Air France says it’s cooperating with safety experts probing a July incident in which an Airbus A340 jet gained altitude sharply after the autopilot disengaged, mirroring developments before 2009′s deadly Flight 447 crash.
“Air France is working with investigators on this incident,” airline spokesman Cedric Leurquin said.
The July 21 flight from Paris to Caracas encountered extreme turbulence before the autopilot shut down, according to an internal incident report published by newspaper Le Figaro.
Flight AF447 from Rio de Janeiro to Paris plunged into the Atlantic after airspeed sensors were blocked by ice, causing the autopilot to disengage, the BEA says. A junior pilot incorrectly forced the jet into a sharp climb and continued to do so even as it slowed to an aerodynamic stall, where the wings lose lift.
In the case of the July Caracas flight, the internal report makes no mention of speed sensors. The BEA is investigating why the autopilot switched off and why the plane climbed sharply to 38,000 feet from a cruising altitude of 35,000 feet, it says.
Investigators have so far stopped short of explicitly blaming the pilots for the 2009 disaster – but their reports have highlighted mistakes they said were made on the flight deck.
Pilots’ unions and Air France insist the faulty flight equipment was mostly to blame. Both Airbus and Air France are facing criminal probes in France and lawsuits on both sides of the Atlantic.
“This incident certainly takes on a particular importance in the light of the Rio-Paris accident,” a source close to the investigation was quoted as saying.
“It will help us to understand whether there was a problem with the Airbus or in the training received by flight crew in manual aircraft handling at high altitude,” the source said.
The BEA confirmed it had opened an investigation, but refused to say whether the flight experienced problems similar to the 2009 crash of the Airbus A330.
Le Figaro said the report showed that like AF447, the A340 hit severe turbulence while cruising at 35,000 feet, and accelerated rapidly, causing the autopilot to switch itself off.
The jet then climbed sharply and began to lose speed, as with AF447, but managed to remain in flight thanks to a reduction in the turbulence and the rapid response by the crew, the newspaper said.
An airline security source close to Airbus told Le Figaro the July incident was clearly complex, and would revive speculation over the aircraft-maker’s role in the 2009 crash.
The BEA air accident authority has said the pilots lacked training to handle the freezing of speed sensors and failed to discuss stall alarms as the Airbus jet plummeted 38,000 feet.
Air France disputes this and says instruments went haywire.
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