The current accident investigation status for Air France Flight 447, an Airbus A330-203, lost 1 June 2009, enroute Rio de Janeiro to Paris can be found here.
A330 Apparently Stalled, Impacted The Ocean Descending More Than 10,000 FPMIt turned out to be a 2001: A Space Odyssey sort of adventure, with the A330 flight computers playing the part of "Hal" to the pilots' "Dave".
The French accident investigating agency BEA has released a document culled from the initial findings from the Air France Flight 447 accident which occurred nearly two year ago. The report indicates the Airbus entered a deep stall from which the cockpit crew was unable to recover. While icing on the speed sensors is not specifically mentioned, the pilots do indicate that "we've lost the speeds."
A friend of mine, a former C-130 and AC-130 pilot, sent me an EMail in which he repeated a story he had heard, wherein an A330 Instructor Pilot said that he tried to deal with the scenario in the Flight Simulator and almost lost control of the aircraft. And he noted that if he had been in actual turbulence the margin would have been thinner.
There are those who will bring up the two "terrorists" on board, but it appears they have been ruled out as the cause. For more details on the flight and subsequent mishap investigation, there is a Wikipedia entry, here
In the mean time, fly Boeing for a while.
Regards — Cliff
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