Court Dismisses Criminal Charges in Air France Case

While finding Air France and Airbus liable for damages in the 1992 accident that killed 87 people near Strasbourg, a French court cleared six defendants of criminal charges. A former air traffic controller, four former civil aviation authority managers, Air Inter, Airbus and a former Air Inter deputy director general had been charged with manslaughter in an indictment that accused them of making mistakes that may have impacted the Airbus A320 safety. The court was tasked with deciding whether their actions were criminally punishable. Flight Safety Foundation, which recently called on states to protect the aviation accident investigatory process from criminal procedings, applauded the action, saying the trial should never have happened. The court ordered the companies to pay compensation to relatives. The crash involved controlled flight into terrain at a time when French airworthiness authorities did not require ground proximity warning systems. The airline, Air Inter, at the time a wholly owned subsidiary of Air France, has since been absorbed into the larger carrier. Only nine people survived the crash.