Originally Posted by PM article linked in the post above
An even fuller picture emerged with the publication of a book in French entitled Erreurs de Pilotage (volume 5), by pilot and aviation writer Jean-Pierre Otelli, which includes the full transcript of the pilots' conversation.
I
disagree. Having read the book, I commented it
here.
The "picture" in Otelli's book indeed adds some points to the data contained in the BEA's last interim report, but on the other hand it lacks of data/information on some other points.
=> Describing it as "fuller" is in my opinion a bit of an overstretch, and carries implicitely the impression that some things are "hidden" by "the authorities" (BEA), which constitute a polemic, not a fact.
---------
The quoted article lacks some nuances (which can be of importance, when really wanting to understand). Let's try to correct some of that:
02:06:50 (Bonin) Va pour les anti-ice. C'est toujours ça de pris.
Let's go for the anti-icing system. It's better than nothing.
"It's better than nothing." feels pessimist. The exact translation for that exists and is used in french: "C'est mieux que rien". That's not what the pilot said.
"C'est toujours ça de pris." is optimistic. They turned on the anti-ice,
as a precaution against potential icing conditions. They didn't turn on the anti-ice
as a mean to try to limit an already bad known problem.
02:08:07 (Robert) Tu peux éventuellement prendre un peu à gauche. On est d'accord qu'on est en manuel, hein?
You can eventually pull it a little to the left. We're agreed that we're in manual, yeah?
In french, "éventuellement" means eventually in the sense of "possibly". Not in the sens of "in the end".
02:10:31 (Robert) Tu redescends... On est en train de monter selon lui… Selon lui, tu montes, donc tu redescends.
Descend... It says we're going up... It says we're going up, so descend.
The BEA report differs :
2 h 10 min 33: (PNF) Selon les trois tu montes donc tu redescends
=> According to the three you’re going up so go back down
"Les trois" (the three) is important, it means the PNF refers to 3 indications (either the 3 ADIs, or the ADI and the V/S and the altimeter)
...
I leave it there, just wanting to
try and convince you:
1/ to read the article (it's interesting in quoting extensively Otelli's book, only published in french
AFAIK)
2/ but to exercice caution. The advertised "full transcription" (and implicitely "full explanation") is marketing to sell paper...
Cheers
AZR