Air France crew 'lacked training'

29 July 2011 Last updated at 20:48 GMT F-GZCP, the Air France jet which crashed, is seen here in an undated image The pilots of an Air France plane that crashed into the Atlantic in 2009 lacked adequate training, French investigators have found.

France's BEA authority said pilots had failed to discuss repeated stall warnings and did not have the training to deal with the hazard. Air France rejected the accusation.

BEA called for mandatory training in high-altitude stalling for all pilots.

All 228 people on board the Airbus 330 from Brazil to France were killed.

'No passenger alert'

BEA head Jean-Paul Troadec said that "the situation was salvageable" during the flight's final minutes.

Investigators said an account of those minutes, captured on flight recorders, concluded that the crew had failed to "formally identify the loss of altitude" despite an alarm ringing for nearly a minute.

"The first event which triggered it all is the disconnection of the automatic pilot following the loss of the speed indicators, very probably after they were frozen by ice crystals," said Mr Troadec.

"At this time the pilot should have initiated a procedure known as 'Unreliable IAS (indicated air speed)', a procedure which consists of taking an angle of five degrees, but the angle they took was far superior.

"That is why the plane flew upwards, the plane took a rapid vertical flight of 7,000 feet/minute... The angle they took was too much," Mr Troadec said.

The BEA report said the co-pilots in charge of the plane when the emergency began "had received no high-altitude training for unreliable IAS (indicated air speed) procedure and manual air craft handling".

The report also said that the pilots failed to alert passengers to the crisis as they struggled to regain control.

The authority issued 10 new safety recommendations, including mandatory training for all pilots in France to ensure they could handle a high-altitude stall.

A statement from Air France rejected the BEA's findings, saying that "nothing at this stage can allow the crew's technical competence to be blamed" for the crash.

"The crew on duty showed professionalism and stayed committed until the end to operating the flight. Air France salutes their courage and determination in these extreme conditions," it said.

Flight recorders were found this year

"The altitude-loss alarm was activated and deactivated several times, contradicting the real status of the aircraft, which contributed strongly to the crew's difficulty in analysing the situation," Air France said.

Airbus said it welcomed the report and would give full support to the process, so that the industry could "benefit from any lessons to be learnt from this event".

Air France and Airbus are being investigated for alleged manslaughter in connection with the crash.

"The BEA establishes the facts and makes recommendations based on those facts," AFP quoted Environment and Transport Minister Nathalie Kosciusko-Morizet as saying on RTL radio.

"As to who is responsible, that is up to the courts," she added.

Flight AF 447 went down on 1 June 2009 after running into an intense high-altitude thunderstorm, four hours into a flight from Rio de Janeiro in Brazil to Paris.

The wreckage of the plane was discovered after a long search of 10,000 sq km (3,860 sq miles) of sea floor.

1. 0135 GMT: The crew informs the controller of the flight's location

2. 0159-0206 GMT: The co-pilot warns of turbulence ahead before the captain leaves the cockpit for a rest break

3. 0208 GMT: The plane turns left, diverting from the planned route. Turbulence increases

4. 0210 GMT: The auto-pilot and auto-thrust mechanisms disengage. The plane rolls to the right. The co-pilot attempts to raise the nose. The stall warning sounds twice and the plane's speed drops. The co-pilot calls the captain

5. 0210 GMT: The stall warning sounds again. The plane climbs to 38,000ft

6. 0211-0213 GMT: The captain re-enters the cockpit. The plane is flying at 35,000 ft but is descending 10,000 ft per minute. The co-pilot says "I don't have any more indications", pulls the nose down and the stall warning sounds again

After location 6. 02:14 GMT: Recordings stop

Source: BEA. Note: Last known position = last known position before the plane's "black boxes" were retrieved

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Freed hostages return to France

30 June 2011 Last updated at 08:46 GMT The two men were greeted by a warm welcome when they arrived

Two French journalists held hostage by the Taliban in Afghanistan for 18 months have arrived in France, flying into an airport near Paris.

Cameraman Stephane Taponier and reporter Herve Ghesquiere were freed in circumstances that remain unclear.

The pair were kidnapped with Afghan colleagues near Kabul in December 2009 while on assignment for French TV.

Mr Ghesquiere said they were both in good health. "We were never threatened with death, never beaten," he said.

The two Frenchmen, who were working for French state television network France-3, had become some of the longest-held Western hostages in Afghanistan.

"There are lots of hostages in the world, I feel for those who are held hostage, and those who died in operations when they tried to save them," the forty-seven-year-old added.

"Until you have been a hostage, you can't understand but I really feel for them because it is over for us but still going for them."

'No regrets'

The pair, who had been embedded with French troops in Afghanistan, decided to gather material from an area known locally as "the Black Hole", according to the BBC's Christian Fraser in Paris.

In April 2010, after posting a video of the hostages on the internet, the Taliban said they had submitted a list of prisoners to French authorities that they wanted freed in exchange for the two journalists.

Mr Taponier, 46, and Mr Ghesquiere and one of the three Afghan colleagues with whom they were seized, interpreter Reza Din, were released on Wednesday. French officials have said that no ransom was paid for the men.

The other two Afghan translators had been released some time ago, French officials said.

After stepping on to the tarmac, the two embraced waiting relatives and shook hands with French President Nicolas Sarkozy and his wife.

Mr Ghesquiere, who was held in solitary confinement for the last eight months, said he did not regret his decision to work in Afghanistan.

"It's what I always wanted to do. I don't want to go back to Afghanistan tomorrow but [...] I want to do this job now more than ever."

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France follows US Afghan pullback

23 June 2011 Last updated at 10:08 GMT President Obama: "America, it is time to focus on nation-building at home"

French President Nicolas Sarkozy has announced the phased withdrawal of its 4,000 soldiers serving in Afghanistan.

A statement said the French would follow the timetable of US withdrawals announced by President Barack Obama.

Mr Obama said 10,000 US troops would pull out this year, with another 23,000 leaving by the end of September 2012.

Afghan President Hamid Karzai welcomed the move, but the Taliban dismissed it as "symbolic" and vowed to continue fighting until all foreign forces left.

At least 68,000 US troops will remain in the country after the 33,000 have been withdrawn, but they are scheduled to leave by 2013, provided that Afghan forces are ready to take over security.

However the US reductions just announced are larger and faster than military commanders had advised.

They told the president that the recent security gains were fragile and reversible, and had urged him to keep troop numbers high until 2013.

Correspondents say the enormous cost of the deployment - currently more than $2bn (?1.25bn) a week - has attracted criticism from Congressional leaders, while the public are weary of a war that seems to have no end and has left at least 1,500 personnel dead and 12,000 wounded.

There have also been changes on the ground, notably the killing in May of al-Qaeda leader Osama Bin Laden by US forces in Pakistan.

Mission change

Mr Sarkozy's announcement came shortly after that of Mr Obama's, and followed a telephone discussion between the two leaders on Wednesday, said the Elysee Palace - the presidential office - in a statement.

Continue reading the main story

This is a moment when President Obama can do what was unthinkable two years ago. He can defy the Pentagon. Early in his presidency it would have been too risky to ignore military advice”

End Quote Mark Mardell BBC North America editor The withdrawal of the approximately 4,000 serving French troops would be progressive and would take place "in a proportional manner and in a timeframe similar to the pullback of the American reinforcements", it said, beginning in the coming months.

The French president "stressed that France shared the American analysis and objectives and that it was happy with President Obama's decision".

Mr Obama's announcement, after a month-long strategy review, outlined the exit of the forces he sent to the country at the end of 2009 as part of a "surge".

In his speech, he said he had set clear objectives for the surge in December 2009 - to refocus on al-Qaeda, to reverse the Taliban's momentum, and train Afghan security forces to defend their own country.

His administration also stated the commitment would not be open-ended and that the withdrawal would begin in July 2011, he added.

"After this initial reduction our troops will continue coming home at a steady pace as Afghan security forces move into the lead. Our mission will change from combat to support."

Continue reading the main story Paul Wood BBC News, Kabul

With this announcement, President Obama has asserted civilian control over the military strategy in Afghanistan. The generals had wanted to keep their combat strength at the same level for this summer and next.

The political realities, including a certain war weariness on the part of the American public, dictated otherwise. Nato commanders believe they have begun to stabilise the south of the country but that some hard fighting remains ahead.

Increasingly that will fall to the Afghan police and army.

President Obama's announcement may also have a big psychological impact. Almost 70,000 US troops will remain but if Afghans think the West is running for the exits, some at least will consider switching sides to the Taliban.

The BBC's Paul Adams in Washington says the speech was all about reassuring the American public that the "tide of war" was receding.

Six thousand Americans have died in Iraq and Afghanistan and $1 trillion has been spent.

The initial withdrawal is expected to happen in two phases, with 5,000 troops coming home in coming months and another 5,000 by the end of the year.

The remainder of the surge reinforcements - 20,000 combat troops and an 3,000 deployed to support the operation - will be out by the end of September 2012, in time for the US presidential election.

Our correspondent says this is a quicker pace than most analysts predicted, and suggests the president does not feel he needs to leave the bulk of the surge force in place for another fighting season.

The second largest contributor to the international force in Afghanistan is the UK, which has more than 10,000 soldiers including special forces.

It has pledged to pull back forces by 2015 - and earlier if conditions allow.

US administration officials told the New York Times that the US military commander in Afghanistan, Gen David Petraeus, had not endorsed Mr Obama's decision. He recommended limiting initial withdrawals and leaving in place as many combat forces for as long as possible, they said.

Outgoing Defence Secretary Robert Gates and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton reluctantly accepted the reductions, the officials added.

Serious doubts remain about whether Afghan forces will be up to the task.

But President Karzai welcomed Mr Obama's announcement as "a good step for their benefit and the people of Afghanistan".

"I want the people of Afghanistan to be safe in their country with their own capable means," Mr Karzai said.

Security fears

There was a more ambivalent response from senior Afghan security officials who spoke to the BBC.

They stressed that neither the army nor police were yet capable of handling security alone, citing problems of enemy infiltration, drug addiction, and high desertion rates.

An Afghan official with the country's National Security Council said he hoped the withdrawal would take place progressively, and not in one fell swoop.

Continue reading the main story Dec 2004: 19,200Dec 2005: 22,400Dec 2006: 22,200Dec 2007: 25,700Dec 2008: 31,400Dec 2009: 71,000Dec 2010: 103,700March 2011: 111,000

Source: US defence department

"We look for a long-term commitment from the United States and the international community, one that will not allow Afghanistan to fall back to the pre-civil war and Taliban days," the official, who did not want to be named, told the BBC.

"We want to remind everyone, history shows that if you turn your [back] on Afghanistan, it will have negative consequences for you."

But a farmer in a volatile district in the north-eastern province of Kundoz told the BBC: "As far as I am concerned, the American forces didn't make a difference to me and my village. So if they leave it won't affect me.

"They supported militias, commanders who kill, rape and loot here. They are hated for that at my village.''

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France wants food price controls

22 June 2011 Last updated at 20:44 GMT High food prices have pushed up the cost of living in many developing economies French President Nicolas Sarkozy has called for the G20 nations to put in place tighter regulation of food commodity prices.

His comments came in an address to G20 agriculture ministers, who are meeting in Paris to devise ways to tackle the high cost of food.

"A market that is not regulated is not a market but a lottery," said Mr Sarkozy.

Formal announcements from the two-day meeting are due on Thursday.

France is leading the call for tougher limits on speculation in food commodities, but the UK is taking a more cautious approach.

"The question of speculation is one where the jury is out," said Britain's Agriculture Secretary Caroline Spelman.

"I think it is not obvious that it's the only reason why there is price volatility.

"I think it is principally because of supply and demand so we have to actually address the fundamentals in the market place if we are to get stable prices."

'Shielding consumers'

The meeting comes after the World Bank unveiled a new measure to provide protection from volatile food prices in developing countries.

Looking at the threat posed by volatile food prices, the World Bank has introduced a new risk management tool for the developing nations called the Agriculture Price Risk Management (APRM).

The organisation said, its new tool will allow better access to hedging, and thus shield consumers and producers of agricultural commodities from price volatility.

It will protect buyers from price rises in food-related commodities such as wheat, sugar, cocoa, milk, live cattle, corn, soybean, and rice, the bank said.

"With this new tool, we can help farmers, food producers, and consumers protect themselves against price swings, strengthen their credit position, and increase their access to finance," said World Bank President Robert Zoellick.

"This tool shows what sensible financial engineering can do: make lives better for the poor," he added.

Mr Zoellick said volatile food prices "the single gravest threat" the developing nations were facing.

"People are hungry for food and for action on a global level," he added.

The World Bank says that since June last year, rising and volatile food prices have led to an estimated 44 million more people living in poverty, under $1.25 (?0.77) a day.

It estimated that there are close to one billion hungry people worldwide.

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Air France jet 'plunged suddenly'

27 May 2011 Last updated at 15:55 GMT F-GZCP, the Air France jet which crashed, is seen here in an undated image The Air France jet which crashed into the Atlantic en route from Rio in 2009 stalled and fell in three and a half minutes, French investigators report.

The air accident investigations bureau (BEA) found the crew had struggled with contradictory speed readings just before the plane crashed.

The BEA statement did not look at the causes of the crash but one theory is that the jet's speed probes failed.

All 228 people on board were killed in the disaster.

The BEA findings were released in an online statement in response to speculation in the media over the findings from the flight recorders, only recovered from the sea this month.

A full report into the disaster is not expected until next year.

While cautioning against a rush to conclusions, Air France said on Friday that it appeared "the initial problem was the failure of the speed probes".

Since the crash, the air line has replaced the speed, or Pitot, probes on its Airbus fleet with a newer model, AFP news agency reports.

'Inconsistent speeds'

Ahead of Friday's statement, the BEA said it wished to correct "partial and more or less contradictory information published in the media".

It was giving "factual elements on the operation of the flight that... establish the circumstances of the accident but not the causes".

Flight AF 447 went down on 1 June 2009 after running into an intense high-altitude thunderstorm, four hours into a flight from Rio de Janeiro in Brazil to Paris.

One of the instruments showed "a sharp fall" in air speed as the plane entered a zone of turbulence, the stall warning sounded and the autopilot and auto-thrust disengaged, the BEA said in its statement.

As the plane slowed, it climbed to 38,000 ft (11,600m).

At the time, the captain was taking a routine rest, with the two co-pilots in control in the cockpit.

As the co-pilots struggled to understand what had happened, the captain returned but did not retake control.

For a period of less than a minute, speeds displayed on the left primary flight display were inconsistent with those on the integrated standby instrument system, the BEA found.

French investigators have been working on the theory that the speed probes malfunctioned because of ice at high altitude.

This may have set off an unpredictable chain of events.

'Skilled pilots'

According to the data released by the BEA, the captain was back in the cockpit two minutes and 48 seconds before the crash.

Investigators found the composition of the crew had been "in accordance with the operator's procedures".

Air France praised Captain Marc Dubois and his co-pilots, Pierre-Cedric Bonin and David Robert, as "three skilled pilots" who had "demonstrated a totally professional attitude and were committed to carrying out their task to the very end".

Those on board the jet came from more than 30 countries, though most were French, Brazilian or German.

The wreckage of the plane was discovered after a long search of 10,000 sq km (3,860 sq miles) of sea floor.

1. 0135 GMT: The crew informs the controller of the flight's location

2. 0159-0206 GMT: The co-pilot warns of turbulence ahead before the captain leaves the cockpit for a rest break

3. 0208 GMT: The plane turns left, diverting from the planned route. Turbulence increases

4. 0210 GMT: The auto-pilot and auto-thrust mechanisms disengage. The plane rolls to the right. The co-pilot attempts to raise the nose. The stall warning sounds twice and the plane's speed drops. The co-pilot calls the captain

5. 0210 GMT: The stall warning sounds again. The plane climbs to 38,000ft

6. 0211-0213 GMT: The captain re-enters the cockpit. The plane is flying at 35,000 ft but is descending 10,000 ft per minute. The co-pilot says "I don't have any more indications", pulls the nose down and the stall warning sounds again

After location 6. 02:14 GMT: Recordings stop

Source: BEA. Note: Last known position = last known position before the plane's "black boxes" were retrieved

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Air France recorder data 'intact'

16 May 2011 Last updated at 11:52 GMT The data on the flight recorders may help piece together what happened aboard the doomed jet Flight recordings from an Air France jet that crashed into the Atlantic Ocean in 2009 have been preserved and are readable, French investigators have said.

They said the material from the voice and data recorders, retrieved earlier this month off the Brazilian coast, will now be analysed.

The readings include the last two hours of the cockpit voice recordings.

All 228 people on board were killed in the disaster.

"Following operations to open, extract, clean and dry the memory cards from the flight recorders, BEA safety investigators were able to download the data over the weekend," the BEA air investigation agency said in a statement.

"These downloads gathered all of the data from the flight data recorder, as well as the whole recording of the last two hours of the flight from the cockpit voice recorder."

Summer report

Any information gleaned from the cockpit voice and flight data recorders will take months to process, investigators have said.

The report into the cause of the crash itself will not be ready before early 2012, although an interim report will be published in the summer, the BEA said on Monday.

Flight AF 447 went down on 1 June 2009 after running into an intense high-altitude thunderstorm, four hours into a flight from Rio de Janeiro in Brazil to Paris.

Those on board came from more than 30 countries, though most were French, Brazilian or German.

The wreckage of the plane was discovered after a long search of 10,000 sq km (3,860 sq miles) of sea floor.

View the original article here