LLast month, after nine weeks of hearings at the Paris Criminal Court, the trial of the crash of the Rio-Paris flight AF447 ended. The prosecutor did not require the conviction of the defendants – Airbus and Air France –, suggesting acquittal. Currently under deliberation, the judgment will be pronounced on April 17, 2023 and it will be possible to appeal for ten days.
This legal episode, almost 14 years after the accident, does nothing to improve flight safety, arriving too late, with, during the hearings, often very light arguments compared to aeronautical reality. Fortunately, the investigations of the BEA at Le Bourget, the work of experts, the audits conducted by the airline and the aircraft manufacturer have advanced flight safety, not only at Airbus and Air France, but in the global aviation community. No less than 45 pages of recommendations have been issued for the attention of European (EASA) and international (ICAO) authorities. Technological innovations and changes in procedures have made enormous progress, of which a non-exhaustive inventory can be drawn up.
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Icing not possible
Today, on board an Airbus A350 long-haul, icing of the Pitot tubes is a non-event. These sensors placed on the nose of the plane – which, blocked by ice, had disrupted both the navigation system, the speed information and the autopilot of the AF447 – are now relayed on the latest generation of ‘Airbus by an independent sensor located in the airflow of the Rolls-Royce engines. The advantage: the temperature prohibits icing. The speed obtained is correlated with inertial and GPS information which gives a speed relative to the ground and not relative to the air. On the screens facing the pilots, this NAIADS (New Air and Inertia Automatic Data Switching) discreetly signals its action with a red item on the speed indication. It disappears as soon as the Pitot probes become operational again.
A comparable system has been developed on the medium-haul A320 with the UAMM (Unreliable Airspeed Mitigation Mean) which strives to eliminate inconsistent information. It can be installed on devices already in service.
Avoid pilot errors
Technological brick after brick, aircraft manufacturers are offering increasingly automated aircraft where, in the event of a problem, a system helps and even relays the crew. The tragedy of AF447 clearly showed that the errors of the pilots (action to pull up, lack of reaction and identification of the stall) were the causes of the accident. A Boeing report from 2013 estimated that 80% of accidents were due to pilot error. In this context, Airbus is working to develop piloting aids capable of reducing the workload in the cockpit.
On the Airbus A350-1000 appeared the Automatic Emergency Descent System, delivered as standard. If the crew at the controls does not react within 15 seconds during an accidental depressurization, the Airbus A350 autopilot triggers a steep emergency descent, engines reduced, airbrakes extended. When the aircraft has reached a “breathable” altitude, where the air density is sufficient, around 4,000 meters (or depending on the terrain overflown, such as the Alps or the Himalayas), the flight of horizontal cruise resumed, the crew and passengers no longer being threatened by hypoxia. Oxygen masks are then no longer necessary.
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The medium-haul Airbus A220 (ex-Bombardier CSeries) is also equipped with this Automatic Emergency Descent. On the Falcon 10X, the latest from Dassault Aviation, pressing a button triggers a “recovery mode” (automatic emergency recovery) in the event of a stall, for example. The system, borrowed from the Rafale fighter, brings the plane back to a safe configuration. At Boeing, an “Uninterruptible Autopilot” has been developed with the equipment manufacturer Honeywell. This autopilot, which could only be activated from the ground, has given conspiracy theorists reason to believe that such equipment was installed on the Boeing 777 of Malaysia Airlines flight MH 370, which disappeared at sea.
Landing by video
DragonFly is a new step for the innovative subsidiary Airbus UpNext with this program inspired by biomimicry. It aims to push back the limits of aircraft piloting assistance via a battery of technologies, from artificial intelligence to voice and video recognition, via massive data collection. Current tests on an A350 simulate the incapacitation of a crew member. The aircraft generates a new flight plan and communicates with air traffic control and the airline’s operations control center. The choice of the alternate aerodrome, the descent and the landing are automatic, guided among other things by video cameras comparing the trajectory with images stored in the aircraft’s database.
Ejectable black box
EASA and ICAO, the European and international supervisory authorities, impose as quickly as possible, for aircraft performing public transport of passengers over maritime or hostile areas, the triggering of data transmission, facilitating the localization as soon as an emergency situation is detected on board (such as a deviation from the flight plan). Also, a new generation of flight recorders is under development. Combining sound (CVR) and data (FDR) recording, these black boxes will be placed one at the front and the other at the rear of the aircraft. The latter, moreover, will be ejectable, avoiding waiting two years to find it, as was the case, by 3,900 meters deep, for the AF447. Remember that that of the Malaysian MH 370 remains untraceable.
Training and information
At Air France, several audits issued no less than 35 recommendations which have been gradually applied. The programs and the number of simulator sessions have been reviewed. The four sessions are supplemented by remote training and presentations made by the flight safety officer. The novelty is the individualization of the flight simulator sessions with exercises chosen on the pilot’s weak points as well as special sessions at the request of the flight crew. The frequency of sessions has been increased to two every six months. The basic piloting is also revised regularly.
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The culture of procedures has been accentuated, and asks pilots in the event of a problem to refer strictly to the checklists, the flight manual and the company’s operating instructions. The respective roles of the co-pilot and the captain have been better specified. Both have the same technical skills acquired during qualification on the aircraft. Faced with a situation, the co-pilot must propose a solution knowing that the captain, based on his experience and the delegation received from the company, decides if necessary.