Part Statement by Air France (Google translation)
In today's La Depeche
Flight from Rio to Paris: Air France was aware of "a critical risk," said an association
Wreck of the Air France AF447 in the Atlantic Ocean, June 9, 2009 BRAZILIAN NAVY / AFP / File
The memorandum on the accident flight from Rio to Paris brought to justice by Air France shows that the company knew that the failure of speed sensors constituted a "critical risk" for flight safety, said Friday an association of victims.
"In this note, Air France officially valid problems pitot probes were a critical risk to flight safety and that she had full knowledge on the subject since exchanged a long time with Airbus," said AFP Audousset Jean-Baptiste, president of an association of families of victims, "Mutual Aid and Solidarity AF447.
"Who says + + for critical risk to flight safety, said disaster risk. For several months, we are told that it is impossible to hold a conclusion on the role of pitot probes. With this memorandum, Air France unambiguously valid Pitot probes that are central to the causal chain that led to the crash, "he added.
Counsel for Air France, Fernand Garnault, gave the court a memorandum on the A330 accident occurred on June 1, 2009 by 228 victims.
In this 15-page document which AFP has obtained a copy, the company considers itself beyond reproach, pointing alerting the authorities and questioned repeatedly by the European manufacturer Airbus incident in series (icing) recorded on the sensors manufactured Thales.
The company, however, point the finger at Airbus and Thales. "Airbus and Thales have considered these events as minor and inconsequential potentially catastrophic," the company said in its findings.
However, she believes that "it is impossible to establish with certainty a causal link between the malfunction of pitot probes and the accident," echoing the provisional findings of the Bureau of Investigation and Analysis (BEA) responsible technical investigations.
BEA believes that icing probes played a role in the accident but it can not alone explain the disaster.
The union representing Air France pilots Alter (minority) opinion on its side with this memorandum, the company confessed that it was limited only to regulatory procedures.
"We bump into a company that just says it did its job in informing the regulatory authorities but does not go beyond. She did not change the Pitot probe involved" on the long-haul fleet , said spokesman Chris Pesenti.
He stressed that the union's belief, one of the first to have revealed the failure of the pitot opinion after the accident, is that "if there had been no malfunction of pitot probes, the aircraft would arrived at destination ".
He said the new document filed in court shows that "the battle firms began to blame."
"We would prefer the truth to be made for such an accident does not happen again," he said.
Jean-Baptiste Audousset believes his side will note that this may be the merit of the various parties react.
"One positive is the fact that Air France puts in question directly but also Airbus DGAC, the BEA. This gives us hope that the language will finally be releasing," he concludes.