This is from a weeks-old interview with the AF459 captain and copilots, who all wish to remain anonymous. The original is at Le Figaro - France : «J'ai traversé le pot au noir20 minutes après le vol AF447».
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According to one of the two F/Os, “this cloud formation was hard to locate because there was no lightning.” AF459 made a 70nm detour while AF447, flying 20 minutes ahead, must have gone through that zone, the F/O added. However, his captain would not confirm that last point.
Pilot Error Unlikely
The AF459 flight crew noticed nothing unusual crossing the “black hole”. “Except for the cloud formation, flight conditions were normal and we heard nothing on the distress frequency. We also had no radio contact with AF447 before the accident, contrary to the rumor that has been going around for three weeks now.” Inflight, the captain had no knowledge of the disappearance of AF447. That part of the Atlantic is not covered by ATC frequencies that reach only 200 miles from the coast.
Approaching the Canary Isalnd, the AF459 captain established first contact with air traffic controllers. They asked him to make relay contact with AF447. “We radioed in vain on the distress frequency,” he said. “But we didn’t much worry about it because radio breakdowns on aircraft can happen. We also hoped another aircraft closer to its position might establish radio contact.”
The AF459 captain and crew first learned of the accident on arrival at CDG at 1135LT…The captain said human error was unlikely to explain the loss of AF447: “The preflight (=au depart) satellites photos were clear and any pilot knows how to use his radar.” If AF459 had managed to escape a particularly active cloud formation that was difficult to locate without increasing radar sensitivity, might AF447 have failed to increase it? “Sure, not everybody does that,” admits the AF459 captain.
Oddly, three weeks after the accident, the AF459 captain has not been interviewed by the BEA, which plans to publish its report at the end of the month. Contacted by Le Figaro, the BEA declined to comment on this point.