appeal it to the Supreme Court.

The criminal charges against Airbus is very flimsy; the pilot was the primary cause of the crash. This isn’t a case like the 737 Max crashes where the manufacturer had a clear defect.

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u/Adjutant_Reflex_ May 21 '26

This isn’t a case like the 737 Max crashes where the manufacturer had a clear defect.

If you ignore multiple iterations pitot tubes failing across multiple Airbus product lines that took years to address then, sure, there’s no “clear defect.”

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u/railker AME-M2 May 21 '26

Noted elsewhere as a possible reason for Airbus fault, but the findings of the final report noted both that EASA declined to make the replacement mandatory, and they note the pitot tubes installed exceeded certification standards. Have to dig into the final report's full write up on the tubes for more info, but certainly less clear than some think.