How AF447 was coined “Titanic of the Sky”
The Tragedy Surrounding Flight Air France 447
Hey everyone and welcome back to another case for the Midnight Murking Club!
Now, let’s take a flight back to 2009!
2009
It was a stormy night in the summer (June) of 2009. A plane traversing the Atlantic Ocean was on a routine flight from Rio De Janeiro to France.
The Air France 447, had aboard 216 passengers and 12 crew members. They encountered severe weather over the Atlantic, triggering a tragic series of events.
1st Warning
AF447 was only four hours into an 11-hour flight when things started to take a dark turn.
Around 2 am Pierre-Cedric Bonin’s (one of the flight crew) voice transmitted over the intercoms to the cabin crew to be ready for some turbulence as they entered the storm.
No one knew that within the next 15 minutes, everyone aboard would be dead.
Off Auto-Pilot
As they continued their flight through the tropical thunderstorm, the air temperature reduced which caused the pitot tubes (speed sensors) to ice over.
The pilots were completely on autopilot. They had to manually fly the plane.
Bonin took over the controls and decided to ascend even though the high external temperature would have been way less than ideal.
The plane was going up 7k feet per minute, then lost speed.
Seconds of Bliss
The plane stalled and the pilots were confused.
75 times the message “STALL” rang out through the cockpit.
Bonin and David Robert (the two copilots) tried to gain control of the plane. A while later, the pitot tubes had miraculously thawed and controls were given back to the pilots.
An interesting thing happened. Bonin pushed on the stick and tipped the nose of the plane up.
What happens next isn’t for the faint of heart.
Plane Meets Sea
The plane was ascending into the sky till it reached it’s maximum altitude. It stalled and then plummeted.
The plane began to descend at an increasing rate of 10k feet per minute. The angle of the plane switched to 41.5 degrees. It maintained this angle from sky to sea.
Control of the plane goes back and forth between Bonin and Robert as the Captain gives each instruction.
Note: Bonin for the entirety of the event has the stick pulled back. Raising the nose of the plane.
The “STALL” warning continues to ring throughout the cockpit.
.
The plane reaches 2k feet above the sea.
.
Bonin takes control once again and brings the stick back.
.
.
02:14:23 [Robert]: Damn it, we’re going to crash… This can’t be happening!
.
02:14:25 [Bonin]: But what’s happening?
.
02:14:27 [Captain]: Ten degrees of pitch…
The recording on the black box ends less than 2 seconds later.
The plane crashed into the sea. No survivors.
It remained lost for nearly 2 years.
Two Years Later
It took two years for an investigation team to locate the wreckage around 2.5 miles below the ocean’s surface.
They were able to obtain the black box recordings that recorded all of the tragic events on that fateful night.
Flying has since changed and questions surrounding automation came to light due to AF447.
Even today, more than a decade later, the events surrounding Flight 447 continue to fascinate and haunt aviation enthusiasts and investigators alike.
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References:
'Damn it, we're going to crash, this can't be happening': Air
Susannah Butter reports on the final moments of the French plane that vanished five years ago
Air France and Airbus cleared of involuntary manslaughter over 2009 crash