Sunday evening I finished reading and studying the French BEA's Final Report on the Air France A330-203 crash into the Mid-Atlantic on July 1, 2009... Well, I was left with a feeling of deep sadness and the acre flavour in my mouth that this could had happened to any crew flying modern planes everywhere... The ITCZ crossing is done every day by dozens of airplanes, without problems, though I've been told by some friends, ATPL pilots who fly, or flew in the past, with Iberia, it's always a tricky thing.
Not dangerous, but tricky.
In this convective area, around the equator in the Atlantic ocean, very active clouds developing vertically (Cumulonimbus, Cb in MET reports) are found, sometimes topping to 50,000 ft. This type of clouds must always be avoided at any height, 'cos they present a clear hazard to the flight safety.
Crews evaluate the situation in their route through the ITCZ, both in advance (strategic study) and when approaching the zone (tactical study). Sometimes the do not change their plane's flying path, sometimes they do.
The conditions for the ITCZ A330 crossing the night of the accident were not unusual. Turbulence was light, and the Captain did not considered any special change on the plane's path. He went to have a rest a couple of minutes before all started...
Captain was relieved by the second First Officer, who sat in the left seat in the cockpit, but he made not clear who of the two First Officers was the Relief Captain...
As I said before, at 0210 and 14 secs, the Auto Pilot (AP) disengaged. Some seconds later, the Auto Throttle (A/TR) disengaged too..., and a crew of two First Officers had to deal to a situation for they've never been trained...
Terrible.
I love you all.
TWRman
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