- Title: BRAZIL: Families of Air France victims protest over final crash report
- Date: 9th August 2011
- Summary: RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL (AUGUST 8, 2011) (REUTERS) (SOUNDBITE) (Portuguese) HEAD OF THE ASSOCIATION OF RELATIVES OF VICTIMS OF THE AIR FRANCE CRASH, NELSON MARINHO, SAYING: "We are very angry. We know that it was a plane piece that failed -- the BEA itself had admitted that in the beginning. We all know that the pitot tubes affected the onboard computer, which triggered a
- Embargoed: 24th August 2011 13:00
- Keywords:
- Location: Brazil, Brazil
- Country: Brazil
- Topics: Disasters
- Reuters ID: LVA5OMGY788BLNPTGI6PT1QG9HXW
- Story Text: Brazilian families of passengers of Air France's Rio-Paris doomed flight sent a letter on Monday (August 8) to French authorities, protesting over the latest crash probe and calling for more transparency.
France's BEA authority released a new investigation report two weeks ago, saying the crew ignored repeated stall warnings and failed to follow textbook procedures to prevent the crash that killed all 228 people onboard.
The latest findings angered Brazilian and French relatives, who accused investigators of covering up the real causes of the accident by focusing on the pilots' role.
Nelson Marinho, a retired machinery mechanic who transformed his home into a relatives' association, complained there was nothing new in the report which he said shifted the attention from the plane's mechanical issues by blaming the pilots.
Marinho said the letter would let French authorities know that relatives were vigilant.
"This letter is aimed at showing to the BEA that we are watchful. We are tracking step by step the moves of the French government," he said.
The July 29 interim report also irritated France's pilots union, which suspended its cooperation with the inquiry in protest at what it said was the authorities' decision to ignore problems with the plane's stall alarm and emphasize instead pilot errors.
The SNPL airline pilots union declared the boycott after it emerged that investigators had removed a recommendation about one of the Airbus A330's systems from the report. The BEA acknowledged the move but hit back at claims saying it had not abandoned the idea of making a recommendation on the A330 cockpit alarms but that the issue needed more work.
The updated account, based on recently recovered black boxes, confirmed a finding in May that the crew responded to stall warnings by doing something that has mystified aviation experts ever since -- pointing the nose up instead of down.
Marinho, who lost his son in the crash, said that technical problems were clearly being covered up.
"We are very angry. We know that it was a plane piece that failed -- the BEA itself had admitted that in the beginning. We all know that the pitot tubes affected the onboard computer, which triggered a series of problems in the plane and brought it down. It was not a human error," he said.
The report stoked simmering tensions between the heavyweights of France's aviation industry, Air France and EADS unit Airbus, over whether the airlines' pilots or faulty flight equipment were most to blame for the disaster.
The question of who is to blame is of huge importance as both firms face criminal probes in France. Victims' families have laid the foundation for lawsuits on both sides of the Atlantic.
Marinho said relatives expected both companies to recognize their faults.
"I have appealed many times to the French government and to Airbus representatives for them to acknowledge their mistakes, admit their errors and correct this aircraft that has problems. We were hoping for more transparency, which is not happening -- they are underestimating us and the events show that the problem is in the plane. We will discover that and they will have to acknowledge their mistakes," he said.
During normal computer-assisted flying, Airbus systems are designed to prevent a stall developing even if the pilot errs.
But in this case the A330 was being flown manually after the autopilot switched itself off in the wake of a temporary loss of reliable speed data, thought to be caused by ice on the Pitot speed sensors made by French aerospace firm Thales.
The BEA recommended mandatory exercises for pilots on ways of handling aircraft manually and preventing high-altitude stalls.
Airbus, which insists its planes are safe, welcomed the report and said the whole air transport community could benefit from the lessons to be learnt from the crash. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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