French court orders trial in 2009 crash of Rio-Paris flight

PARIS (AP) — A French court has ordered Air France and plane maker Airbus to stand trial for manslaughter in the 2009 crash of a flight from Rio de Janeiro to Paris which killed all 228 people aboard. The two companies said they would appeal Wednesday’s decision which overturns a 2019 ruling. Groups representing relatives of the victims in France and Brazil had pressed for a trial. They have maintained the companies were at least partially responsible. Air France Flight 447 crashed on June 1, 2009. Later, one of history’s most ambitious and costly undersea search operations located the flight recorders in the ocean’s depths. The French accident investigation bureau found that external speed sensors had been frozen and produced irregular readings.