Would you fly with this ass. at the controls? passenger, journalist, Airbus A320 family, aircraft pilot, airplane | 34K views, 176 likes, 1 loves, 48 comments, 47 shares, Facebook Watch Videos from. If you remove management edicts and substitute human judgment, you can eliminate 19 out of 20 errors. [1] Here's one I remember seeing a few years ago in Canada. There were HUGE financial incentives, at many levels, to place all the blame upon Asseline.This much I do know: Asseline made serious errors in judgment for which he is responsible- lack of recon, altitude & speed, allowing himself to be pressured into doing the fly-by without proper preparation. The fact the plane took over in the end should have been of no concern to him and his passengers had he followed the rules and flown at 500ft. Asseline had total confidence in the aircraft's computer systems. On this Wikipedia the language links are at the top of the page across from the article title. The plan was to overfly Runway Ought-2; the aircraft was configured for a low-altitude overflight. Menu. Air France didn't inform the crew of this critical change (yet the crew voices are recorded on black boxes, and they use imperial units). Nor, then, were his passengers. The flight plan originally filed did not include the flyover of the Habsheim Air Show, which was added on the morning of the flight. At 450 feet, the pilot monitoring the captain flying informed him that the plane would reach 100 feet at 14:45. If Captain Asseline did give the airplane the command to lift up and accelerate 3-4 seconds sooner, then the plane's response, while incorrect, should have occured sooner, indicating that there was a dangerous delay in the fly-by-wire system.-- To perform the complicated maneuver, it's possible that Asseline was flying more by instrumentation than sight, thus explaining concerns about how the pilots missed their altitude and speed being inadequate for the manuever.-- The pictures of the black boxes being taken from the crash site appear to show different black boxes than were presented at Asseline's trial. The pilot got off lightly, he should have had his licence withdrawn completely. Asseline was initially sentenced to six months in prison along with twelve months of probation. Its about commercial aviation, and Ive tried to include all the relevant facts for you to draw conclusions. The computer didnt know he meant just to pop up a few hundred feet. Heres a story about me and you. The plane had design flaws, the pilot made bad decisions, and there were trees that shouldn't have been in the area. I just saw the nat. Asseline fcuked up big time and killed 3 people. Captain Asseline was victim of strange circumstances, and his imprisonment had no reason.Kjeld Olsen, Denmark. The orders were not particularly explicit fly to the Habsheim Aerodrome and go low and slow over Runway Ought-2 to show off for the spectators. Everyone airminded in France knows that Michel Asseline, who was an Air France chief pilot instructor at the beginning of the Airbus A-320 era and PIC in the A-320 that crashed at Mulhouse-Habsheim airfield in June 1988, resumed his career some years after the accident as a Boeing-737 pilot in Australia. Aside from the strong evidence that Air France, Airbus and the nation itself may well have had a hand in falsifying data related to the crash, there are several very important points to take away in this very sad and tragic story. The combination of these issues and possible pilot error results in a crash into a nearby forest that kills three passengers. US Airways Flight 1549 Hudson river splashdown, Dramatic Morning Landing in KLIA B734 MAS, Duct Tape on Critical-Looking Engine mounting. Business & Commercial Aviation BUSINESS & COMMERCIAL AVIATION CHALLENGING AIRPORTS LEARNING FROM TEST PILOTS [2], The official investigation was carried out by the Bureau of Enquiry and Analysis for Civil Aviation Safety (BEA), the French air accident investigation bureau, in conjunction with Air France and Airbus. Everything from the Goodyear blimp to the Zeppelin, Night Photos Why be a sucker? When he increased throttle to level off at 100ft, the engines did not respond. Much of this stock was held in the names of various family members and shell corporations. As Air France's technical pilot, he had been heavily involved in test flying the A320 type and had carried out maneuvers beyond normal operational limitations. The captain would make a low-level fly-pass over Runway 02, climb up and turn back, and repeat the fly-pass over the same runway in the reciprocal direction (Runway 20). Captain Asseline was initially sentenced to 6 months in prison along with 12 months of probation . Help Center Contributor Zone Polls. Michel Asseline. He was not qualified for what was, essentially, display flying. The flight plan originally filed did not include the flyover of the Habsheim Air Show, which was added on the morning of the flight. Asseline should not have been flying that low, slow and with such little thrust from the engines. The combustion chambers clogged and the engines failed. As usual, I believe the truth is somewhere in the middle. [1] A training captain since 1979, Asseline was appointed to head the company's A320 training subdivision at the end of 1987. One was a disabled boy in seat 4F who was unable to move. I'm definitely beside the driver. However, while the pilots were trained in metric, this particular plane was in Imperial units. instead of only 30ft trees they could have easily been larger. His job was to find its limitations, but one slipped past him, and Airbus and all the designers and engineers. Any doctor who tries to practice in medicine today, except for my colleagues in Direct Primary Care, live in the world of Captain Michel Asseline every day. Captain is The Best. ), You can read more about this here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Air_France_Flight_296. National Association of Veteran Affairs Physicians and Dentists (NAVAPD) is the official national organization of VA physicians and dentists who proudly serve our nation's veterans. However, the elevators did not respond to the pilot's commands because the A320's computer system engaged its "alpha protection" mode (meant to prevent the aircraft from entering a stall). The A320 had been recently introduced, and Flight 296 was the first passenger flight of the A320. He also claims he recognized that spectators were on a different runway than the one included in his flight plan. Theres many more lessons to be learned about the practice of medicine from the story of Prisoner Michel Asseline sorry, Captain Michel Asseline. [2] Additionally, the captain was expecting from the flight plan to do the pass over runway 02 (3,281 feet (1,000m) long, paved) and was preparing for that alignment. One and a half years after this accident it is still not known why this crash happened. *Management often screws around. your own Pins on Pinterest You are Captain Michel Asseline. It threatened to ruin the reputation of the A320, potentially losing many millions of dollars in sales. You sound very biased towards the pilot.No wonder you completely missed the point that the Flight Data Recorder's data was tampered with, with the crucial seconds intentionally cut off from the magnetic tape that would confirm the plane's delay in response to his increase in thrust in his attempt to lift the plane over the treetops. The A320 had been recently introduced, and Flight 296 was the first passenger flight of the A320. What is crucial is to understand the threats that can lead to errors, look at how those threats can be mitigated, and have procedures in place that allow errors to be caught and resolved before they become a safety event. Who went to prison? Ten minutes after the crash, the first of the fire trucks arrived. A passenger tried to open the left-side overwing exit. But because of the forest, only the smaller vehicles were able to reach the wreckage. Some seconds later the aircraft touched the tops of the trees behind the runway and crashed into a forest. The Digital Flight Data Recorder (DFDR) continued to operate for about one second, then recorded nonsensical data for another two seconds. Asseline should've used Radar Altimeter when flying at such a low level. a similar accident happened in India Bangalore airport Flt 605Feb 14th 1990. the aircraft took 8seconds to respond. He is dangerous and shouldn't be flying. As a retired air crash investigator, I have examined this crash in great detail. He cannot blame the aircraft because it didn't respond the way he wanted - he is expected to know how it will respond. The DFDR was read the same night by the Brtigny sur Orge Flight Test Centre: Investigators found that the aircraft had been airworthy, that its weight and centre-of-gravity had been within limits, and that there was no evidence of mechanical or electronic systems failure. The official report from BEA concluded that the probable cause of the accident was a combination of the following: Furthermore, the bureau concluded that if the descent below 100 feet was not deliberate, it may have resulted from a failure by the crew to take proper account of the visual and aural information available to them regarding the elevation "above ground level" (AGL) of the aircraft. Overflight at this altitude made the demonstration to the crowd even more awe-inspiring. But now that the aircraft was performing its flyover at only thirty feet, the crew noticed the aircraft was lower than the now-identified hazard that they were fast approaching. Captain Asseline was flying to Mont Blanc, period. The crash was a great embarrassment to Air France and Airbus, a European company with deep roots in France. [2], By this time, the fire had entered the right side of the fuselage through the damaged floor section between seat rows 10 and 15. Plane" and included an interview with Captain Michel Asseline, survivors, and accident investigators.[10]. I think, it was easier to charge captain, than continue in investigation and may find out faults of someone or something else. The posters here who support the pilot don't know what they are talking about. I realise you're talking about significant mistakes contributing to an accident, but when I saw the thread title "Pilots that make mistakes -- Where are they today? Since the plane was going slow, the computer overrode his input, and denied the maneuver. Three seconds later, the undercarriage is extended. This was a tragic incident. Fly-by-wire, only previously used in military craft, was a sophisticated design in which the software could override human inputs to prevent pilot error. I sincerely believe that AirBus was involved but not with a planned coverup. The Captain begins to flare the aircraft (he lifts the nose 4) to level its flight. Today, the captain, Michel Asseline has lost his French pilot license for 8 years. It threatened to ruin the reputation of the A320, potentially losing many millions of dollars in sales. Air France was especially impressed with the A320, which was the first fly-by-wire airplane ever to carry passengers. Why well to see were i am landing first to know that what i have been given as a map of the airport is infarct correct.That the runway I am landing on has no trucks parked on it performing maintenance or potholes that have not been repaired or reported. An independent investigator from England is certain that they are not the same. Its systems would not allow for mistakes. By rejecting non-essential cookies, Reddit may still use certain cookies to ensure the proper functionality of our platform. Captain Michel Asseline got thrown under the Airbus. Christian Roger, a professional pilot, complained energetically about the fact-finding process around the crash. Traduzioni in contesto per "had the endorsement" in inglese-italiano da Reverso Context: I hope the Commission will pay very serious attention to them since they have had the endorsement also of the Regional Affairs Committee. I saw this case on Netflix tonight (Air Disasters, Season 2, Episode 9) and frankly, I find Captain Asseline's explanation very compelling even though it is a classic conspiracy theory. A report in Frontline magazine(the Hindu group). auto throttle at one of the floor limits) misjudged the situation (the length of the runway, and altitude of the plane), and didn't know the performance of the aircraft sufficiently well (engine spool up times) to safely perform the manoeuvre he was undertaking. Some faceless desk-pilot added on a trip to a tiny airfield on the day of the flight but did not bother to do the hard work of preparing the particulars necessary to do so. Wouldnt a 200-foot overflight be nearly as spectacular? After a few seconds, Asseline claims, he became worried that the plane's completely computerised throttle control had malfunctioned and responded by pulling the throttle all the way back then forward again. [1] A training captain since 1979, Asseline was appointed to head the company's A320 training subdivision at the end of 1987. This type of oversight, if you want to call it that, happens ALL the time, in programming software, as well as all other types of engineering. The flight attendant then began evacuating the passengers but they soon began to pile up at the bottom of the slide as their route was blocked by trees and branches. Everyone thought it was a no-brainer for the A320 to wow this crowd. [ 1,292 more word ] Guilty. A dry run or practice run should have been done before the show or and the pilot should have at least went and saw the airfield prior but he wasn't given any info until right before the flight. According to French law, Asseline was required to submit himself to the prison system before his case could be taken up by the Court of Cassation. If we put a lot of focus on the people who make an error, without understanding either why they made the error, or why the error then led to an accident, then we're missing the point. Captain Michel Asseline. Aside from the strong evidence that Air France, Airbus and the nation itself may well have had a hand in falsifying data related to the crash, there are several very important points to take away in this very sad and tragic story. He had to spot the airfield from the air and prepare to do the overflight. The day after the crash, French transport officials called a news conference to say the pilots were flying too slow and too low. Have you ever feared losing your job? To confirm, a close friend and colleague worked with M. Asseline for a simulator acceptance, and assessed him also as over-confident to the point of being arrogant. I am Captain Michel Asseline. The captain would slow the aircraft to its minimum flying speed with maximum angle of attack, disable the "alpha floor" (the function that would otherwise automatically increase engine thrust when the angle of attack reached 15) and rely on the first officer to adjust the engine thrust manually to maintain 100 feet. Do you think the safety override crashed the plane when it forced the nose down, and the crash was inevitable? But upon seeing the Aerodrome, the pilot saw that the audience were gathered elsewhere, on Runway 34R. COLMAR, France (AP) _ The pilot of an Airbus A320 jetliner that crashed during a 1988 air show, killing three passengers while hundreds watched, was sentenced to six months in prison Friday. Even if no one had died even if there had been no accident he would have and should have been charged with endangering the safety of the passengers. He gave the best he could to make it fly. In order to accomplish the desk-pilots orders, the pilots valuable time was spent jiggering the preparations for the overflight, not allowing him to evaluate strategic details like why fly a plane at 30 feet if there are 100-foot trees at the end? Jul 7, 2021 - This Pin was discovered by Beatrizfalitz. Get a job criticizing nobody blames you for doing that. Captain Michel Asseline got burnt doing a routine, everyday maneuver that his plane just couldnt handle, one that an open-cockpit biplane could. Not only was he told to go there, he was told the wrong runway to overfly. I am Captain Michel Asseline. I think the best example of this case would be Captain Lyle Prouse - he went to jail for flying a passenger flight while drunk, lost his job with NW as well as his FAA licence, and ends up being rehired, regained his licence & retired from NW as a 747 captain. One of the worst things you can do if a pilot makes a mistake, is fire him thinking that the problem is solved. 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