(05/24/2011) - As usual, much of the blame was placed on the pilots. silviolobo.com.br is always suspicious of explanations that portray pilots as suicidal idiots, considering they are talking about professionals with long careers, not newly trained ones. However, the information suggests:
First source: The newspaper "Wall Street Journal" cites sources who reportedly had access to the preliminary results from the black boxes of the Air France 447 Rio-Paris flight.
"apparently distracted by faulty speed indicators and did not react correctly to other crucial flight elements, such as aircraft pressure adjustment"
"that the pilots were apparently hindered by alerts from various automatic control systems activated when the plane entered a turbulence zone on the Rio-Paris route, but were also affected by severe icing that was not anticipated at an altitude of 10,868 meters"
"the pilots did not follow standard procedures to maintain aircraft stability, which caused the flight indicators to malfunction, and they waited for the parameters to return to normal"
Second source: German magazine Der Spiegel
"Ice on sensor is a possible cause of flight 447 accident, says magazine." This fact has been repeatedly published by the press since the accident occurred; it refers to the known problems with the pitot tubes.
"It also states that the aircraft commander was not in the cockpit when the plane encountered the first difficulties on its route. He reportedly rushed back to the cockpit and shouted instructions to his two co-pilots, who were less experienced than him." This does happen; on long flights, the pilot takes a nap and rests; that's what co-pilots are for.
News about the located black box:
The investigation team located and identified the Flight Data Recorder (FDR) memory module at 10:00 UTC this morning. It was brought back aboard the ship Ile de Sein by the Remora 6000 robot at 16:40 UTC.
A few minutes ago, the [[Bureau d'Enquêtes et d'Analyses]] - BEA announced that the black box from Air France flight 447 (accident of June 01, 2009) has been found.
As soon as the first information becomes available, rest assured that it will be translated and posted here.
In the meantime, you can follow directly by clicking here. (Vol AF 447 du 1er juin 2009)
First-hand again: The investigation team located and identified the Cockpit Voice Recorder (CVR) at 21:50 UTC on Monday, May 2, 2011. It was recovered and brought aboard the ship Ile de Sein by the Remora 6000 ROV at 02:40 UTC this morning, Tuesday, May 3, 2011.
