Flight 447

[Francesca D'Angelo]

I have been obsessed with learning every detail about flight 447 that crashed in 2009. The details are horrific and are my exact nightmare relized.
The fact is that it can happen at any time, we are depending on strangers to know what they are doing
My fear of flying has gotten to the point I can't go places anymore. The thought of getting on a plane makes me sick
My question: how did so many things go wrong on flight 447? I just can't seem to get past it. It fell out of the sky. 

[Julie H]

Hi Francesca

I booked a flight with Air France for October a day or two before this report came out, I've avoided reading the detail. I'm hoping it didn't just fall out of the sky and I'm hoping also that Captain Keith will be on here to reassure us on this one! I guess we have to take reassurance that lessons will have been learned and hopefully this won't be repeated in the future.

Julie.

[Francesca D'Angelo]

Hi Julie-

 Like most disasters there were a multitude of things going wrong. The two biggest is that the co-pilots were ill equipped with proper knowledge when the auto-pilots disengaged after the this special sensors failed or froze. They just did not have the  capability. They could not get their bearings and kept raising the nose of the plane and ignoring several stalling warnings. The plane eventually stalled and they went into a free fall that lasted 3min and 30 sec. They said what the people experienced was "horrific". My fear of flying has become very troublesome, i cant even think of getting on a plane and now this? I mean they were all settled into their fligh, 700 miles into flight, prob watching a movie or something. Its literally giving me nightmares!!!

Julie H said:

Hi Francesca

I booked a flight with Air France for October a day or two before this report came out, I've avoided reading the detail. I'm hoping it didn't just fall out of the sky and I'm hoping also that Captain Keith will be on here to reassure us on this one! I guess we have to take reassurance that lessons will have been learned and hopefully this won't be repeated in the future.

Julie.

[Julie H]

Francesca

Are you booked on a flight soon?

Hopefully you can overcome this with some words of wisdom from Keith.

Julie.

[Francesca D'Angelo]

Thanks! No i havent flown since 2010 and avoided flying this year by opting to drive 10 hours instead. I can not even picture getting on a plane.

[Captain Keith]

NO IT CAN NOT HAPPEN ANY TIME!

Sure it happened once but that doesn't mean it will happen again.  Why not say there were 500,000 safe flights this week and they will do the same next week. It's not helpful to you, to take this one flight all those years ago and keep thinking that it's  a common event.  Millions and millions of flights have taken place since that crash.

It did not fall out of the sky...the wings were stalled it was still flying at over 120 miles per hour. That's not 'falling' oin the way you are using the word.

IGNORE the press reports please. You depend on strangers everyday of the week ...how do you know that your household electrics are wired up the right way round? They would still work but could be deadly on some occasions. Do you trust the traffic signals to work properly...suppose they didn't. How dop you know a dangerous germ isn't in the household water supply....all these things have happened once...do you worry about them everyday?

Who said what the passengers were feeling...that's nonsense that anyone could be certain...in fact there's plenty of evidence to show that people face imminent death with peacefullness. Anyway how did these passengers know what was happening...there were no indications inside the cabin that would have shown what was happening.

Sorry I'm so direct but facts are facts...facts help. Press sensationalism makes you feel the way you do . IGNORE IT!

If you want to know the facts...ask me please and I'll be dellighted to help you.

Keith

[Captain Keith]

Hi Julie

Yes you're right ...many lessons have been learned. LOTS OF TRAINING PROCEDURES HAVE BEEN REVIEWED AND  REVISED.

Julie H said:

Hi Francesca

I booked a flight with Air France for October a day or two before this report came out, I've avoided reading the detail. I'm hoping it didn't just fall out of the sky and I'm hoping also that Captain Keith will be on here to reassure us on this one! I guess we have to take reassurance that lessons will have been learned and hopefully this won't be repeated in the future.

Julie.

[Claudia Flores]

I think about this flight everytime I get on a plane. Probably will do it for long time. good to know I am no  the only one obssesed.. Still, having this facts is quite reassuring.

As always, thanks Captain Keith!!!

CB

Captain Keith said:

NO IT CAN NOT HAPPEN ANY TIME!

Sure it happened once but that doesn't mean it will happen again.  Why not say there were 500,000 safe flights this week and they will do the same next week. It's not helpful to you, to take this one flight all those years ago and keep thinking that it's  a common event.  Millions and millions of flights have taken place since that crash.

It did not fall out of the sky...the wings were stalled it was still flying at over 120 miles per hour. That's not 'falling' oin the way you are using the word.

IGNORE the press reports please. You depend on strangers everyday of the week ...how do you know that your household electrics are wired up the right way round? They would still work but could be deadly on some occasions. Do you trust the traffic signals to work properly...suppose they didn't. How dop you know a dangerous germ isn't in the household water supply....all these things have happened once...do you worry about them everyday?

Who said what the passengers were feeling...that's nonsense that anyone could be certain...in fact there's plenty of evidence to show that people face imminent death with peacefullness. Anyway how did these passengers know what was happening...there were no indications inside the cabin that would have shown what was happening.

Sorry I'm so direct but facts are facts...facts help. Press sensationalism makes you feel the way you do . IGNORE IT!

If you want to know the facts...ask me please and I'll be dellighted to help you.

Keith

[Ricardo Groenke]

Hi guys.  I'm new to this forum and thought I'd comment in this very topic, since It is exactly one of the things that triggered my fear of flying.  I used to get on planes and actually enjoy every bit of it.  After this event in 2009, I started feeling nervous before and durign flights.  It got worst to the point I started to avoid flying every chance I had. I've learned a lot in the past few months which has helped me overcome this fear.  Recently I read about this flight again and the official report about the reasons why this tragedy happened.  From what I've learned to this moment, it actually helped to know that it was human error rather than just a "plane malfunction".  I have learned that a plane that stalls may start to fall but it can also recover, and I have learned that pilots are trained on how to do this. I used to worry a lot about the fact that in my mind, this plane crashed because something mechanical or electronic had failed, and nothing could have been done.  Knowing that this was more related to the crews performance, has removed one of the biggest factors that fed my fear.  It was very unfortunate and sad that this happened, but I know that it wasn't out of mere chance and it comforts my mind, to be honest. One of my biggest fears was that planes could just break or fail when flying and cause the plane to crash.  I have learned that it doesn't work that way and I believe that good information is very important and very helpful to deal with this fear of flying.  It takes time, but I can say I feel better about flying today than I did 2-3 months ago.

[Captain Keith]

Hi Ricardo

I hope we can help you gain more confidence and give you the support that you want

Captain Keith

[Farkas Julia]

From what I have read, this sensor failed many times before on other Airbus models and Air France was not diligent about replacing them with another brand that is better. I wonder what did the other pilots do when this happened. They also lacked training in what to do when a plane stalls, yet they somehow managed to use their common sense and not lift the nose-up.

[Captain Keith]

Good point,

Although there had been problems previously none occurred in the same circumstances of this flight.

With regard to the brand quality I think that issue arose because it was europe or US aiming to be the main supplier. I 'd discount that angle.

[Captain Keith]

Great answer!

Keith