I blogged about Scene Systems’ animation of Flight 1549’s landing in the Hudson here back in March. Great effort, but I noted that it would take hundreds more hours of work before it could be used in court. That’s because it did not appear that the animation accounted for and synchronized all the available data
The families of Michael and Anne Harris, the American couple on board Air France Flight 447, filed suit this week in Houston federal court. It’s the first lawsuit arising from the crash. The most frequently asked questions about this suit are:
Question: Aren’t the families jumping the gun? The 
black boxes haven’t yet been recovered, and may never be. For
Aviation manufacturers have long argued that victims should not be permitted to sue for aircraft design defects because, before any manufacturer’s aircraft leaves the ground, its design has to be approved and certified by the FAA. If the aircraft’s design is good enough for the FAA’s engineers, they argue, it should be good enough for the court system. Judges
The Yemenia Air flight that crashed near Moroni wasn’t built in the United States. It had no Americans on board, and no part of the flight was through U.S. airspace. The aircraft, however, was leased to Yemenia Air by a Los Angeles company, International Lease Finance Corporation, or “ILFC.” Could the Yemenia Air families successfully
Two months ago, Scene Systems — a litigation support firm — released its animation of Flight 1549’s crash into the Hudson. I posted here that, in all likelihood, the animation would not be admissible in court. The legal objection would be that the animation “lacked foundation.” For example, without information from the Airbus’ black boxes
Tim Vasquez is a meteorologist with Weather Graphics in Oklahomoa. He has plotted Flight 447’s flight path against GOES-10 satellite and other weather data. Vaquez’ work suggests Flight 447 penetrated two thunderstorm cells.
The image below, according to Vasquez, is similar to what the Flight 447 crew would have seen on its weather radar screen, assuming
Are the passengers’ families entitled to compensation for their loss? From whom? Does it matter what caused the crash? Can the families sue in the United States?
Air France is Responsible Regardless of the Cause of the Accident.
The Montreal Convention requires Air France to compensate the families as long as the crash was
Did the Pilots Attempt to Fly Through a Thunderstorm Intentionally? That’s very unlikely. Pilots avoid thunderstorms at all costs, because they know a thunderstorm can destroy any aircraft. Pilots use the aircraft’s on-board weather radar system to make sure they keep a safe distance. During the day, they can see the towering thunderstorms rising up to 50,000 feet and avoid them that way as well.
Did Lightning Destroy the Aircraft? Probably not. Lightning strikes are common. On average, each airplane is the US commercial fleet is stuck by lightning once per year. To protect against strikes, airliners are designed to route the electrical charge along the aircraft’s outer skin from one end ofContinue Reading Air France Flight 447: Lightning, Thunderstorms, and the Airbus
I blogged here on whether it was icing that caused the crash of Flight 3407, or whether the pilot simply pulled back on the yoke when he should have pushed forward. The NTSB’s animation, using data gathered from the aircraft’s black boxes, makes a strong case for the latter.
The video is 2