Boycott call as air crash probe upsets French pilots

FRENCH pilots have suspended co-operation with an inquiry into the 2009 Air France plane crash.

The SNPL pilots union declared the boycott yesterday after it emerged crash investigators had removed a recommendation about one of the Airbus A330's systems from an interim report last week, focusing instead on possible pilot error.

The BEA air crash investigation agency said its final report may make a recommendation on the A330 stall alarms but said it also needed to analyse why pilots ignored the crucial alert for almost a minute without making the "appropriate" responses.

The ongoing inquiry into what caused flight AF447 from Rio to Paris to slam into the Atlantic Ocean, killing all 228 people on board, has pitched France's flagship carrier and its pilots against Airbus and crash investigators.

The BEA said last week crew failed to respond to repeated stall warnings and listed a series of actions experts said went against the handbook for dealing with a sudden loss of lift.

The BEA confirmed yesterday it had removed a recommendation on the stall alarm from a draft report because more work needed done on the subject.

Pilots, however ,said the agency should reveal its thoughts on the design of Airbus cockpit systems sooner.

"Why ignore in the official report the recommendation on the stall alarm? Were other significant modifications made to the report?" the SNPL said in a statement.