Tragedies That Changed Aviation Forever

Severe weather is a red flag pilots actively make plans to avoid. In fact, Federal Regulations Part 91.103 states "Each pilot in command shall, before beginning a flight, become familiar with all available information concerning that flight ... including weather reports and forecasts." Today many aircraft - regardless if they are general aviation or commercial

Severe weather is a red flag pilots actively make plans to avoid. In fact, Federal Regulations Part 91.103 states "Each pilot in command shall, before beginning a flight, become familiar with all available information concerning that flight ... including weather reports and forecasts." Today many aircraft -– regardless if they are general aviation or commercial — are equipped with sensors and computers that receive real-time data on storm systems. 

As Popular Mechanics details, on June 1, 2009, Air France Flight 447, an Airbus A330-200, headed into an area of severe thunderstorm activity on its flight from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, to Paris. Other air carriers flying through the region had diverted their flight around the storm system over the Atlantic. About two hours into the flight, the pilots observed a "strange electrical phenomenon" in the cockpit.

Experts point to three critical events that caused the crash: the pilot's failure to interpret faulty airspeed indicators, a lack of CRM, and the fact that the airplane's pitot sensors failed due to the severe storm, as per the BBC. The pilots accidentally misinterpreted their airspeed as being too fast and pitched the nose upward, causing an aerodynamic stall. They failed to recover from the stall in time, resulting in the deaths of 228 people on board (via Popular Mechanics).

According to Popular Mechanics, experts concluded that pilots should not be over-reliant on automated systems and emphasized a need for more manual flight training.

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