[Jarate Lover]

It has emerged that the pilot of the doomed 2009 Air France flight may have been preoccupied with a woman when the plane went down over the Atlantic Ocean — killing 228 people.

Black box recordings reportedly show that it took Captain Marc Dubois over a minute to make it back to the cockpit after his co-pilots lost control of flight 447 during a severe thunderstorm.

Why he was so slow to arrive has never been determined, but according to ABC News, two sources have come forward saying the 58-year-old was at the time travelling informally with an off-duty Air France flight attendant, Veronique Gaignard.

Dubois was on a break when the plane ran into trouble after entering a tropical storm.

Co-pilots David Robert, 37, and Pierre-Cedric Bonin, 32 desperately called on Dubois when the Airbus A330 began rolling from side to side in the storm.

Bonin was left in control for most of the ensuing decent, while Robert took over one minute from impact.

The flight, which was travelling overnight from Rio de Janeiro to Paris on May 31, 2009, stalled and plunged belly-first for three-and-a-half minutes at 195km/h, before crashing into the sea and killing everyone on board.

Source: http://news.ninemsn.com.au/world/848...lane-went-down

[RichyZ]

totally worth it
   yeah that was in bad taste sorry :(   

[zakedodead]

Was she hot?

[mobrockers2]

I don't see what he could have done that the co-pilots didn't try already so what is the problem here?

Edited:

zakedodead posted:

Was she hot?

When are flight attendants not?

[fixture]

zakedodead posted:

Was she hot?

does it matter?

[voltlight]

zakedodead posted:

Was she hot?

?

[zakedodead]

fixture posted:

does it matter?

If she wasn't then he would be a complete asshole. If she was it would be forgivable.

Edited:

This is, ofcourse the famous Clinton Principle of Relative Ugliness.

[Valdor]

I think the plane would have crashed regardless of where the pilot was. Doesn't seem like the copilot just fucked up and did something wrong, and rather the plane was losing control from the storm.

Edited:

Unless I'm completely wrong in my assumption that copilots aren't complete morons and are able to fly the plane relatively well.

[gamefreek76]

Valdor posted:

I think the plane would have crashed regardless of where the pilot was. Doesn't seem like the copilot just fucked up and did something wrong, and rather the plane was losing control from the storm.

Edited:

Unless I'm completely wrong in my assumption that copilots aren't complete morons and are able to fly the plane relatively well.

I agree with you. It was most likely a mechanical problem.
Planes don't just crash because the pilot is distracted. They have backups and backups for their backups.

[Saxon]

This could of happened when he had to go take a piss, you can't really prepare for these kinds of things.

[Awesomecaek]

Valdor posted:

I think the plane would have crashed regardless of where the pilot was. Doesn't seem like the copilot just fucked up and did something wrong, and rather the plane was losing control from the storm.

Edited:

Unless I'm completely wrong in my assumption that copilots aren't complete morons and are able to fly the plane relatively well.

gamefreek76 posted:

I agree with you. It was most likely a mechanical problem.
Planes don't just crash because the pilot is distracted. They have backups and backups for their backups.

stalled and plunged belly-first for three-and-a-half minutes at 195km/h, before crashing into the sea and killing everyone on board.

I don't know, but three and half minute stall sounds something that should be manageable by a skilled pilot. There was plenty of time. They would have to be really pants on head retarded, or their controls didn't work at all.

[Elexar]

Awesomecaek posted:

I don't know, but three and half minute stall sounds something that should be manageable by a skilled pilot. There was plenty of time. They would have to be really pants on head retarded, or their controls didn't work at all.

theres no way u can recover a heavy as fuc plane plunging down belly first, u got that downward momentum so u gotta take a nose dive to recover fast and commercial planes dont work like that

[Zakkin]

Next level road-head.

[Awesomecaek]

Elexar posted:

theres no way u can recover a heavy as fuc plane plunging down belly first, u got that downward momentum so u gotta take a nose dive to recover fast and commercial planes dont work like that

So they had 3.5 minutes of "we gonna die" moment? Must have been fun.

[Edthefirst]

Awesomecaek posted:

I don't know, but three and half minute stall sounds something that should be manageable by a skilled pilot. There was plenty of time. They would have to be really pants on head retarded, or their controls didn't work at all.

Also you do realize there was failure in shitloads of sensors on the outside of the plane due to icing right? During the whole thing, the pilots really had no idea where the fuck the plane was pointed since their instruments weren't giving out accurate readings.

[Ripvayne]

Zakkin posted:

Next level road-head.

[fruxodaily]

Mile High Club?

[David29]

I have to say, I don't like this. Why is the media automatically assuming that the pilot was getting off with her just because he was travelling with a woman? It seems rather immature: "Oh, the pilot took a while getting back to the cockpit. Oh, he must have obviously have been getting some acton LOL!".

I hate it when people make slanderous assumptions when they have no idea about what actually happened.

[shian]

And think about the families involved.

[JeanLuc761]

David29 posted:

I have to say, I don't like this. Why is the media automatically assuming that the pilot was getting off with her just because he was travelling with a woman? It seems rather immature: "Oh, the pilot took a while getting back to the cockpit. Oh, he must have obviously have been getting some acton LOL!".

I hate it when people make slanderous assumptions when they have no idea about what actually happened.

We have a very unfortunate habit lately of desperately searching for someone...ANYTHING to put the blame on rather than just accepting that an accident happened and there was nothing we could do. But no, can't have that, it was clearly someone's fault and they need to be destroyed!

Sorry if that sounds a little overdramatic but it is an attitude we've seen a lot and honestly I'm tired of it. Sometimes horrible things just happen and people need to stop going on a witch hunt every time they do.

[cooljeff]

sure had his fucking priorities in order and what the fuck dont these fucking planes fly themselves today fuck this shit

fuck you all too

why do you even discuss this shit, who cares.

[David29]

JeanLuc761 posted:

We have a very unfortunate habit lately of desperately searching for someone...ANYTHING to put the blame on rather than just accepting that an accident happened and there was nothing we could do. But no, can't have that, it was clearly someone's fault and they need to be destroyed!

Sorry if that sounds a little overdramatic but it is an attitude we've seen a lot and honestly I'm tired of it. Sometimes horrible things just happen and people need to stop going on a witch hunt every time they do.

Not overdramatic. I couldn't agree more.

[Awesomecaek]

JeanLuc761 posted:

We have a very unfortunate habit lately of desperately searching for someone...ANYTHING to put the blame on rather than just accepting that an accident happened and there was nothing we could do. But no, can't have that, it was clearly someone's fault and they need to be destroyed!

Sorry if that sounds a little overdramatic but it is an attitude we've seen a lot and honestly I'm tired of it. Sometimes horrible things just happen and people need to stop going on a witch hunt every time they do.

I think that thing is that it should be understood what exactly happened, and why, and make sure it doesn't happen ever again.

[Ryenoru]

http://www.popularmechanics.com/tech...ce-447-6611877
Really good article describing how the plane went down with audio transcripts from the black box aboard the flight. It's pretty much accepted at this point that it was indeed pilot error that caused the plane to go down, not REALLY a mechanical failure. (I say really because there are some slight mechanical troubles, but they're not the kind that ever should crash a plane.)
And yes, the commanding pilot of the flight was absent during the entire episode right up until the last minute, this includes the entire portion of the flight where there was extreme turbulence that should've tipped him off to at least be present in the cockput.

[DienDwemar]

The plane went down and so did she?

[NeonpieDFTBA]

I watched a BBC documentary on this recently. Of course, it was independent experts rather than the official inquiry, but their conclusion was that the little sensors on the outside that detect the aeroplane's speed got clogged up with ice, which meant that all the onboard auto pilot systems went down because they all need that data, leaving the pilots with no information at all. They had to fly the plane without any auto pilot or instruments, in a large and powerful storm.

[Itachi_Crow]

zakedodead posted:

If she wasn't then he would be a complete asshole. If she was it would be forgivable.

Edited:

This is, ofcourse the famous Clinton Principle of Relative Ugliness.

are you legitimately retarded or something because every thread i've seen you post in has pointed to the answer being "yes"

[Groat]

Groat's handy guide to recovering from a plane stall:

1: Determine if you're stalling or still on the ground.
2: Point nose down.
3: Slowly increase thrust.
4: Pull out of dive and level as you increase thrust.

I learned this in ARMA II, so for fucks sake if the copilot couldn't figure it out.

[Cone]

zakedodead posted:

If she wasn't then he would be a complete asshole. If she was it would be forgivable.

so are you genuinely this stupid or are you going to backtrack and say it was a joke again

[JustExtreme]

This comment from the article puts it very well.

comment from article posted:

Question: What makes this news relevant? The Captain was on his break; believe it or not, flying a plane is exhausting, and as a result, the flight crew are not only entitled, but are required to take regular breaks. In the case of long distance flights, such as South America to Europe, they even go back and can have a sleep in the crew's sleeping quarters. During this time, a relief crew/Captain takes over where the original crew member(s) operated. Therefore, no matter what the Captain was doing on his break, there should have been a full flight crew on the deck, who are no different to the original crew. If you haven't figured it out yet, this is done as a precaution that in the event of an emergency, where the original crew is unavailable (due to toilet, fraternization, zipper accident, injury - in the emergency, or anything), the aircraft is in capable hands.
What I'm getting at, is that regardless of what the Captain was doing on his break, it has no bearing on the outcome of the accident, therefore, why does this reporter feel the need to sully the Captain's name and reputation - as well as the image of pilots around the world - with this useless piece of questionable information.

[Stinky Jeff]

Groat posted:

Groat's handy guide to recovering from a plane stall:

1: Determine if you're stalling or still on the ground.
2: Point nose down.
3: Slowly increase thrust.
4: Pull out of dive and level as you increase thrust.

I learned this in ARMA II, so for fucks sake if the copilot couldn't figure it out.

Well done you figured out how to recover from a stall in a fighter jet built for maneuverability, not a heavily laden commercial airliner.

[timmyvos]

Groat posted:

Groat's handy guide to recovering from a plane stall:

1: Determine if you're stalling or still on the ground.
2: Point nose down.
3: Slowly increase thrust.
4: Pull out of dive and level as you increase thrust.

I learned this in ARMA II, so for fucks sake if the copilot couldn't figure it out.

There's kinda difference between a 16 ton fighter plane made for speed and manoeuvrability and a 200 ton Airbus made for flying in roughly a straight line.

Edited:
Beaten by about a second.

[Groat]

Stinky Jeff posted:

Well done you figured out how to recover from a stall in a fighter jet built for maneuverability, not a heavily laden commercial airliner.

Actually that works in the AN-2s, C-130s and the IL-72 Cantid as well, depending on altitude and severity of the stall.

Considering the altitude of the jet in question, you'd think he would have had ample time to work the nose downwards.

[timmyvos]

Groat posted:

Actually that works in the AN-2s, C-130s and the IL-72 Cantid as well, depending on altitude and severity of the stall.

Considering the altitude of the jet in question, you'd think he would have had ample time to work the nose downwards.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stall_(flight)
You might want to look at the "Deep stall" part of the page. It shows you that stalls in general aren't that simple and getting out of one, especially in a very stressful situation, is pretty bloody hard.

[ChestyMcGee]

Groat posted:

I learned this in ARMA II, so for fucks sake if the copilot couldn't figure it out.

yeh he must have skipped that lesson in flight school where they use arma 2 to teach advanced avionics malfunctions and deep stall recoveries lmao what a scrub!

[C:\]

That's like saying 'I can shoot a gun because I did it in BF3'.

[Itachi_Crow]

Groat posted:

Groat's handy guide to recovering from a plane stall:

1: Determine if you're stalling or still on the ground.
2: Point nose down.
3: Slowly increase thrust.
4: Pull out of dive and level as you increase thrust.

I learned this in ARMA II, so for fucks sake if the copilot couldn't figure it out.

wow! it's a wonder you aren't a certified pilot with all that intense training and experience!!

[DeathDoom]

Groat posted:

Actually that works in the AN-2s, C-130s and the IL-72 Cantid as well, depending on altitude and severity of the stall.

Considering the altitude of the jet in question, you'd think he would have had ample time to work the nose downwards.

If we're going by video game experience, have you ever opened up Flight Simulator X and taken out a commercial airliner? Because I can tell you that flying one isn't nearly as easy as taking out a F-35 in ArmA II. Getting out of a nose-down stall even in ideal conditions is extremely difficult if not impossible. I don't even want to imagine how difficult it would actually be to fly that in real life. Add to that the fact that they were flying in a tropical storm with fucked up sensors, they were dead the moment the plane stalled.

[loopoo]

Guys, during a storm this one time the plane I was travelling in hit an air pocket / pressure pocket (whatever it's called) and dropped a few hundred meters. I can honestly say it was the most gut-wrenching feeling I've ever experienced. You feel all your organs push up and you get this horrible light feeling and it just makes you feel dreadful. Experiencing that for a full three minutes must have been such a terrifying and god-awful experience.

Honestly one of the worst ways to go.

[supertribute]

She'll find Earheart somewhere and she's now alive and cannibal.