MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Airbus recommends changing speed sensors for US made pitots

Apparently that was the cause of the crash of the A330 flying from Rio to Paris with the loss of 228 lives.

Plane manufacturer Airbus has urged airlines to change the make of the majority of speed sensors on about 200 long haul aircraft. Airbus has issued a bulletin to airlines recommending that they switch the parts, also known as pitots, to those made by US manufacturer Goodrich.

The move comes as investigations continue into the cause of the fatal crash of an Air France Airbus in June.

Investigators have said speed sensors, or pitots, may have been a factor.

“Airbus has decided to recommend that A330/A340 operators with Thales pitot tubes, exchange at least two of them with Goodrich probes,” the company said in a statement sent to the BBC.

The company said it was making the recommendation “on the basis of the very limited available information” from the Air France accident, and “despite the fact that the pitot tubes meet the certification objectives”.

“This precautionary measure will allow our customers to benefit from the greater in-service experience of the Goodrich tubes on the A330/A340,” it said.

The move would affect about 200 of the A330 or A340 planes which were fitted with sensors manufactured by France's Thales company, reported Reuters.

No deadline has been issued for the change to be implemented.

Earlier, the European Aviation Safety Authority (EASA) said it was to make the same recommendation.

All 228 people on board the Air France plane were killed when it plunged into the ocean en route from Rio de Janeiro to Paris on 1 June.

French investigators have said faulty speed sensors were “a factor but not the cause” of the crash.

In the wake of the crash, Air France accelerated an existing programme to replace speed monitors on its Airbus planes.

In related news it was reported that a French survey vessel has begun scanning the ocean floor for flight data recorders (black boxes) from an Air France passenger jet that crashed in June.

Investigators announced Thursday that a vessel (the Pourquoi Pas?) from a French oceanographic institute is searching for recorders that are no longer emitting distress signals. The recorders are believed to be sitting on the ocean floor at depths of at least 3.000 meters near the crash site some 1.000 kilometres off Brazil's east coast.

Flight 447 from Rio de Janeiro to Paris crashed June 1, killing all 228 people on board. The data recorders would have information from the final minutes of the flight, and were built to send emergency signals for at least 30 days after an accident.

The manufacturer of the airplane, Airbus, has pledged up to 28 million USD to help find the recorders.