July 29, 2011, 7:39 a.m. EDT
Air France crash report seeks more pilot training
WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) -- A French civil aviation authority on Friday called for additional pilot training and new rules for how pilots take in-flight breaks after completing analysis of flight recorders recovered off the coast of Brazil from the 2009 Air France crash. The recorders, found in May after several ocean searches, showed pilots need better training for manual flight, including recovery from a stall at high altitude, according to the Bureau d'Enquetes et d'Analyses, responsible for investigations into civil aviation accidents. The report also concluded regulatory authorities need define additional criteria for periods when the captain in not in the cockpit to ensure better task sharing among co-pilots. Air France flight 447, and Airbus A330, crashed on June 1, 2009, killing all 228 onboard. Airbus is a unit of Europe's EADS.
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The French gov't believes more training and manual flight, with less automation, would have prevented this mishap. Former NWA pilots have experienced this on the A330 and recovered without incident.