Hi all, long time lurker, first time poster here. I find this thread very intriguing. What I find most intriguing of all is that some contributors feel that it is neccessary to apportion blame in a disproportionate manner.
Quote:
"To place blame anywhere but on the pilots is fundamentally wrong".
To place blame squarely on the shoulders of the pilots is also fundamentally wrong. All accidents, be they industrial, aviation or even road traffic accidents; rarely, if ever, have a single outright cause. There are almost always several causal factors involved. Said causal factors are already being explored so I will not delve into them in detail here.
Yes, the pitot issues were known and documented. Yes, pilots are trained to deal with unreliable airspeed readings, but past incidents have shown that when pilots are faced with unreliable instrument readings combined with constant, paradoxical, and conflicting warnings, overwhelming confusion can ensue. It can happen to any pilot, no matter how well trained or proficient they may be.
As a glider pilot, I only fly VFR. I have been exposed to unreliable/no airspeed readings as part of my training syllabus, and it is a very trying experience, even with outside visual references and no alarms to divert your attention. The point I wish to make is that I cannot even begin to imagine what it would be like to be faced with the situation that the pilots of AF447 experienced that night. Thus I cannot pass judgement on the actions of the crew, and neither can anyone who has not experienced a similar mind boggling, overwhelming scenario.
In addition, I feel that the blame/punishnent culture that is seemingly so prevalent these days (in all walks of life) does absolutely nothing to further the cause of improving aviation safety. If anything, it acts as a monumental hindrance, in such a culture people are less likely to come forward and admit to errors or shortcomings. As a result, such issues remain unknown and thus cannot be rectified, and will likely resurface in future with potentially disastrous consequences....
The aviation community needs to study this tragedy in depth, and learn from it, rather than waste precious time on the narrow minded, counter productive pursuit of worrying about who is to blame.