"European reports were not that the airline had been banned (it is on the watch list) but that the aircraft was prohibited from passenger service in the EU because it had failed an inspection at a French airport in ways that the owner saw as too expensive to repair. Thus the passengers in this crash had no flown on this specific A310 from France, but rather on an A330 and then changed aircraft to fly on to the Comoros. The condition of Air Yemen's aircraft used to service the Comoros islands has been the subject of considerable reporting - although at least the main UK newspapers seem to suggest that this probably did not cause the crash, but more likely some sort of pilot error."

This is factually incorrect, in its entirety.

1. Yemania is not on any EU watch list

2. The aircraft in question was not prohibited from passenger service in EU (it landed in London Heathrow 2 days before the crash)

3. It did not fail a French inspection - it needed some repair but was deemed air worthy

4. The reason why French authority inspected the plane was because this plane was registered in France (as Patrick noted) rather than Yeman. FAA does the same thing with US-registered planes operated by foreign carriers

5. The change of plane has to do with yield... more passengers were flying between France and Yeman than Yeman and Comoros. Thus the first leg used a bigger airplane. The A330 is also used from Yeman to Comoros during peak travel season.

6. Rupert Murdoch's newspapers will say anything for the purpose of Muslim/Arab baiting. It's a blood sport in the UK.

from Joburg to Comoros in 2000. The only strange thing I noticed is they allowed passengers to pile their baggage in front of the emergency exits - something Comorian activists in France said contributed to the fatalities on the recent crash.

The Airbus bashing coming from the USA (including Ashton Kutcher weighing in) is just boring, and it's sad that the author fails to mention quite a few bits that put things into perspective:

1. The tail of the BOEING 777 is made...right, composites. Same goes for the 787.

2. The AA587 pilot put the tail of the aircraft way over the certified load. A Metal-Tail would have broken off exactly the same way. The notion that Boeing builds flying tanks while Airbus aircraft come apart easily is ridiculous - Boeing builds aircraft to the certification standard, just like Airbus. Doing otherwise would make the aircraft significantly heavier and therefore less efficient.

3. Why do modern Airbus aircraft have these computer protections? Well, more than 50% of all crashes are caused by PILOT error. The protections are engineered to give pilots in an emergency the maximum the aircraft can take, not more. Accidents were while trying to solve one problem accidently created another, more severe problem are hardly unheard of.

4. The AA B757 that crashed in Cali wouldn't have crashed had it been an A321, just to give one example. Pilots flew with extended spoilers into a mountain.

5. The only 2 (western) aircraft in the last 40 years that had accidents solely because of design flaws were the DC-10 (cargo door) and the Boeing 737 (Rudder).

Oh, and over 1000 Airbus A330 have been sold. That's more than 500 though, so technically you're correct.

If you regard the 737 Jurassic, 737 Classic and 737 NG as different aircraft (Boeing regularly does, for example when it comes to accident statistics) the A320-Series is actually the best selling commercial aircraft in history, with over 6300 sold as of today.

"When better airplanes are built, Boeing will build them"

was a well known saying around the industry 50 years ago when I first started flying for Eastern, and no less popular when I retired from United in December, 2001. It has, based on broad pilot experience (not just mine), stood the test of time quite well, and for good reason.

In 35 years of commercial aviation I have flown:

Lockheed L1049 (Connie), L-1011

Douglas DC-8

Boeing 727, 737, 757, 767

Airbus A-300, A-320

and NONE of the others holds a candle to the Boeings. The quality, engineering and design are just second rate.

Brez

...but I wonder where and exactly when the list is from. It's missing Air Canada (last fatal incident in 1983) so I suspect it's a little out of date? Maybe two years old?

I read your favorite article when you put it online back then and I just reread it again, and it's (still?) a very exciting story. Indeed, how different it would've been if she had also experienced the near-miss, but then again she might've blamed her near death experience on you.

Happy anniversary!

"The only 2 (western) aircraft in the last 40 years that had accidents solely because of design flaws were the DC-10 (cargo door) and the Boeing 737 (Rudder)."

To those can be added the Boeing 747 (forward cargo door). http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Airlines_Flight_811

Yikes..look at the bird in the A380 photo...Salon would best serve its readers if it listed every single Airbus crash..date, airline, and casualties instead to this wandering narrative. I think you would be shocked....and it always amazes me that right after these crashes in stories like this there is a claim that "DESPITE this crash, everything is safe". Let's see a simple listing of the crashes and let the reader decide if that "looks" safe. Include a total body and jet destroyed count at the end too. Yeah, it's safe if you are not on the jet that crashed in much the same way a sports injury is minor if you are not the one sustaining it.

".Salon would best serve its readers if it listed every single Airbus crash..date, airline, and casualties instead to this wandering narrative. I think you would "

Might just as well look for it yourself. You also shouldn't forget to look at the same list of Boeing crashes.

Only counting crashes that result in the destruction of the aircraft (hull-loss), only counting Jets:

Airbus: 65 out of 5771 built -> 1% of all Airbus aircraft built have crashed

Douglas: 246 out of 3581 built -> 7% of all Douglas aircraft built have crashed

Boeing: 508 out of 13075 built -> 4% of all Boeing aircraft built have crashed

Wow, those flying Airbus death traps...