Air France 447 - Air France to Replace Airspeed Sensors
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PARIS — Air France, facing pressure from some of its pilots after the crash of one of its airliners last week, has decided to immediately replace airspeed sensors on all of its A330 and A340 jets, union representatives said Tuesday.
The Brazilian military, meanwhile, began bringing ashore recovered bodies from the Air France crash, while vessels sweeping the Atlantic Ocean picked up another four corpses, bringing the total number to 28. All 228 people who were aboard the flight en route from Rio de Janeiro to Paris are presumed dead.
Air France said over the weekend that it expected to replace the sensors, known as Pitot tubes, over the next several weeks. But on Monday, one of the airline’s unions, Alter, posted a notice on its Web site urging its members to “refuse any flight on an A330/A340 which has not had at least two Pitot sensors modified.”
Both Airbus models are equipped with three pairs of Pitot tubes. Airspeed is calculated using readings from all three sensors. If there is a discrepancy between any of the three readings of more than 30 knots, onboard computers are programmed to automatically alert the pilots, who are trained to follow a set of standard procedures while troubleshooting the problem.
After discussions with union representatives, the airline decided to replace all the sensors within the next several days.
Erick Derivry, a spokesman for Air France’s largest union, the Syndicat National des Pilotes de Ligne, or S.N.P.L. told French radio that the airline had “provided us with an extremely proactive and very accelerated replacement program.” He added, “From today, all Air France A330 and A340 flights will use planes equipped with at least two new sensors out of three.”
Another S.N.P.L. representative, Louis Jobard, who heads the Air France branch of the union, said at a briefing later Tuesday that all Air France A330 and A340 jets now flying had already been equipped with at least two pairs of modified speed sensors and that by the end of June, all three pairs would have been replaced on all the appropriate aircraft. He said two pairs of properly functioning speed sensors would be sufficient to safely fly the planes.
French air accident investigators have not yet determined that a problem with the speed sensors caused the crash of Flight 447, an Airbus A330-200, but they are looking into whether inconsistent speed measurements could have played a role in the accident. The speed sensors can be vulnerable to icing in high-altitude storms, the type of weather the plane may have encountered.
A spokeswoman for Air France declined to comment on its discussions with the pilots. Airbus advised airlines flying the A330 to replace the Pitot sensors on some of its planes as long ago as 2007. But it said the recommendation was based on performance, and not safety concerns.
The European Aviation Safety Agency said Tuesday that it was considering making the replacement of airspeed sensors mandatory on some Airbus jets.
"The agency is analysing operational data relating to the air speed indicators with a view to issuing mandatory corrective action, without prejudging the outcome of the accident investigation,'' the agency said in a statement. "This analysis is complex."
Mr. Jobard, of the S.N.P.L., said the accident was “tragic” but expressed the hope that the “concerns raised by this accident will enable us to further improve the safety of public air transport.”
Cat Contiguglia contributed reporting.
