[NTD, Beijing, October 09, 2022]The once sensational Air France Flight 447 “Airbus A300” crash in the Atlantic Ocean, 13 years after the incident, the judge rejected the investigators’ claim to drop the case, which will begin in Paris on Monday trial. The victim’s family sought the truth, while Air France sought final immunity.
On June 1, 2009, Air France Flight 447, an “Airbus A300” with new electronic equipment, took off from Rio, Brazil to Paris, France, with 216 passengers and 12 crew members of 33 different nationalities on board. The plane suddenly disappeared from ground-based radar screens as it flew over the Atlantic Ocean between Brazil and Senegal in Africa. No one survived the crash.
Ophelia Touillou’s older brother, Nicolas Touillou, was 27 when she died. Ophelia and other victims’ families sued civil partners in the case.
Ofelieu Tuilou: “As we are, what we look for in the trial is the truth, which will be stated and revealed in front of everyone.”
The worst plane crash in Air France’s history has had a lasting impact; changes to aviation safety regulations, the way pilots are trained and the use of airspeed sensors. The victim’s family has been searching for the truth. Air France and Airbus have been charged with manslaughter in an upcoming trial in Paris on Monday.
The crashed plane was only located on the seabed in 2011, and the black box was retrieved from more than 13,000 feet below the sea a month later. Subsequent investigations found that the cause of the accident was complex and not a single cause.
Gerald Feltzer, a former pilot and flight expert, said: “The fact is that the pilot didn’t know what was going on at the time. The difficulty of interpreting the signal, the face of the new digital aircraft…”
After the accident, Air France has paid compensation to the families of the victims. The companies insist they are not criminally liable.
No one in this lawsuit is at risk of jail time; only two companies, Air France and Airbus, are on trial. Air France is accused of failing to train its pilots in pitot icing situations. Airbus is accused of knowing there was a problem with the pitot tube on Flight 447, but not doing enough to urgently notify the airline and its crew of the possible risk.
The impact of the crash is huge, and the multi-year investigation has forced Airbus and Air France to become more transparent and responsive to questions, and the trial remains important to the aviation industry and the families of the victims.
Comprehensive report by NTDTV reporters Zeng Wenxian and Shang Jing
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