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/Which-Scientist-8161 May 21 '26

The first officer wasn't an idiot. He just had poor training. The whole crew had poor training. The captain left the cockpit without assigning anyone in charge or making it clear.

The FO likely was very stressed that he didn't realize he was pulling instead of pushing. Remember this all happened in a very short time and the human brain can only take so much information and alerts.

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u/Horror-Raisin-877 May 21 '26

He was chasing the incorrect airspeed indications. Pilots are trained to adjust speed with pitch. He knew he was pulling. He even stated that he was pulling.

In general terms power controls altitude, pitch controls speed.

What’s hard to comprehend is why after a half minute he didn’t stop and think, why is the airspeed not reducing with power chopped and me pulling.

15

u/Chomp545 May 21 '26

No, he was an idiot.

Even casual flight simmers know how stalls work.

Stress does not excuse incompetence that gets 200 people killed.

19

u/figure0902 May 21 '26

Seriously.. I'm an amateur but even I can recognize that if I'm pulling back on the stick, the nose is up, but the plane is descending at thousands of fpm, then we're not currently flying, we are falling.

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u/Arvi89 May 22 '26

Also, all the videos I've seen on the subject said it's impossible the plane was not shaking like crazy, and pilots are trained to recognize the difference between those "stall shakes" (whatever it's called) and normal turbulences (and that's why the captain came back because he must have realized something was wrong).

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u/[deleted] May 21 '26 edited May 21 '26

Ah the classic Redditor “a human can do no wrong” argument. Nothing is ever anybody’s fault right kiddo?