Family of Air France 447 victim begins legal action against airline

August 21st, 2009

Posted: 12:15 PM ET at CNN

PARIS, France (CNN) — The family of one of the victims in the crash of Air France flight 447 has begun legal action against the French company, the family’s lawyer told CNN Friday.

The French accident investigation agency, BEA, has not established the cause of the crash, but Air France ordered the replacement in late July of air-speed censors on its Airbus planes like the one that crashed. The original censors are known as Pitot tubes.

“We feel that the Pitot tubes are directly responsible for the crash of the flight,” said Jean-Claude Guidicelli on behalf of his clients, the father and brother of Clara Amado, 31, a flight attendant on the Air France flight which crashed off the coast of Brazil.

Flight 447 went down June 1 in the Atlantic Ocean in stormy weather as it flew from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, to Charles de Gaulle airport here, killing all 228 people on board.

The air-speed censors in question were made by the French company Thales and, according to Guidicelli, were less expensive than a competing American brand. “The family remains very upset and hopes that the decision to keep to Pitot tubes was not a matter of cutting costs, or French patriotism,” continued Guidicelli.

Air France announced on July 31 that American-made Goodrich censors would replace the Pitot tubes in its A330 and A340 airplanes.

Guidicelli hopes that a preliminary investigation against Air France will begin before September 24, the next scheduled meeting between the victims’ families and the airline.

However, the Amado family will not be attending the meeting. “They don’t want to go all the way to Paris (from the south of France) to still not get any answers,” said Guidicelli. “The family wants to bring the affair into the open to find out what really happened,” he continued.

Air France currently had no comment on the Amado’s pending legal action.

Official Report - Preliminary Conclusions on the AF447 Accident

Based on the initial evidence collected during the investigation, the following facts were established:

• the crew had the licenses and qualifications for the flight,
• the aircraft certificate of airworthiness in a state of validity, it was maintained in accordance with the regulations,
• the aircraft had departed from Rio de Janeiro without technical problems experienced, except in one of the three panels of radio management,
• no problems were reported by the crew at Air France or in its contacts with the Brazilian controllers,
• no distress message was received by the control centers or other aircraft,
• there was no satellite telephone communications between aircraft and ground
• the last radio contact between the crew and the control of Brazil took place in 1 h 35 min 15. The aircraft arrived at the edge of the range radar control centers in Brazil,
• 01 to 2 pm, the crew tried unsuccessfully for the third time, to connect to ADS-C control Dakar
• until the last point of the auto position, received 2 h 10 min 34, the flight took place on the planned route in the flight plan,
• the weather was consistent with that commonly found in June in the intertropical convergence zone,
• there was a powerful cluster of cumulonimbus clouds on the road to the AF 447. Some of them could be home to a strong turbulence,
• several aircraft that have evolved before and after the flight AF 447, substantially at the same altitude, have altered their course to avoid cloud masses,
• twenty-four messages for automatic maintenance were received between 2 and 10 h 2 h 15 via ACARS. It appears from these messages inconsistency of measured speeds and the associated consequences,
• 2 h before 10, no maintenance message was received from the flight AF 447, with the exception of two messages on the configuration of toilets,
• procedures of the operator and the manufacturer to specify the actions performed by the crew in doubt indications of speed,
• The last message was received ACARS to 2 h 14 min 28,
• there was no transfer between the flight control centers of Brazil and Senegal,
• between 8 am and 8 pm 30, the first messages trigger alert has been issued by the control centers of Madrid and Brest,
• body and the first elements of the aircraft were found June 6,
• elements identified from all areas of the aircraft,
• Visual examination shows that the aircraft was not destroyed in flight, it seems to have struck the water line of flight, with a strong vertical acceleration.

AF 447: Progress Report from the French Air Accident Investigation Bureau (BEA)

Paris, 02 July 2009 - 16:57 local time

Air France has taken careful note of the progress report published by the French Air Accident Investigation Bureau (BEA) concerning the AF 447 accident. In presenting the initial facts, this report constitutes an important stage in the inquiry.

It is also a very important step for the relatives of the victims, who, like Air France, are impatient to understand the circumstances surrounding this tragedy.

It is, of course, of capital importance for Air France to find the flight and voice recorders – “black boxes” – which would enable the investigators to analyse the causes of the accident, whatever these may be. No effort must be spared in achieving this end, and Air France thanks the French Authorities for continuing their sea search with unprecedented resources. Air France would also like to thank the Brazilian authorities for the sea searches they have carried out at the scene of the accident.

All the elements of the investigation produced by the French Air Accident Investigation Bureau (BEA) will be fully and immediately taken into account by the airline. Flight safety is of prime concern to Air France, as can be seen from the ongoing efforts of every sector of the airline using all its resources to improve it even further.

Following the publication of the progress report, Air France wishes to point out that:

• In Airbus’ recommendation of November 2008, superseding that of September 2007, the replacement of the Thalès AA Pitot probes by Thalès BA Pitot probes was no longer put forward as a solution to the icing problems.
  

• On 15 April 2009, Airbus recommended evaluating in real operating conditions the results of a series of laboratory tests on the Thalès BA Pitot probes.
  

• On 27 April 2009, rather than waiting for the results of this evaluation, Air France decided to equip its entire fleet of Airbus A330s and A340s with the Thalès BA Pitot probes.

Air France is, of course, continuing to cooperate fully with the Authorities, and reiterates its commitment to total transparency with regard to the investigators, its passengers and the general public.

Flight Air France 447 Rio de Janeiro - Paris-Charles de Gaulle (PRn xx)

Paris, 25 June 2009 - 12:08 local time

Among the victims found in the sea search, two members of the Air France crew have been identified: the flight captain and a steward.

Chief Executive Officer, Pierre-Henri Gourgeon, extended his condolences to their families on behalf of all Air France.

Air France Flight AF 447 (06.23.09)

There are some reports that the Black Boxes may have been localized by the Fr Navy.

Navy is Helping to Find the Black Box of Air France AF447

A Navy device called a towed pinger locator is being used in the search for the data and voice recorders from Air France Flight 447.

AF flight 447 Rio/Paris:

How Air France is providing support to relatives and friends

Paris, 15 June 2009 - 17:07 local time

Flight AF 447 was carrying 228 passengers and crew of 32 different nationalities. The expectations of the many relatives and friends are varied. They are legitimately demanding information and transparency, even though the circumstances of this tragedy are slowing the progress of the investigation and Air France itself is unable to obtain all the necessary information, which is collected and centralized by the French and Brazilian authorities.

Air France teams took action from the very beginning to meet the needs of the bereaved. Air France has done everything it can to assist relatives and friends and is also aware of the difficulties that can be met in certain cases.

The following measures have been introduced:

• A toll-free number was set up to handle calls 24/7. This toll-free number was available until all families had been contacted.
• Those who wished were provided with accommodation at hotels in Paris-Charles de Gaulle and Rio, with Air France paying all expenses.
• A telephone information centre is available for relatives. There are different phone numbers depending on the language spoken. The centre provides all necessary information, including legal details, insurance, medical and psychological support, etc. It takes care of their travel needs and accommodation. To date, there are one to ten contacts per passenger.
• In addition to the information centre, a permanent group has been set up to ensure long-term assistance to relatives and friends. This group includes staff with the skills needed in all areas concerned.
• In Brazil, a specific local structure has been set up. At all other Air France-KLM destinations worldwide, a special correspondent has been designated to ensure local contact.
• The French State has asked the INAVEM (National Institute of Assistance to Victims) to assist families.
• Procedures are underway to determine the victims' heirs. Air France will apply international law and regulations.

Air France's crisis centre has a permanent pool of 4,000 volunteers to provide local assistance and family support, in addition to the operational measures. Finally, all Air France divisions are providing support in any way they can.

Air France Flight AF 447 (06.14.09 - Night)

Today, Jun 14th, at circa 11h45 pm (BST), will mark two weeks of the accident with the Airbus 330 Air France flight AF 447, which claimed more than 220 lives. The causes of the destruction of the airplane remain unknown.

With the forensic examination of the remains found (49 up to now) some theories already faded away. More notably the one which said that the airplane exploded and also the one which said that the airplane desintegrated in the air.

So far, we only know that something caused a major electrical failure. With the electrical system shutting down, it became more and more difficult to manualy fly a fly-by-wire airplane. And from the beginning to the end, it took circa of four minutes for the plane to crash in the water.

This week we may know also if when the airplane hit the water, everybody on bord was already dead.

Some debris had been found, but the Black Box has not been found. We're going to have more two weeks to find it before the batteries run out.

Air France - AF 447 - Meeting of the CEO with the Press

Meeting of the Chief Executive Officer with the AJPAE (French Professional Aviation and Space Journalists Association)

Paris, 11 June 2009 - 12:15 local time

Air France Chief Executive Officer Pierre-Henri Gourgeon today met with members from the AJPAE (French Professional Aviation and Space Journalists Association).

This meeting, planned some time ago, was devoted to the current situation and outlook for air transport.

In his opening speech, Pierre-Henri Gourgeon reiterated to the thirty French and foreign media present that all Air France staff have remained totally mobilized since the tragic accident of Air France flight 447. Every member of the staff shares the deep distress of the families and friends of the victims, crew and colleagues who were lost on this flight, and there has been a feeling of great solidarity throughout the Company.

The CEO reminded journalists that the investigation will be long and difficult, given the location of the accident. Analysis of the initial results of the searches being carried out may give us an indication of the circumstances of the catastrophe. Various scenarios could then be built by the experts. In addition to which, we hope to recover the flight recorders. As for the assumptions made by some of the media, they are pure speculation.

Air France launched its programme for replacing the anemometric sensors on Friday, 29 May, as soon as it received the stock of parts. Due to the problem concerning speed measurement, which had been observed in the last automatic messages from the aircraft, the replacement programme was stepped up.

We cannot, however, assume any link between the sensors and the causes of the accident. Airbus and the European Aviation Safety Agency maintain that the A330/A340s are safe with any one of the three types of existing sensors.

Air France will be totally transparent in dealing with the investigators and, in agreement with them, in communicating with the general public and its passengers, concluded the Chief Executive Officer.

Air France Flight AF 447 (06.09.09 - Night)

Today the recovery of remains reached the 41st. Otherwise we are going to stop to give any news about body count. We will post only news about recovery of debris and development in the search to know what happened and how it happened. To us is enough to know that the recovery of remains is going on. Period.

So far no new important debris or structural parts of the airplane has been found. We are now waiting for the arrival of the Submarine Emerald and US Navy technicians and equipments to try to find the Black Box.

DoD/Air France AF 447 Search

The Department of Defense is sending Navy equipment and a 19-person crew to Brazil to aid in the search for the data recorders from Air France Flight 447.

What Happened to the Flight Air France AF 447 ? Some thoughts.

Until now we had several theories about what happened with the doomed airplane.

One thing is clear: a massive electrical failure is almost certain to be the origin of everything else. But this fact have been almost impossible to be accepted due a two major reasons: the first is that the air plane had actually three electrical grids and two batteries systems one independent of another to be fail safe. And the second is that only a major short circuit or a great input of energy could damage the redundant electrical system and wasn't anyway that could happen to an airplane. Couldn't?

Faraday Cage

One of the reasons that an airplane cannot have a major input of energy is because the principles of the Faraday Cage. As matter of fact the "cage" does not work in the case of high frequency or fast changing electric fields. It is also said you can melt it.

Lightning

The only source of energy at the scene of the accident was lightning and there is no way a lighting can do the electrical failure because the Faraday Cage.

But we are sure about only the three "normal" types of lightning.

So, I ask if the airplane, which was in CB (cumulonimbus), "hit" or was "hit" by a Blue Jet or even in the birthing a Sprite, two types of upper atmospheric lightning. We just don´t know where in the cloud they are born, as a matter of fact, we didn't know they exist prior 1989. And if the Air Plane is close enough to generate an electromagnetic pulse, it can trigger a series of electrical failures and commands destroying the capability to control the airplane. It happened before with an Atmospheric Balloon.

Then we have an explanation about what happened with the Air France AF447, what trigger the electric failure and the destruction the airplane. Anyway we need to find the Black Box in order to be sure and really know what happened.

By Ary S Dib Dias F

Air France Flight AF 447 (06.08.09 - Night)

Today, the Brazilian authorities had to make several adjustments in order to avoid more miscommunication. From now on, the Brazilian Navy will:

• only account any new recovered remain when it is already under Brazilian custody.
• not try anymore to determine the gender, leaving this job to the forensic authority.
• not try to identify any object, debris or piece of the airplane as recovering, leaving this job to the French authority.

Along the day, were found eight more remains by the frigate Bosisio, increasing to 26 the number of remains already found.

At the same time, the French Navy (Fr Navy) already sent a submarine, the S604 Émeraude (Emerald). The US Navy is sending equipment to help the search (take a look on previous post). It's also informed, but not confirmed, that an American submarine was also deployed to help the search. There's no information about the identification of the vessel.

Naval Sea Systems Command Send Equipment to Search and Rescue the Black Box of Air France AF447

DULLES, Va. (June 8, 2009) A Naval Sea Systems Command Supervisor of Salvage and Diving control van is loaded onto a transport aircraft for transportation to Brazil. U.S. Navy search equipment, including an underwater pinger locator, is being sent to help locate the flight data and cockpit voice recorders of an Air France passenger aircraft that went down in the Atlantic Ocean. (U.S. Navy photo by Oscar Sosa/Released)

A U.S. Navy Supervisor of Salvage and Diving control van, left, is loaded onto a transport aircraft for transportation to Brazil. U.S. Navy search equipment, including an underwater pinger locator, is being sent to help locate the flight data and cockpit voice recorders of an Air France passenger aircraft that went down in the Atlantic Ocean. (U.S. Navy photo by Oscar Sosa/Released)

Flight Air France 447 - Images

Corvette Cabloco

Flight deck from the frigate Constituição

Frigate Bosisio

Small boat from the frigate Constituição

Vertical stabilizer from the Airbus (AF447)

U.S. Crew to Aid in Locating French Airliner's Data Recorders

American Forces Press Service

WASHINGTON, June 8, 2009 - The Defense Department is flying a 19-person crew and Navy equipment to Natal, Brazil, to aid in the search for Air France Flight 447's data recorders, a Pentagon spokesman said today.

The Airbus A330 jetliner with 228 people aboard disappeared May 31 in thunderstorms while traveling from Rio de Janeiro to Paris.

Navy Cmdr. Jeffrey Gordon said the U.S. crew, a mix of military personnel and contractors assigned to Naval Sea Systems Command's supervisor of salvage and diving here, will operate Navy towed pinger locators, or TPLs, from two French-contracted ships.

The passive listening devices, which can locate emergency beacons up to 20,000 feet below the ocean's surface, will be towed behind the vessels at speeds of 1 to 5 knots, depending on water depth, Gordon said. If they detect an acoustic pulse, it's transmitted up the towing cable and is presented in audio and visual modes.

The first ship to receive a TPL and a crew will depart for the search area June 10. The second ship is scheduled to depart June 12.

Last week, a U.S. Navy P-3C Orion maritime patrol aircraft was deployed to Brazil, where it flew three search missions of about eight hours each. It returned to Florida over the weekend.

Brazilian officials are reporting 16 bodies and a large part of the aircraft's tail section have been recovered from the wreckage field. While not exactly identifying the location of the search area, the officials have said it's south of the plane's last transmission, indicating pilots may have turned back toward a nearby island.

Related Sites: Naval Sea Systems Command

Air France Flight AF 447 (06.08.09 - Morning)

The Br Navy announced they found more two remains. With it, there were found 19 remains, four males, four females and eleven unknown. The Br Navy and Air Force spokesman will do the public announcement at 1100hs(BST).

Update: The public announcement was held at 1119hs (BST). But instead of increase, was a decrease of the number of remains. There wasn't found any new remains. As mater of fact the number of confirm remains found is 16. The military command decided also to not disclose the gender.

The Br Navy Grajau will return to base and the Br Navy Oceanic Patrol ship Guaiba will replace the Grajau.

Among small debris have been also found large parts from the structure of the airplane. Including what seems to be the vertical stabilizer.

Air France Flight AF 447 (06.07.09)

Yesterday, saturday - 06.06, the Br Navy found debris and 3 male remains. Today the Br Navy found more debris and 6 remains, 1 male and 4 female and 1 unknown. At same time th Fr Navy frigate F733 "Ventôse" found more 8 remains.

So far still unknown the circumstances that caused the crash.

Flight Air France 447 Rio de Janeiro - Paris-Charles de Gaulle (PRn 12)

Paris, 06 June 2009 - 23:09 local time
Press release N° 12
Update on anemometric sensors

Following the many questions which have appeared in the media on the issue of the Pitot probes in its fleet (the Pitot probe is an instrument which measures the air speed of the aircraft), Air France wishes to make the following clarifications:

1) Malfunctions in the Pitot probes on the A 320 led the manufacturer to issue a recommendation in September 2007 to change the probes. This recommendation also applies to long-haul aircraft using the same probes and on which a very few incidents of a similar nature had occurred.

It should be noted that a recommendation from the manufacturer gives the operator total freedom to apply the corresponding guidelines fully, partially or not at all. Should flight safety be concerned, the manufacturer, together with the authorities, issues a mandatory service bulletin followed by an airworthiness directive (AD).

The recommendation to change the probes was implemented by Air France on its A320 fleet where this type of incident involving water ingress had been observed. It was not implemented on the A340/330s as no such incidents had been noted.

2) Starting in May 2008 Air France experienced incidents involving a loss of airspeed data in flight, in cruise phase on A340s and A330s. These incidents were analysed with Airbus as resulting from pitot probe icing for a few minutes, after which the phenomenon disappeared. Discussions subsequently took place with the manufacturer. Air France asked for a solution which would reduce or eliminate the occurrence of these incidents. In response to these requests, the manufacturer indicated that the probe model recommended for the A320 was not designed to prevent such incidents which took place at cruise levels, and reiterated the operational procedures well-known to the crews.

In the first quarter of 2009 laboratory tests suggested, however, that the new probe could represent a valuable improvement to reduce the incidence of high altitude airspeed discrepancy resulting from pitot probe icing, and an in service evaluation in real flight conditions was proposed by Airbus. Without waiting for the in service evaluation, Air France decided to replace all its probes and the programme was launched on 27 April 2009.

Without making any assumptions as to a possible link with the causes of the accident, Air France speeded up this programme and reminded its pilots of the current instructions issued by the manufacturer to cope with the loss of airspeed data.

Flight Air France 447 Rio de Janeiro - Paris-Charles de Gaulle (PRn 11)

Paris, 06 June 2009 - 22:17 local time
Press release n° 11
FLIGHT AF 447

Following the announcement by the Brazilian authorities that bodies have been found, Air France wishes to express its deep sadness and compassion to the families and friends of the passengers and crew lost on flight AF 447. This news is of capital importance to everyone.

Air France wishes to thank the Brazilian and French authorities for all the search operations they are carrying out in the Atlantic ocean, in spite of the difficult conditions.