Evan, I just read the Spiegel article (talk about disaster porn!) It reasons from debris that the least-experienced pilot was in the captain's seat when they lost the autopilot. Maybe if the captain had not been resting (assuming he was), he would have chosen to divert. Maybe the junior pilot felt uncomfortable with a decision like that and hoped to be relieved before it became impossible. I still am scratching my head why none of the ATC's radioed about the decision of the other captains with regard to the weather.
I'm also wondering if any flight plan across the ITCZ wouldn't plan for diversion to avoid violent storms. It has been said repeatedly that "there was nothing unusual in the weather that day". So if flying a zigzag path is to be expected, fuel loads should comfortably cover that. If luck is with them and they get to fly straight, then they land with fuel to spare.
The Spiegel article said there was some sort of 300,000 euro/plane upgrade that Air France hasn't chosen to add. OK, maybe I can understand that, but to also trust to luck that diversion is unnecessary is something only an executive who hates passengers would do.
I'm also wondering if any flight plan across the ITCZ wouldn't plan for diversion to avoid violent storms. It has been said repeatedly that "there was nothing unusual in the weather that day". So if flying a zigzag path is to be expected, fuel loads should comfortably cover that. If luck is with them and they get to fly straight, then they land with fuel to spare.
The Spiegel article said there was some sort of 300,000 euro/plane upgrade that Air France hasn't chosen to add. OK, maybe I can understand that, but to also trust to luck that diversion is unnecessary is something only an executive who hates passengers would do.
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