PILOT ERRORS 5

The crash of Air France flight 447 from Rio de Janeiro to Paris on 1 June 2009 aroused a great deal of emotion and, for a full two years, much speculation as to what had happened to that Airbus plane. Many theories were advanced, most of them being based on the failure of the Airbus’ Pitot tubes but few people imagined it could have just been the result of pilot error. It was only when the flight recorders were eventually found on the ocean floor at a depth of nearly 2½ miles (3,900 metres) that the truth finally came out.

Beyond the questions it raises about modern flight safety and pilot training, the Rio-Paris Crash will remain a textbook case in the annals of air transport.

Also in this book:

-   A First Officer jammed in his seat (Flight Air India Express 212)

-   A Captain asleep during an entire flight (Flight Air India Express 812)

-   A catastrophic oversight (Flight Spanair JKK 5022)

-   A Tupolev 154 goes into a flat spin (Flight Vladivostok Avia 352)

-   An exhausted Captain (Flight KA 804)

Jean-Pierre Otelli is a demonstration pilot at airshows and exhibitions. With more than 14,000 flying hours to his credit, he is also an aerobatics team leader and instructor.

He is an aeronautical expert and consultant for several media, and has written many successful books on air safety.

His publications have been translated into several languages.