Theories regarding Air France crash

Le Figaro

Two scenarios are gaining currency in understanding the final moments of flight AF447. Either the plane hit the ocean and then broke up or the plane first of all broke up and then hit the ocean

According to several experts, the failure of the air-speed sensors on board the doomed Air France flight last week may have led to a chain of events where the plane physically came apart midair.

Airbus A330s are fitted with three of these sensors on the front of the plane on either side. They calculate the speed according to the amount of air that passes through them.

But rainwater can also get into the sensors – a weakness that was quite well known according to experts, one of whom told le Figaro that a Quantas Airlines flight recently had problems of this nature with its air-speed sensors.

According to this theory, flight AF447 was going through a stormy weather system; contradictory information was then transmitted to the plane’s computer system. Flying too fast under bad weather conditions could put the plane under too much pressure.

Le Figaro claims that Air France does not exclude the possibility of grounding its fleet of A330 and A340s. Air France has refuted this.

Constitutional Council stops French bill to sanction illegal downloading

La Tribune

The so-called Hadopi Bill is aimed at giving the French government the right to supervise what citizens download in a bid to stop internet piracy and support creative industries such as music and cinema. The sanctions take the form of ‘three strikes and you’re out’. Internet access would then be cut off where someone is shown to have repeatedly download illegally.

This business daily reports that the bill has been stopped by France’s Constitutional Council. In its editorial, La Tribune says it had scoffed at the idea of a right to internet access being raised up to the level of Human Rights. Mea Culpa they say.

The Constitutional Council invoked the French Declaration of Human and Citizen Rights from 1789 in giving the thumbs down to the Hadopi Bill. It’s an affront to liberty, according to the Council. A judge should not have the right to cut off your internet access for piracy as the Council says this cuts off access to information which is anti-democratic.

The battle between Valéry Giscard d’Estaing and Jacques Chirac

Le Figaro

The Constitutional Council is made up of judges and living former Presidents. That includes Jacques Chirac and Valéry Giscard d’Estaing. It’s a wonder how these two men manage to agree on anything in their work for the Council as they are old foes. Giscard claimed two days ago that Jacques Chirac’s 1981 Presidential campaign was funded by Omar Bongo, the recently deceased Gabonese President and close ally of France. Chirac has staunchly denied this, saying there’s no foundation whatever to the claim.

Giscard was French President from 1974 – 1981. Chirac was his Prime Minister for two of those years. They were originally in the same political party and then Chirac founded his own party to oppose Giscard. This was seen as a huge political betrayal and it has not been forgotten by Giscard.

Libération

“The return of Plic and Ploc,” reads the title of this article in France’s left-leaning daily.

It says that the two former Presidents are still bickering and settling scores like “two old roosters”.

A town called ‘Naked’

Aujourd’hui en France

This article features a photo of the mayor of a French town called ‘Poil’ hammering the town’s signpost back in place. It hs repeatedly been stolen.

Why? Well, ‘poil’ means ‘hair’ but it can also mean ‘naked’. If you say, “J’habite à Poil” (I live in Poil), it could also imply that you prefer to live life without clothes. Clearly, it’s just too tempting for passing tourists or drunken students! This video on French news and gossip website, Le Post, is having fun with the idea the town being called 'Hair'. It shows a massive can of shaving foam running around the town... Humour, à la française!