In addition, the BEA believes commercial transports should regularly transmit to air traffic management key information such as altitude, speed, heading and position. They also recommend equipping aircraft with a cockpit video recording system of the flight panel, which would be protected as strongly as digital flight data recorders and provide critical information to accident investigators. In the past, pilots rejected the idea of video recorders, claiming they would not significantly contribute to investigations but would compromise privacy in cockpits.

A BEA recommendation also stressed the need for strict rules applying to task-sharing on long-duration flights when the crew comprises more than two pilots.

“This is the end of the investigation work,” says Troadec. But he is fully aware that this is only the beginning of a long-term effort to better use and control automation in cockpits. In the meantime, we much patiently wait for a successor to Pitot's device.