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The BEA releases the “Final report” on Air France Flight 447

The BEA releases the “Final report” on Air France Flight 447


The BEA report (pp 200-201) concluded:

  • The crew possessed the licenses and ratings required to undertake the flight.
  • The aeroplane possessed a valid Certificate of Airworthiness, and had been
    maintained in accordance with the regulations.
  • The aeroplane’s weight and balance were within operational limits.
  • The aeroplane had taken off from Rio de Janeiro without any known technical
    problems, except on one of the three radio management panels.
  • The composition of the crew was in accordance with the operator’s procedures.
  • The meteorological situation was not exceptional for the month of June in the
    inter-tropical convergence zone.
  • There were powerful cumulonimbus clusters on the route of AF 447. Some of
    them could have been the centre of some notable turbulence.
  • An additional meteorological analysis showed the presence of strong
    condensation towards AF 447’s flight level, probably associated with convection
    phenomena.
  • The precise composition of the cloud masses above 30,000 feet is little known,
    in particular with regard to the super-cooled water/ice crystal divide, especially
    with regard to the size of the latter.
  • Several aeroplanes that were flying before and after AF 447, at about the same
    altitude, altered their routes in order to avoid cloud masses.
  • The crew had identified some returns on the weather radar and made a heading
    change of 12° to the left of their route.
  • At the time of the autopilot disconnection, the Captain was taking a rest.
  • The departure of the Captain was done without leaving any specific instructions
    for crossing the ITCZ.
  • There was an implicit designation of a pilot as relief Captain.
  • There was an inconsistency between the speeds measured, likely following the
    blockage of the Pitot probes by ice crystals.
  • The AP then the A/THR disconnected while the aeroplane was flying at the upper
    limit of a slightly turbulent cloud layer.
  • The aeroplane systems detected an inconsistency in the measured airspeeds. The
    flight control law was reconfigured to alternate 2B.
  • No failure message on the ECAM clearly indicates the detection by the system of
    an inconsistency in measured airspeeds.
  • The pilots detected an anomaly through the autopilot disconnection warning
    that surprised them.
  • The engines functioned normally and always responded to the crew’s inputs.
  • The PNF called out imprecise flight path corrections. They were however essential
    and sufficient for short-term management of the situation.
  • The last recorded values were a pitch attitude of 16.2 degrees nose-up, roll of
    5.3#degrees to the left and a vertical speed of -10,912 ft/min.
  • The Pitot probes installed on F-GZCP met requirements that were stricter than
    the certification standards.
  • Analysis of the events related to the loss of airspeed indications had led Airbus
    and Air France to replace C16195AA Pitot probes by the C16195BA model. The
    first aeroplane had been modified on 30 May#2009.
  • EASA had analyzed Pitot probe icing events; it had confirmed the severity of the
    failure and had decided not to make the probe change mandatory.
  • The flight was not transferred between the Brazilian and Senegalese control
    centres.
  • Between 8 h 22 and 9 h 09, the first emergency alert messages were sent by the
    Madrid and Brest control centres.
  • The crew was not able to use the ADS-C and CPDLC functions with DAKAR Oceanic.
    If the connection had been established, the loss of altitude would have generated
    an alert on the controller’s screen.
  • The first floating aeroplane parts were found 5 days after the accident.
  • The flight recorders were recovered 23 months after the accident.

The accident occurred after the following events:

  1. Temporary inconsistency between the airspeed measurements, likely following
    the obstruction of the Pitot probes by ice crystals that, in particular, caused the
    autopilot disconnection and the reconfiguration to alternate law;
  2. Inappropriate control inputs that destabilized the flight path;
  3. The lack of any link by the crew between the loss of indicated speeds called out
    and the appropriate procedure;
  4. The late identification by the PNF of the deviation from the flight path and the
    insufficient correction applied by the PF;
  5. The crew not identifying the approach to stall, their lack of immediate response
    and the exit from the flight envelope;
  6. The crew’s failure to diagnose the stall situation and consequently a lack of inputs
    that would have made it possible to recover from it.

Download the complete final report here:

BEA FINAL REPORT on AF 447

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A Ghana Air Force Helicopter with registration number GHF 696 today [Tuesday, March 19, 2024] made an emergency landing Bonsukrom near Agona Nkwanta in the Western Region.Read More

To include the featured image in your Twitter Card, please tap or click their icon a second time.



Air Force Helicopter carrying 21 makes emergency landing near Agona Nkwanta

A Ghana Air Force Helicopter with registration number GHF 696 today [Tuesday, March 19, 2024] made an emergency landing Bonsukrom near Agona Nkwanta in the Western Region.Read More

To include the featured image in your Twitter Card, please tap or click their icon a second time.



Air Force Helicopter carrying 21 makes emergency landing near Agona Nkwanta

A Ghana Air Force Helicopter with registration number GHF 696 today [Tuesday, March 19, 2024] made an emergency landing Bonsukrom near Agona Nkwanta in the Western Region.Read More

To include the featured image in your Twitter Card, please tap or click their icon a second time.



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