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   More than 13 years after an Air France jet plunged into the Atlantic, killing   
   all 228 people on board, the French carrier and planemaker Airbus go on trial   
   in a Paris court next week with relatives seeking "light at the end of a long   
   tunnel".   
       
   Flight 447 vanished in pitch darkness during an equatorial storm en route from   
   Rio de Janeiro to Paris on June 1, 2009.   
       
   After a two-year search for the A330's black boxes, French investigators found   
   pilots had mishandled the temporary loss of data from iced-up sensors and   
   pushed the 205-tonne jet into an aerodynamic stall or freefall, without   
   responding to alerts.   
       
   Monday's opening hearing will mark the first time French companies have been   
   directly placed on trial for "involuntary manslaughter" following an air   
   crash, rather than individuals.   
       
   The maximum fine for either company, if convicted of involuntary manslaughter,   
   is just 225,000 euros ($220,612) or five times the maximum monetary penalty   
   for an individual, who unlike a company can also face jail, according to   
   French egal experts.   
       
   Even so, AF447 sparked a broad rethink about training and technology and is   
   seen as one of a handful of accidents that changed aviation. But reforms have   
   followed the methodical pace of global regulation or become mired in industry   
   disagreements.   
       
   Among dozens of safety recommendations, experts say the investigation led to   
   critical changes in the way pilots are trained to cope with mid-air upsets, or   
   loss of control.   
       
   But a call from the BEA for studies into better tracking in radar dead-zones   
   met little response until the disappearance of a second jet, Malaysia Airlines   
   MH370, five years later.   
       
   Over a decade after the BEA's initial findings, there are no signs of another   
   of its longstanding concerns being addressed.   
       
   Although black boxes provide important clues, the trial could rekindle a   
   long-running privacy row over whether cockpits should also be monitored   
   visually to decipher future accidents, especially now that security cameras   
   are part of everyday life.   
       
   In 2011, the BEA recommended the addition of cockpit video recordings to be   
   consulted only in case of an accident, supplementing existing voice and data   
   information.   
       
   It has been pushing for their introduction since an earlier Airbus crash 30   
   years ago, and the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board last year put the   
   same idea on its list of "Most Wanted" safety improvements - saying it would   
   have been "extremely helpful" in investigating Boeing 737 MAX crashes.   
       
   Pilot unions oppose cameras as an invasion of privacy, while some airline   
   industry groups have questioned the cost. The U.S. Federal Aviation   
   Administration said it encourages cameras on a voluntary basis while studying   
   screen-capture technology.   
       
   The trial at Paris Criminal Court runs until Dec 8.   
      
   --- DB4 - 20220519   
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