Air France Flight 447 (abbreviated AF447) was a scheduled commercial flight from Galeão International Airport in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil to Charles de Gaulle International Airport in Paris, France. On 1 June 2009, the Airbus A330-200 aircraft serving the flight crashed into the Atlantic Ocean, killing all 216 passengers and 12 crew. The accident was the deadliest in the history of Air France[4][5] and has also been described as the worst accident in French aviation history.[6] It was the deadliest commercial airliner accident to occur since the crash of American Airlines Flight 587 in New York City in 2001[7] and the first fatal accident involving an Airbus A330 airliner in passenger service.
While the investigation is still awaiting formal conclusion, preliminary reports of the BEA stated that the aircraft crashed following an aerodynamic stall caused by inconsistent airspeed sensor readings, the disengagement of the autopilot, and the pilot making nose-up inputs despite stall warnings, causing a fatal loss of airspeed and a sharp descent. Additionally, reports indicated that the pilots had not received specific training in "manual airplane handling of approach to stall and stall recovery at high altitude", and that this was not a standard training requirement at the time of the accident.[8][9]
The reason for the faulty readings is unknown, but it is assumed by the accident investigators to have been caused by the formation of ice inside the pitot tubes, depriving the airspeed sensors of forward-facing air pressure.[10][11][12] Pitot tube icing has contributed to airliner crashes in the past – such as Northwest Airlines Flight 6231 in 1974.[13]
The investigation into the accident was initially hampered by the lack of eyewitness evidence and radar tracks, as well as by difficulty finding the aircraft's black boxes, which were located and recovered from the ocean floor in May 2011, nearly two years after the accident.[2][14]
The final report will be released in a news conference on 5 July 2012.[1]
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