Airplane Drama

When things go wrong at high altitude, one of the deadliest challenges for pilots is a phenomenon known as “coffin corner”. This is the point, tens of thousands of feet up, where the margin for error in controlling a sophisticated modern airliner becomes tiny. Investigators are now wondering whether Air France flight 447, which disappeared last week with 228 people on board, may have flown into coffin corner never to escape.

For amid all the speculation and mystery, two events are clear in the worst aviation disaster for half a decade. At 3am BST last Monday morning flight 447, a four-year-old Airbus A330-200, reported that it had encountered “stormy weather with strong turbulence”. Ten minutes later, the plane’s autopilot disengaged, according to its automatic communications and reporting system (Acars).

Somewhere around 35,000ft, with storm winds raging and the plane buffeted on all sides, the crew found themselves trying to fly 230 tons of electronic wizardry by hand. At that altitude, it is far harder than passengers imagine.

Whoever was in the pilot’s seat was looking at two computer screens, a host of other instruments and two rudder pedals – but no traditional hand controls. Instead, an A330 pilot reaches for a small joy-stick to one side. It looks a bit like the control for a games console. Through that “sidestick”, the pilot flies the plane with electronic signals, rather than any mechanical linkages.

“It’s tricky. At altitude big planes wallow about,” said Roger Guiver, a former...

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