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Latest update: 02/06/2011 

- AF 447 crash - Brazil - France - plane crash


Two years on, the truth about the doomed AF447 flight

Turbulence, faulty instrument readings and a stalled engine. That could be the deadly combination of factors that caused Air France Flight 447 to crash en route from Brazil to Paris in June 2009. All 228 passengers and crew on board were killed. This new information comes from the black boxes of the plane's wreckage, recovered from the bottom of the Atlantic earlier this month.

Spain's royal family falling out of favour
13/05/2013 - SPAIN

Spain's royal family falling out of favour

Spain's King Juan Carlos is under increasing pressure to abdicate in favour of his son, Felipe. Last year's elephant-hunting trip to Botswana did not help improve the King’s ailing popularity, especially at a time when the country’s public purse strings are being tightened. His popularity has slipped further in the wake of allegations linking Princess Cristina and her husband to an embezzlement plot. France 24 reports from Majorca on what the locals think of Spain’s monarchy.
The modern-day slave trade
10/05/2013 - BULGARIA

The modern-day slave trade

Commemorations were held across France on Friday May 10th for "Slavery Remembrance Day". The slave trade in France was officially abolished in 1848, but modern-day slavery still appears alive and well in Europe. We take a look at a report from Bulgaria on the plight of women caught up in the sex trade.
The Taliban's election campaign of violence
10/05/2013 - PAKISTAN

The Taliban's election campaign of violence

The Taliban have been doing their best to disrupt Pakistan's May 11th election. It's been the deadliest campaign in the country's history with hundreds killed and many others kidnapped. The Taliban unleashed a campaign of terror calling democracy "un-Islamic" and vowed to attack anyone who associated with it. Our correspondents Taha Siddiqui and Julien Fouchet went to Peshawar, where candidates found themselves under threat 24/7.
Berlusconi tax fraud conviction upheld
09/05/2013 - ITALY

Berlusconi tax fraud conviction upheld

An Italian court has upheld a ruling in Silvio Berlusconi's trial for tax fraud. The former prime minister had appealed the conviction, which came with a four-year prison sentence. His lawyers now say they will contest the decision before Italy's highest court of appeal. This comes shortly after Berlusconi's centre-right PDL party joined a grand coalition with the centre-left PD.
Three women held captive for over a decade found alive in Ohio
09/05/2013 - USA

Three women held captive for over a decade found alive in Ohio

Three women who had been missing for around a decade have been found alive in Ohio. Kidnapped and held in a house in Cleveland for years, they managed to escape their captor on Monday. The owner of the house and his two brothers have now been arrested over the kidnappings of Amanda Berry, Gina DeJesus and Michelle Knight.

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AF 447 - a casualty of Man vs Machine?

It's pitch black. No Visibility. Looking outside will tell you nothing. You have severe turbulence. Your "foolproof" computerised instuments seem to have gone haywire. Some readings are clearly impossible. Is this a computer failure? Which readings do you believe? Any? None? A stall warning sounds (false - but you don't know that), then another (this one isn't false - but you don't know that either). So many alarms and warnings. So much more happening than could be written here. Which flight mode is the computer operating in? What can you believe? If you know which instruments to trust you can work out what is happening, but if you feel that you can't trust the readings then you may as well be flying blindfolded. It's easy to criticise and cry "pilot error", but I wonder what percentage of pilots could have correctly identified and recovered the stall?

Look out the window

It is hard to believe that the pilots did not after 3+minutes of free fall;
1/ Look out the window
2/ Notice that the sound of the aircraft was some how not normal
3/ Look at position reference sytems ie are we moving forward?
4/ Atleast try another option rather than pulling up on the stick
5/ Get the captain on deck sooner
This was a massive human failure.

Tragic Human error event

Lack of experience. Poor flight training. Inadequate supervision.

I think all commercial pilots should be aerobatics endorsed so they have a clue as to what they should be doing in these situations

check your sources

Aircraft engines don't generally stall, it's the wings that do.

If it wasn't so tragic it would be funny

Stalled engine? Pah! Get someone who knows something (anything) about aviation to write these things. Aerodynamic stall, dummy.

Crash

Is there something that the BEA are not telling us?

Flight Data Recorder

If anyone knows whether FDR data on pitch re. A330-200, is captured directly from sensors on the sidestick or from sensors on the control surfaces - please advise.

Stalled engine?

An aerodynamic stall, which occurred on this flight, has nothing whatsoever to do with the engines.

reporter has no pants.

A 'stall' has nothing to do with the engine.

what

Really??? Do you even know what you are talking about?

af 447

doesn't anyone edit this? READ the BEA report--the engines operated perfectly til the plane hit the water. The AIRCRAFT entered an aerodynamic stall-there was no engine failure.

Stalled engine

Not true. All engines were responding to commands until the end of the recordings.

skewed views

You must be joking!! It is not just turbulence and faulty engine readings my friend. If that is all it takes everyday flights will be dropping out of the sky. Truth is the problem with human (pilot) component. Did anyone think why we did not get black boxes out until the judge was about to order involuntary manslaughter on air france?? Wht are we trying to coverup here?

Factual errors

There was no "stalled engine" on flight 447. The stall was an aerodynamic stall, the absence of lift from the wings. Both engines were operating without problems.

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