CTVNews.ca Staff
Published Thursday, Jul. 5, 2012 9:25AM EDT
Last Updated Thursday, Jul. 5, 2012 11:24AM EDT
Pilot error, faulty speed and other readings inside the cockpit of an Air France jet that crashed into the Atlantic in 2009 killing all 228 people on board, including a Canadian, were cited as causes of the accident.
French aviation investigators released their final report Thursday into the tragic crash, offering many safety recommendations including better pilot training.
Investigators said better instruction for pilots on flying manually at high altitudes and stricter plane certification rules are needed to avoid future accidents like Flight 447.
Chief investigator Alain Bouillard said the two pilots never understood that the plane was in a stall and “were in a situation of near total loss of control.”
The report also states a combination of “human and technical factors” led to the horrific crash of the Airbus A330 that was flying between Brazil and Paris.
The report found one of the co-pilots nosed the aircraft upward during a stall, when he should have lowered it, because of false data from the plane’s sensors.
It was clear the pilots didn't understand the aircraft was in a stall, the report found.
Bouillard said only a well-seasoned crew with a clear understanding of the situation could have stabilized the plane in those conditions.
The aircraft had left Rio de Janeiro on June 1 and encountered a nighttime thunderstorm several hours into the flight before crashing into the sea.
Killed in the accident was Guelph, Ont., native Brad Clemes, who lived in Belgium for 14 years as an executive with Coca-Cola.
Robert Soulas, who lost his daughter and son-in-law in the crash, told The Associated Press investigators said the flight director system indicated “erroneous information” that the plane was diving downward, “and therefore to compensate, the pilot had a tendency to pull on the throttle to make it rise up."
But because the aircraft was now stalled, the pilots lost control.
Family members of victims showed sympathy toward the pilots, saying they were dealing with bad equipment in an exceptionally challenging situation, with dozens of warning signals going off.
Soulas noted that manufacturers had known for years about problems with the plane's speed sensors - called pitot tubes - freezing over, but didn't order the faulty models systematically replaced until after the crash.
Pilot Gerard Arnoux defended the pilots’ actions, saying they were doing what they had been taught to do.
“A normal pilot on a normal airliner follows” the signals on the flight director system, which tells them to go left, right, up or down, he told The Associated Press.
The final report included a study of the plane’s black box flight recorders, uncovered in a costly and complex search in the ocean depths.
In a separate French judicial investigation still underway, Air France and Airbus have been handed preliminary manslaughter charges.
