AF 447 Thread No. 5

[vanHorck]

In my post #952 I wrote:

this in my view should be read as 2 separate statements made by the captain

CAP: Là je sais pas
That one I have no idea of

CAP: là ça descends
That one indicates a descent

Subsequently a consensus seems to emerge (#966 #968) that my analysis may be wrong and it is more likely the "Là je said pas" is intended to suggest that the CDB does not know what is going on as a reply to the question of the PF asking what is going on.

One needs the original recordings for the intonations to decide the intention of the wording. Perhaps there is a French native captain who can answer this:

If one wanted in French to reply to an urgent question (from a junior) of what is going on, I believe the proper answer would be: "je ne said pas" or " je ne said pas encore" (I do not (yet) know).

By adding "Là" if taken on it's own it is almost an expression of non-responsability in the sense of "don't ask me" (!!) or at the very least a form of very casual talk, not likely in this situation.

Is this explanation correct?

In French "Là ... et Là ..." is often used to point at different subsequent things.

I am not accusing any pilot just trying to get to the cockpit management issues at hand