On April 17, Air France and Airbus were cleared of involuntary manslaughter charges following the crash of AF447 from Rio de Janeiro to Paris on June 1, 2009. The plane disappeared from the radar, and only five days later the first wreckage was found. An Airbus A330 crashed into the Atlantic Ocean.
The acquittal did not come as a surprise, however, the Attorney General of Paris said on April 27 that he intends to appeal the court's decision, “to make full use of the remedies provided by law.” , and refer the case for further consideration.
Family members of those who died on board the ill-fated flight expressed regret at the verdict, which said that while Air France and Airbus were responsible for several acts of negligence, no direct link could be established to the accident.
Flight AF447 crashed after after the Airbus A330 abruptly lost altitude. Investigators concluded that the stall was due to the aircraft's pitot tubes, which are used to determine flight speed and altitude by measuring airflow pressure, iced up during flight.
< p>At that time, Air France pilots received little training in how to deal with hovering at high altitude, and the captain, by coincidence, was not in the cockpit at the time of the accident.
After several years of litigation, Air France and Airbus stand trial for corporate manslaughter — the first case of its kind in France.
No one was prosecuted, instead both companies faced a maximum fine of €225,000 each.
The prosecutor's motion will show How will this high-profile case end?