Air France: Was It a Fatal Glitch?
Investigators probing the crash of Air France Flight 447 are focusing on the possibility that equipment malfunction may have caused the plane essentially to crash itself. A sheaf of fault messages sent automatically to Air France's maintenance department show that instruments aboard the Airbus 330 were reporting different airspeeds, possibly because precipitation had clogged sensors known as Pitot tubes. The pilot and copilot receive airspeed data collected by separate sensors, meaning that if either failed, the two pilots likely received conflicting information. Those discrepancies could have caused either the crew or automatic control systems to make wrong decisions about how fast to fly the plane as it headed into heavy weather.
Similar malfunctions were key factors in a pair of little-noticed 1996 crashes. In one, off the coast of the Dominican Republic, investigators found that a Pitot tube had been stopped up by an insect infestation. In the other, near Lima, an inquiry determined that maintenance staff forgot to remove masking tape placed over sensor ports. In the case of Flight 447, messages received from the plane "indicate inconsistency between measured airspeeds—which means how fast the plane was going is not clear," Airbus spokeswoman Mary Anne Greczyn told NEWSWEEK. "We don't yet know why."
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Mark Hosenball joined Newsweek as an investigative correspondent in November 1993, covering a range of issues for the National Affairs department. Most recently, he has written and reported numerous stories on terrorism and the Sept. 11 attacks on America. He has also covered campaign finance, the Monica Lewinsky controversy, the death of Princess Diana, Whitewater, the crashes of EgyptAir flight 990 and TWA flight 800, as well as related air safety issues.
Hosenball came to Newsweek from "Dateline NBC," where he worked as an investigative producer. He also worked extensively as a print journalist, writing for a number of British and American publications, including the London Sunday Times, the London Evening Standard, Time Out, The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal, and The New Republic. In addition, he has done commentaries for American Public Radio.
Hosenball has been honored with a number of prestigious awards. Most recently, along with a team of Newsweek correspondents, he was awarded the Overseas Press Club's most prestigious honor, the 2002 Ed Cunningham Memorial Award for best magazine reporting from abroad for Newsweek's coverage of the war on terror. His reporting and that of his colleagues earned Newsweek the prestigious National Magazine Award for General Excellence in 2002 for its coverage of September 11 and its aftermath. And a story he co-authored was highlighted in a citation Newsweek received by the White House Correspondents' Association when it awarded the magazine the 2002 Edgar A. Poe Award for "excellence on a story of national or regional importance. "Newsweek's September 11 coverage started long before the attacks. An article in the magazine's February 19, 2001 issue warned with chilling accuracy: 'The threat posed by (Osama) bin Laden is growing -- and coming ever closer to home."
Hosenball was a contributor to the CANAL + TV documentary, "L'Argent de la Drogue" (Drug Money), which was awarded the "Sept D'Or," the French equivalent of an Emmy. He also contributed to NBC News' coverage of the BCCI scandal, which earned a 1991 Peabody Award.
He attended the University of Pennsylvania and Trinity College in Dublin. He lives in the Washington, D.C. area with his wife and son.
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