Air France and Airbus pleaded not guilty today to charges of involuntary manslaughter in the 2009 A330 crash. More than 13 years after an Air France plane with 228 people on board crashed into the sea en route from Rio de Janeiro to Paris, the airline and the aircraft manufacturer face accusation in a court of law.

All occupants of Flight AF447 were killed when the plane crashed into the Atlantic Ocean during a storm in the early hours of June 1, 2009. It took two years to recover the bodies and cockpit recorders, which were located at a depth of approximately 4,000 meters. The crash was the deadliest in the history of Air France. The Airbus A330 was carrying 12 crew members and 216 passengers.

Investigators determined that the crew was overwhelmed after the so-called Pitot speed control tubes of the Airbus A330 became frozen, preventing hem from providing clear readings. The families of the victims and some aviation experts claim that the pilots were insufficiently trained to cope with the loss of speed caused by the freezing of the crucial equipment. The problem of the freezing of the Pitot tubes had already been reported by other pilots before the crash. In the months following the accident, these tubes were replaced worldwide. The crash also prompted a revision of pilot training protocols.

The top executives of Air France and Airbus, Anne Rigail and Guillaume Faury, expressed their condolences during the opening statement of the trial, which will take about nine weeks. Families of several victims did not appreciate the statement and shouted "shame" and "too little, too late" throughout the argument.

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* Origin: AVIATION ECHO HQ (2:292/854)