Fourteen years after the crash of the Rio-Paris flight, Airbus and Air France, tried for manslaughter, see justice render its decision on Monday April 17.
By Quentin Marchal for Le Point (with AFP)
© CHRISTOPHE PETIT TESSON / EPA
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Ihe worst French air disaster is still remembered. Justice decides this Monday, April 17 on the responsibilities of the crash of Rio-Paris in 2009. Judged for manslaughter, the European manufacturer Airbus and the French company Air France, which dispute any fault in connection with the accident, incur 225,000 euro fine. Here are the five key dates of this accident, the deadliest in the history of Air France.
1er June 2009: a disappearance off the coast of Brazil
1er June 2009, flight AF447 between Rio de Janeiro and Paris crashed into the Atlantic in the middle of the night, a few hours after takeoff, resulting in the death of 228 people: 216 passengers of 33 nationalities on board, including 61 French, 57 Brazilians and 26 Germans, as well as the 12-member crew, made up of 11 French and 1 Brazilian. The first debris, as well as bodies were found the following days. But the wreckage was only located two years later, after a long search, at 3,900 meters deep.
READ ALSOTrial of flight AF447 Rio-Paris: the story of the crash
June 5, 2009: justice seizes the case
Four days after the accident, on June 5, 2009, a judicial investigation was opened in Paris against X for “involuntary homicides”. The Bureau of Investigation and Analysis (BEA) announces that the plane sent 24 automatic anomaly messages in four minutes, revealing in particular “an inconsistency in the speeds measured” by the Pitot probes, a device which makes it possible to determine the speed from the plane.
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Quickly, measurements are taken on devices of the same type. Air France announces the replacement of the Pitot probes on the A330 and A340 on June 9. On July 2, a first report from the BEA indicated that the failures of these probes manufactured by the French group Thales were “an element but not the cause” of the accident.
March 17 and 18, 2011: Airbus and Air France indicted for manslaughter
Nearly two years after the air disaster, Airbus and Air France were indicted for manslaughter on March 17 and 18, 2011. After the launch of a new phase of research, part of the aircraft cabin was located on April 2. The 1er and May 2, the two black boxes are fished out. On June 7, the body recovery operation ends: 154 bodies have been recovered since June 2009.
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The same year, on July 28, the families of the German victims accused the BEA of favoring the hypothesis of pilot error. The next day, the BEA identifies, in a new report, pilot failures. At the same time, he admits having removed from the report a passage pointing to the paradoxical functioning of the stall warning on the A330s, but denies having been pressured. On July 4, 2012, the report of the legal experts finally concluded that there was a combination of human errors and technical failures.
READ ALSOTrial of the crash of flight AF447 Rio-Paris: the pilots accused
1er September 2019: Airbus overwhelmed by an unpublished report
On July 17, 2019, the Paris public prosecutor’s office requested a criminal trial for Air France, whose “negligence” and “recklessness” were pointed out, but considered that there were insufficient charges against him. ‘Airbus. An unpublished report submitted on 1er September to justice by the families of the victims demonstrates, according to the latter, that Airbus knew since 2004 the weaknesses of the speed sensors. But the investigating judges pronounced a general dismissal for Airbus and Air France. The Paris prosecutor’s office is appealing.
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May 12, 2021: Air France and Airbus targeted by a lawsuit
On May 12, 2021, the Paris Court of Appeal decides that Air France and Airbus will be tried in correctional for “involuntary homicides”. An appeal in cassation by the European manufacturer and the French company is deemed inadmissible. Their trial begins on October 10. After nine weeks of hearing, the prosecution is asking for the release of the company and the aircraft manufacturer, considering that it is “not (being) able to request (their) conviction”.