Report Says He Complained About Sleeping Only An Hour Before The Flight

The pilot of the A330 flying as AF447 in July of 2009 had slept only an hour before departing Rio de Janeiro for Paris. The information was revealed this week in the French news magazine Le Point, which according to the U.K. newspaper The Daily Mail obtained a previously-unreleased judicial report that indicates pilot Marc Dubois told the other pilots on board the flight that he had slept only an hour the previous night. "One hour ... it's not enough," the recording reportedly says.

The report indicates that both co-pilots were also "dangerously tired."

According to the judicial report, Dubois was "grumbling" less than 90 minutes into the flight about not getting enough sleep. He had taken a rest break when the A330 encountered icing and its airspeed sensors failed. The French aviation safety agency's official report indicates that the "captain had failed in his duties" and prevented co-pilots Pierre-Cedric Bonin and David Robert "from reacting appropriately."

The 365-page judicial report stems from a criminal inquiry in which Air France and Airbus could eventually be charged with manslaughter. Air France has been ordered to pay the equivalent of $181,700 to the families of each person fatally injured when the airplane impacted the water as compensation, but that figure is expected to rise substantially. The accident has resulted in changes in the A330 airspeed sensor system, as well as training procedures by Air France.

(Image courtesy BEA)

FMI: www.bea.aero/en/index.php