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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.

Mexicans sceptical of new law to compensate crime victims
09/05/2013 - MEXICO

Mexicans sceptical of new law to compensate crime victims

Mexico's new president, Enrique Pena Nieto, has signed a bill into law that promises recognition and compensation to victims of crimes, in particular those citizens who have become caught up in the country's drug wars. But as France 24's reporters in Mexico found out, many are sceptical it will make any difference.
PKK rebel fighters begin retreat to northern Iraq
08/05/2013 - TURKEY

PKK rebel fighters begin retreat to northern Iraq

Kurdish rebels began withdrawing from Turkey on Wednesday, taking a major step towards ending a 29-year conflict which has killed tens of thousands. The PKK originally demanded an independent state in Turkey's Kurdish south-east, but has since scaled down its goals, looking for wider political and cultural autonomy for Kurds in Turkey. A total of 2,000 PKK rebel fighters are expected to leave Turkey and cross into their stronghold in northern Iraq.
Could methane hydrate solve Tokyo's energy crisis?
08/05/2013 - Japan

Could methane hydrate solve Tokyo's energy crisis?

After 10 years of research, Japanese engineers have extracted offshore methane hydrate from beneath the ocean floor. The substance, more commonly called flammable ice, is a great hope for the future of Japan, which desperately lacks energy since almost all of its nuclear reactors remain shut after the Fukushima disaster. France 24 asks if methane hydrates will solve the energy puzzle for Japan, or even the world.
South Dakota introduces law allowing teachers to carry guns
07/05/2013 - USA

South Dakota introduces law allowing teachers to carry guns

It is now more than four months since 20 children and six adults were gunned down at an elementary school in Newtown, Connecticut. At the time, President Obama declared that enough was enough, and that new gun laws had to be brought in. But all the proposals from the White House for new legislation have come to nothing: every one of them has failed in Congress. Gun culture remains alive and well in the US, especially in the rural heartland, as our correspondent found out.
Germany's 'trial of the year' begins as alleged neo-Nazi appears in court
06/05/2013 - GERMANY

Germany's 'trial of the year' begins as alleged neo-Nazi appears in court

Germany's trial of the year, that of Beate Zschäpe, is opening in Munich. She's the sole survivor of the NSU terror cell and alleged accomplice in 9 racially motivated murders. The case will revisit a scandal that shook the Turkish community: for years, police ignored clues that suggested racist attacks and instead blamed the mafia. Victims’ relatives were even suspects. Turks in Germany began to believe that authorities were blind to detecting racist crimes. Will the trial change that?

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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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