Re:

PARIS — French accident investigators announced on Friday that a detailed analysis of the crash of an Air France jet over the Atlantic Ocean two years ago appeared to support suggestions by outside experts that fundamental errors by the pilots caused the plane to stall and plummet 38,000 feet into the sea, killing all 228 people aboard.

The report stopped short of any final conclusions, which are not expected to be made public until early next year. But initial findings highlighted by investigators of the Bureau of Investigations and Analysis indicated that the two co-pilots in the cockpit of the Airbus A330-200 at the time the plane ran into trouble had never been trained to fly the aircraft in manual mode, nor had they been instructed how to promptly recognize and respond to a malfunction of their speed sensors at high altitude — both crucial skills that experts say should have helped them to avert disaster.

The report called for a series of significant changes to pilot training procedures aimed at helping flight crews to respond appropriately when they run into trouble at high altitudes.

The investigators urged European and French airsafety regulators to re-examine existing programs for pilot training and skills maintenance, and in particular to "make mandatory the creation of regular specific exercises aimed at manual airplane handling." Similar training should be required in recognizing the approach to and recovering from high-altitude stalls, the report said.

AutoPilot pilots!! Uhm, I know a few,. And not just the one your thinking,.

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