Jetwhine

Aviation buzz and bold opinion

air france 447

Lessons We’ve Already Learned from MH370

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While it may seem to many of you as if the Malaysian Airlines 370 story has been going on forever, we’re really only into the opening scenes of this investigation. Remember it took two years to recover the data recorders from Air France 447.

Malaysian Boeing 777
Lessons we’ve already learned from MH370

Even though everyone seems to believe we’re close to the area where MH370 hit the water, there still hasn’t been a single ounce of evidence recovered from the ocean’s surface in that area. I would have thought something would still be floating … suitcases, seat cushions, clothing … something.

Be that as it may, even if the boxes are found, they’re sitting on the ocean floor three miles beneath the surface which means the recovery effort is no small task.

The Chicago Tribune last week asked me to write an editorial putting what we know into context. It ran Friday and I focused on the fact that there are already plenty of good people leading the search efforts and the why behind most of this accident will come later. But I do think we have already learned quite a bit about where the airline industry needs to head in the next few years … if we can just convince the airlines of course.

During a radio interview on Friday, the host asked me about Plan B if these signals turn out not to be from MH370. Honestly, there is no plan B …

Because the Chicago Tribune website made it a bit difficult for many of you to read the story, I’ve pasted the text in here, as well as the direct link if you’d like to sign in there to read more. Do tell me what you think.

Rob Mark, Publisher [Read more…] about Lessons We’ve Already Learned from MH370

Air France 447 and Sleep Deprivation: A Fatal Link

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Every journalist who has writtten in the past few years about the 2009 Air France accident has eventually ended up asking the same question … why did an experienced crew react to the weather the way they did, as well as to the failure of some of the flight instruments aboard the A330 and why did none of them recognize that their airplane was falling from the sky.

Now we might have at least one of the answers; sleep deprivation. The National Sleep Foundation reports sleep deprivation can impair a person’s reaction times and performance even more than alcohol consumption. The more significant the deprivation, the greater the impairment.

The French news magazine Le Point broke a story on Saturday based on a transcript of the Air France 447’s cockpit voice recorder that until now was unknown. Le Point reports Captain Marc DuBois telling his two cockpit crewmembers less than two hours after departure from Rio, “I didn’t sleep enough last night. One hour — it’s not enough.” Another story in Saturday’s Mail Online said the two co-pilots also lacked adequate rest before the Rio to Paris flight began on the evening May 31, 2009. Flight crew rest, especially for pilots traveling across multiple times zones as was the Air France crew, has become the focus of major regulatory actions in both the U.S. and Europe over the past few years. The revelations about the fatigued states of these pilot before they began what would have been a 10-hour flight to Paris are certain to alter how the industry evaluates the amount of rest any flightcrew has had prior to takeoff. [Read more…] about Air France 447 and Sleep Deprivation: A Fatal Link

Air France 447 Final Report Means an Ugly Summer Ahead

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I’ve been dreading this summer … for the first time in my life though actually. That’s because next month the final French BEA report on the Air France 447 crash will be released.

Most professional pilots have a pretty good idea what it’s going to say though … pilot error. No big surprise there.

From the headlines lately, the need for one media outlet to trump the BEA to their final report is powerful. London’s Daily Telegraph decided that not only were the AF 447 pilots at fault, but that Airbus has been hiding behind a sidestick design flaw for two decades since the A330 was certified. In another, a writer claims that the angle of attack indicator was faulty. Then ABC’s Nightline claimed last week that Captain Marc Dubois had a lady friend — an Air France flight attendant — along for the ride that night, someone who kept him quite distracted after he departed the cockpit for a rest break.

Technical issues on the A330’s pitot tubes? That’s fact already. Fresh pitots just hadn’t found their way onto this airframe before the accident unfortunately. Major sidestick design flaw though, after 20 years … I don’t believe it.

These airplane stories become easily jumbled up when non-aviation types get too close though. I’m trying to do my part and keep the story straight for some of the mainstream media when I can. Fox News gave me another opportunity last week when the PIC’s girlfriend story began circulating. Fox News and other networks about Air France 447. [Read more…] about Air France 447 Final Report Means an Ugly Summer Ahead

AF 447: Final Moments, a Few Thoughts

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I have always felt I’d be doing my flight students a disservice not to mention that while soaring aloft is an unmatched experience, it can and will snuff out a life in a moment if the pilot becomes too complacent … no matter how sophisticated the aircraft’s on-board equipment.

We’ve been reminded of the seriousness of that warning again as the investigation into the crash of Air France 447 continues. A CNN story Friday highlighted some of the elements again, but also walked listeners through a few of the final words of the pilots in the cockpit two years ago, moments before the aircraft hit the water after a 4 1/2 fall from 36,000 ft. The words were part of a new book written by French journalist Jean-Pierre Otelli that includes yet unheard portions of the crew’s cockpit conversations. Granted, Otelli is known as a bit of an ambulance chaser, but the words we hear are what’s important, not necessarily his motivation is recording them.

Having read the other transcripts, this one too seems to confirm that the crew was indeed overwhelmed by the cacophony of lights and aural alerts they must have been confronted with a very short time span. I was saddened just to listen, but also well aware that this could have been any of us in this situation and also, that there is much yet to learn from this watershed accident. [Read more…] about AF 447: Final Moments, a Few Thoughts