Quick to blame weather... why?
Airbus crash: EU concerned about airline - CNN.com
France's transport minister, Dominique Bussereau told French television that inspectors in his country had also noted several faults on the doomed Yemenia Airways plane, Agence France-Presse reported.
"The company was not on the blacklist (of airlines banned from European airspace) but was being subjected to closer inspection by us and was due to soon be heard by the security committee of the European Union," Bussereau said.
The Airbus A310 was inspected in France in 2007 by the French civil aviation authority and "a certain number of faults had been noted."
"The plane had not since then reappeared in our country," he added.
However, Chris Yates, an aviation analyst for Jane's Information Group, said he suspected weather and/or airport failings were a greater factor in the crash than a technical fault.
"It's more than likely to be a weather-related incident. Having said that, you cannot rule out a maintenance issue," Yates told CNN.
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1) At this early stage how can Yates say that with such certainty?
2) Despite all the reassurance from pilots etc on this forum regarding the safety of aircraft in bad weather, why are so many 'specialists' so quick to cite weather as a probable cause of two recent crashes? It makes nervous travelers such as myself worry about flying in bad weather! 