Some 12 years after the crash of an Air France plane heading from Brazil to France, resulting in 228 fatalities, aircraft manufacturer Airbus and airline Air France are to be put in the dock.
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The Paris Court of Appeal ordered a trial for involuntary manslaughter on Wednesday, the court confirmed to dpa.
This decision was preceded by years of legal disputes, with investigating judges actually dismissing the case in 2019. However, the prosecution had appealed against this decision.
The Air France plane disappeared from radar screens on June 1, 2009, on its way from Rio de Janeiro to the French capital. The Airbus crashed into the Atlantic. The cause was unclear for a long time.
It was not until May 2011 that the last bodies and the flight data recorder were recovered from a depth of about 4000 metres.
In 2012, investigators determined that the crew was overwhelmed with the situation after the pitot probes used to measure the speed iced up.
However, it remained questionable whether the pilots had ever been trained for extreme situations like the AF 447 fatal flight over the Atlantic.
In 2019, the investigating judges were of the opinion that the accident was due to a combination of elements that had never happened before.
The investigations had not led to a finding of culpable failure on the part of Airbus or Air France, and the case was closed at the time. The public prosecutor's office had appealed this.
Australian Associated Press
