“
We hear the voices of the co-pilots who are realizing that they have lost the plane
”.
The sound recording of the black boxes of the Rio-Paris flight, which crashed on June 1, 2009 causing the death of 228 people, was broadcast on Monday behind closed doors at the trial of Airbus and Air France.
The last four minutes of the Cockpit voice recorder (CVR), which memorizes the voices of the pilots and the noises from the cockpit, were broadcast at the start of the afternoon, without the press and the public.
Only magistrates, clerks and lawyers, civil parties and teams of defendants were authorized to enter the hearing room of the Paris Criminal Court.
Read alsoCrash of the Rio-Paris flight: Air France and Airbus in court
All had to turn off their phones and put them in a plastic bag to "
avoid any further disclosure
" of the recording, the president had warned on Thursday.
This broadcast was requested by the civil parties who felt that hearing the voices of the pilots was "
absolutely essential
" for the "
search for the truth
".
“
We heard voices from beyond the grave
,” said Me Alain Jakubowicz, one of the lawyers for the association Entraide et Solidarité AF447, as he left.
“
It was a terrifying moment, because we hear these pilots who repeatedly say that they have tried everything, they do not understand what is happening
,” he continued.
On the side of the cabin, “
we all had in mind a horror scenario, like those Hollywood films.
This is not what happened and for the families of the victims it is really very important.
Many people were sleeping, they were mowed down by death (...)
”, he added.
Read also Rio-Paris crash: judges order a dismissal for Airbus and Air France
In front of the room, civil parties were sounded and moved.
“
I dreaded this moment and it is even stronger than I could imagine
,” reacted Corinne Soulas, whose daughter Caroline died in the accident.
"
The pilots were lost, they didn't know what was happening to them, they were in total incomprehension
," she said, speaking of a "
very long but very short moment at the same time
".
Ophélie Toulliou, who lost her brother, said she heard three pilots "
who faced a situation they did not understand and which completely overwhelmed them, people who showed extraordinary composure and that we intend to fight to the end
".
"
The flight recorder hearing was an extremely powerful moment for everyone present
," an Airbus spokesperson said.
"
We join in the suffering of the relatives of the pilots and the victims who have been revived by listening to this recording
".
Air France's counsel declined to comment.
That night, at high altitude, the pilots of the A330 were surprised by the icing of the Pitot probes which are used to measure the speed of the plane, leading to the sudden disconnection of the autopilot.
They were unable to recover from the aircraft stall.
On Monday morning, the court viewed two Airbus videos, the second describing the maneuvers the pilots should have adopted to recover from the situation - videos derided by the civil parties as being worthy of an "
ideal world
" and not of "
reality
".
Read alsoAt the Rio-Paris trial, the four minutes and thirty seconds in the cockpit preceding the crash
In the afternoon, the manufacturer's defence, which refutes any criminal fault, questioned the experts of the first college mandated during the investigation, on the piloting rules, the attitude of the crew in the face of the weather situation, the fact that the "
least experienced
" co-pilot was at the controls...
“
Do you think the crew identified the failure?
“, asked in particular Me Simon Ndiaye.
The pilots had been trained in a procedure in the event that the speeds were not "
consistent with each other
", but this time there was "no
more speed at all
", explained the expert.
"
There was a form of amazement because the elements they had did not correspond to the mental image
" of what they had learned, he described.
Is resistance to the surprise effect part of the criteria for recruiting pilots?, questioned the second board of Airbus.
“
Among the military yes, but not among civilian pilots
,” replied the expert.
For the latter, “
the fundamental criterion is compliance with procedures
”.
