Research Paper on "Air France Flight 447 Accident Analysis"

Research Paper 11 pages (3305 words) Sources: 10

[EXCERPT] . . . .

The FO2 had logged 6,547 while the FO1 had logged 2,936 flying hours. This is an indication of the pilots' proficiency. They had also undertaken alternate law flying training over the course of their career. The Captain was a veteran in the route and he had a duty of monitoring systems and taking care of communication. It was communicated to the crew that they might fly into a convective zone linked to Inter- Tropical Convective Zone (ITCZ). An ITCZ as a weather pattern is very harsh. Many flights however go through such places without any incidents. Close to the INTOL point they made contact with Atlantico Oceanic Control Center. Their attempt of contacting DAKAR Oceanic didn't go through. On reaching the SALPU waypoint, they experienced a level of turbulence that was considered by the Captain as normal.

On dimming the lights, some bright flashes could be observed from the screen. The Captain remained calm as he was familiar with such a situation but the PF must have been disturbed as he was less experienced. He did not speak out his fears, though. (Dhavala, 2013). The PF might have been anxious. But French culture is high on power-distance and speaking to superiors is frowned upon. So the PF could not voice his concerns even when the pilot took a break and left him to handle the situation. This might have put too much stress on him and might have been a contributor to the accident (Dhavala, 2013).

Part Played by Human Errors

Lee Collins points out that the first thing that a pilot is taught is looking at the airspeed indicator. It is the cockpit's most critical instrument. Airspeed is very important. A lack of airspeed spells doom on the flight.



The AP had disconnected and the pilots had to take manual control of the flight. The FO1 (PF) was in control. The other FO was fine with this as it was expected that the FO1 was capable of managing the situation. The PFD recorded a dramatic drop in air speed and it read 60 knots down from 275 knots. The change was picked by the Integrated Stand-by Instrument System (ISIS) and there was a change to alternate law protections by the flight. When all the basic instruments had failed, shock and confusion surrounded the cockpit. Such a failure is rare (10/flight hour). The pilots could have been shocked by the failures that took place suddenly. No visual guides were available and they were flying at night in a thunderstorm (Dhavala, 2013).

Situational Awareness

The PF situational model based on Endlsley's three stage model give an explanation on the PF situation. He had encountered sudden CAS indicator changes in the middle of a thunderstorm. His comprehension of this was a loss of speed and so the aircraft's altitude and so concluded that worse situations would come if they remained at the same altitude. A decisions was reached to increase altitude and rise above the clouds. The stall warning could have been occasioned by fluctuating speeds and not a real stall (Dhavala, 2013).

Other Failures -- Theoretical Explanations, Decision Making Failure and Cognitive Information Processing

The crew called the Captain having recognized that they needed help. The captain was not able to make it to the cockpit for almost two minutes following the call, maybe because of the aircraft's wild motion. Since the two at the cockpit may not have been aware of this, their stress levels increased. They failed in communication as well as team work and failed to sufficiently discuss what was happening. The prevailing situation was not a loss of speed but a malfunctioning of the indicators. The actions the PF took set the aircraft on a continuous climb. The PNF realizes that the air speeds they have are unreliable as well as alternate law protections and makes a vague suggestion that the thrust should be controlled (BEA, 2012). The directions were not clearly gotten by the PF who at the time was struggling to maintain the stability of the aircraft.

The flight detectors indicated to the pilot to pull up based on erroneous calculations and while the pilots knew of the unreliability of the instruments, they followed the suggestions. Humans are prone to "automation bias" and are likely to trust signals given by instruments even when there is evidence pointing to their possible inaccuracy. The PF, for instance, had learned to pitch up the plane in case they wanted to gain altitude. The pilot paid attention to the instrument suggestion and acted accordingly. Such is a case of rule-based decision making (Dhavala, 2013).

The stall warning had been triggered and it came continuously. An initial warning was considered false. They attributed it possibly to inaccurate air speed. The A330 Instructor Handbook appreciated this and warns of the same and acknowledges that it might be disturbing. An error called 'escalation of commitment' might have contributed to the decision of the pilot to continue climbing. The pilot had reached a decision to climb and even though various signals were being given by the aircraft that would have advised him against that decision, he stuck with his decision to climb because he had high commitment to the decision. All the signals being given by the aircraft at this point were contradictory to the commitment to climb. Further, the PF failed to acknowledge the presence of the aircraft in alternate law. In normal law, a stall is not possible even with full side stick control. Knowing this, they must have depended on this fact and so perceived the stall warnings as not true (Dhavala, 2013).

On entering the cockpit, the Captain was greeted by two distraught pilots and a continuous stall warning. He may have been startled by what was going on as the situation that he had left as relatively stable had badly deteriorated. Further, the two were just telling him that they had lost control and had not the slightest idea of what was happening. The stall warning must have been caused by the speed of the aircraft reducing to 60 knots and the computers made the assumption that they were making a descent (BEA, 2012).

The pilots had therefore failed to effectively respond to the problems occasioned by the faulty indicators. Ice crystals had blocked the pitot tubes of the plane. The pitot tube form part of the system made use of in the determination of air speed. The auto pilot also disconnected and the appropriate reaction was unknown to the pilots. Such failures were a surprise to the crew. An over-handling in their response lead to the destabilization and further readings that were even more confusing. Failure of an appropriate response at the instance the auto pilot disconnected led to a multiple of problems, including totally losing cognitive control of the whole situation. Pointing the nose downward could have been a better response (CNN Wire Staff, 2012).

The pilots were warned of a high sink rate by the Ground Proximity Warning System. They were encouraged to pull up. This did not solve the stall problem and the aircraft, being so big, is incapable of making a fast climb. When faced with a complex situation like that, they failed to consider alarming the passengers and the cabin crew. Their preoccupation was with the unfamiliar situation at hand. This resulted in the aircraft crashing and killing all people who were aboard (Dhavala, 2013).

Lessons Learned -- Improvement in Training Programs and Selection Procedures

The transcripts of Air France 447 give information that will make sure not one pilot makes the same mistakes that those pilots made. Beginning then, every pilot thinks of the flight in case a stall warning is registered at such altitudes. Airlines are changing their training programs to instill habits which could have rescued the doomed flight: focusing on weather and the activities of surrounding planes; stating explicitly who is in charge in case two pilots are in the cockpit alone; comprehending alternate law parameters; and getting used to hand-flying in all flight phases (Collins, 2014).

The method of recruitment and selections determine the capabilities that every organization will have. Selection, classification and recruitment procedures that are effective, save resources and time and better the job performance quality. They are key in ensuring worker satisfaction, productivity, organizational competence and operational readiness in military circles (Wise, Hopkin & Garland, 2010).

Current trends and advances in Advanced Automation and Crew Resource Management

The crash brings to light the concern that aviation might be plagued by a subtle menace, a menace that comes about because of the constant need to make airlines safer. In the years past, the building of airlines has incorporated more automated flight-control functions. These functions could eliminate a great portion of the danger in aviation (Collins, 2014).

Work is also ongoing in crew resource management, advanced automation as well as simulation training on performance of aircrew. The initial CRM training in the U.S. can be traced back to a 1979 workshop… READ MORE

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