Investigators have revealed details about the Air France crash of 2009 after finding the flight data recorders a few weeks ago.   The three pilots fought the controls of the jet for 4 minutes after it stalled – initially climbing to 38000 feet (commercial jets, depending on the wind,  tend to fly at around 33000 feet).   The aircraft stalled, then plunged towards the ocean – a minute before the plane hit the water one of the three pilots who has been identified as the most senior,  took the controls.

Too late.   All 228 people aboard the Airbus SAS A330 were killed when the jet plunged into the ocean on June 1, 2009, en route to Paris fromRio.

What has emerged so far is that the pilot in command (PIC) had left the cockpit for the standard rest period.  Pilots are not allowed to fly for longer than six hour stretches, and trans-Atlantic flights sometimes have 2 entire crews (pilot and co-pilot, and engineer) who exchange seats.  So here is the detail from the professional pilots rumour network.  Don’t be put off by the title – its the definitive zone for all those involved in aviation.

New findings

At this stage of the investigation, as an addition to the BEA interim reports of 2 July and 17 December 2009, the following new facts have been established:

ˆˆ The last recorded values were a pitch attitude of 16.2 degrees nose-up, a roll angle of 5.3 degrees left and a vertical speed of -10,912 ft/min.

There has been some comment about the pitot tubes which register static v active pressure differentiation.   Looking at this description above,  all pilots will tell you that there was a major problem with either these devices, or the system that contains the vacuum within the instrumentation.

Poor pilots had no chance if their instruments were reading incorrectly …

My aeroplane has to go in for a major checkup or MPI as its known.  Not that I own the ‘plane.  I’m a struggling iHack etc etc.  The owner needs to send it in every couple of hundred hours for a thorough physical –  wheels up and fuselage open.  But I’m going to pine while it reclines in the engineers’ parlour,  flashing its wing nakedly at strangers.  

The plane is a STOL special,  Short take off/land – previously mentioned in a blog, it’s a Maule 180 HP Super Rocket.  Well named, for anyone trying to land it for the first time.  My 25000 hour instructor tells me that when pilots are arrogant and think they’re good,  he chucks them into the Maule in a cross wind and says “land the baby”.  Most can’t and need a few hours battling the little beastie into runway 24 or 06 at Lanseria – even with thousands of hours.  It bites.  

In my case it took an interminable 20 hours to get used to the cross wind landings.  That’s after 130 hours of flying.  A beginner,  but not too much the beginner as not to know how to land a plane.  Or think you can.  Clearly an arrogant S.O.B.

Such is the difficulty of flying the Maule.  

It’s also built for tough and short African or American bush strips.   As the manufacturer told my instructor,  Russell.   “The nose wheel is bigger than usual to cope with the gophers” being designed for use on dusty backwoods prairie landing strips.   

But before I bore you to tears,  this is just a note about machines of loving grace.

Maule MX 7 Super Rocket, not for the faint hearted (landing it .. that is) - this is an American registered version

In recent blogs we’re chatted about machines and people and how the two sometimes fail to intersect.    That can be fatal in aeroplanes – while merely irritating in cars.

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