PARIS – Air accident investigators say crew errors caused the 2014 Air Algerie crash over Mali, blaming a mixture of mistakes for the disaster which killed 116 people.
France's Analysis and Investigations Bureau says that the McDonnell Douglas MD-83 went down in July 2014 near the rural town of Gossi after problems with its sensors that were probably caused by obstruction by ice crystals.
The bureau's report says the plane's crew didn't activate the aircraft's anti-icing mechanism even though they were flying in an area where the presence of ice crystals was likely and reacted late when the plane started to slow and then stall.
Friday's report says the crew never recovered from the stall, sending the aircraft plummeting.
The report's recommendations included studying a permanent anti-icing system for the plane's sensors.
