Air France, Airbus Guilty in 2009 Rio-Paris Crash

Air France and Airbus were convicted by the Paris Court of Appeal on May 21 of involuntary manslaughter over the crash of Flight AF447, the Rio de Janeiro-to-Paris service that fell into the Atlantic on June 1, 2009, killing all 228 people on board. The ruling overturned a 2023 trial judgment that had cleared both companies. The appeals court fined each company 225,000 euros, the maximum penalty available for the offense. Airbus said it would appeal to the Court of Cassation, and French media reported Air France would do the same. ### Why did the appeals court reverse the earlier acquittal? The Paris Court of Appeal said Air France and Airbus were “solely and entirely responsible” for the crash, according to France 24’s report on the ruling. The judgment marked a reversal after prosecutors had initially supported acquittal at the first trial before changing course during the appeal proceedings. (usnews.com) Reuters reported that, under the French system, the appeal amounted to a new trial in which evidence was reviewed from scratch. Prosecutors had to show not only negligence by the airline and the manufacturer, but also a causal chain linking that negligence to the crash. ### What conduct did the court blame Air France for? (france24.com) Air France was found guilty of failing to provide pilots with training suited to pitot-tube icing scenarios and of failing to give crews sufficient information, France 24 reported. Pitot probes measure airspeed, and icing of those sensors became central to the case after the aircraft encountered storm conditions over the Atlantic. (usnews.com) The 2012 report by France’s BEA accident investigators had concluded that the crew put the Airbus A330 into an aerodynamic stall after mishandling a problem linked to iced-up sensors, Reuters reported. Prosecutors in the criminal case focused instead on alleged shortcomings inside the airline and manufacturer, including training and follow-up after earlier incidents. (france24.com) ### What did the court say Airbus failed to do? Airbus was faulted for underestimating the seriousness of failures involving the airspeed probes and for not taking all necessary steps to warn airlines urgently, France 24 reported. The manufacturer has disputed that assessment. (usnews.com) Airbus said in a statement on May 21 that it acknowledged the judgment and would lodge an appeal with the Court of Cassation following the conviction tied to Flight AF447. Reuters and other reports said the legal fight could continue for years because cassation review examines legal issues rather than retrying the facts. (france24.com) ### Why has this case lasted so long? Flight AF447 disappeared from radar on June 1, 2009 with passengers and crew from 33 nationalities on board, Reuters reported. The black boxes were recovered only in 2011 after a deep-sea search, and the BEA’s final accident report followed in 2012. (airbus.com) Relatives of the victims had pursued the case for 17 years, and some gathered in court for the ruling, according to Reuters. Family groups had argued that a conviction mattered less for the size of the fine than for formal recognition of responsibility after the first acquittal. ### What happens next in the French courts? (usnews.com) Airbus said on May 21 that it would file a cassation appeal, and French media including RTL reported that Air France also announced a cassation appeal. That step would send the case to France’s highest court for criminal and civil matters, where judges review whether the law was applied correctly rather than rehear the evidence. (usnews.com) The next milestone is the filing of those cassation appeals after the May 21 judgment. Until the Court of Cassation decides whether to uphold or quash the ruling, the AF447 case will remain open nearly 17 years after the crash. (airbus.com)