Relatives of victims of the 2009 Rio-Paris air crash have provided evidence they say supports their claim that Airbus knew of problems with an onboard instrument five years earlier, it emerged Sunday.
They provided a report on August 8 to judges investigating the crash pending a possible trial for manslaughter and negligence, said a source for the association representing loved ones of the 228 people aboard Air France flight AF447, confirming a report in Le Parisien newspaper.
The news comes a decade into a legal wrangle and weeks after French prosecutors recommended that only Air France face trial over allegations that it had known about the instrument problem on its Airbus A330 plane.
The carrier did not tell pilots how to resolve the issue, according to an investigation document seen by AFP.
Flight AF447 plunged into the Atlantic during a storm on June 1, 2009, and a defect with the plane’s Pitot tubes — which enable pilots to monitor their speed — was found to be the cause.
A report stated that an ill-prepared crew failed to react correctly when the plane stalled and lost altitude.