A good 13 years after the crash of a plane between Rio de Janeiro and Paris with hundreds of dead, the airline Air France and manufacturer Airbus have to answer for the incident in court. The trial against her on suspicion of negligent homicide begins today in Paris. The two companies face fines of up to 225,000 euros.
The Air France flight AF 447 disappeared from radar screens on June 1, 2009 en route from Rio to the French capital. The Airbus A330 crashed into the Atlantic, killing 228 people. The cause was unclear for a long time. It was not until May 2011 that the last bodies and the flight data recorder were recovered from a depth of around 4,000 meters. 28 Germans were among the victims of the accident flight.
The beginning of the proceedings follows years of legal tug-of-war. In 2019, investigating judges initially dismissed the case. The accident was due to a combination of elements that had never happened before. An appeals court then ordered the trial against Airbus and Air France last year. Both companies had denied responsibility for the fatal crash.
Ask about pilot training
Specifically, the nine-week process should be about whether the pilots were sufficiently well trained for extreme situations like the crash. The question could also arise as to whether the manufacturer Airbus underestimated the consequences of a failure of the so-called pitot probes for speed measurement. The probes iced up in flight. The crew was then overwhelmed with the situation, although the situation was manageable, according to an expert report in 2012.
For the survivors of the fatal flight, the start of the trial is a further stage in dealing with the guilt and a long-awaited date. “It’s really tiring,” Ophélie Toulliou, who lost her brother Nicolas in the plane crash, told French broadcaster TF1. “13 years of fighting just to have a public debate. It takes energy to go that far.” According to the newspaper “Libération”, there is also hope that the court case could contribute to greater flight safety.
For the bereaved, however, the process is not about money. Years ago, most of them came to an agreement with Air France and insurers about compensation payments. There is silence about the exact amounts. However, according to those affected, it is only about absolutely modest amounts.
