APRIL 6, 2015
European and U.S. aviation agencies are poised to issue
safety recommendations as a result of last year’s crash of Air Algérie Flight
5017 in Mali.
Engine sensors on the MD-83 jetliner appear to have been
blocked by ice buildup triggering a sequence of events that ended in the crash,
the French air accident office, the BEA, said. The crew appears to have not activated
a deicing system, said the BEA, which is aiding the crash probe.
The plane crashed July 24 on its way from Ouagadougou to
Algiers. The accident killed all 116 people onboard. The flight was operated by
Spanish carrier Swiftair SA.
The information gathered so far in the probe has been shared
with the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration and the Cologne, Germany-based
European Aviation Safety Agency, the BEA said. The two are preparing guidance
to help crew avoid a repeat, according to the French air crash investigators.
The sensors on the MD-83 became blocked about two minutes
after the plane reached its 31,000 foot cruise altitude, the BEA said. That led
to erroneous data provided first on the performance of the right engine and 55
seconds later on the left engine.
The faulty data led the autopilot to make incorrect
adjustments leading to a loss of airspeed and a loss of control when the
autopilot subsequently deactivated. The crew was unable to recover the jet.
The crash appears to be only the latest in a series of
accidents that began as stalls at high altitude when the plane loses lift and
the crew fails to take appropriate measures to recover.
The final report into the crash of Flight 5017 is expected
in December, the BEA said in the update released on its website April 2.
Two similar events occurred, in June 2002 and in June 2014,
BEA said, though there were no serious consequences after the crew detected the
problem and responded appropriately. BEA will ask regulators to issue new
advice to pilots.
The plane was carrying 110 passengers and six crew. The
plane disintegrated upon hitting the ground.