EASA: No Action Soon On A330 Pitot Tubes
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By Robert Wall/Aviation Daily
PARIS--The European Aviation Safety Agency has decided, for now, to hold off on issuing an airworthiness directive concerning Thales-made pitot tubes on Airbus A330/A340s.
"We are not planning any action at this stage pending the investigation" into the crash of Air France Flight 447, EASA said.
The pitot tubes have come under fire in the wake of the crash of AF447 because the accident aircraft, an A330-200, broadcast maintenance messages just before all contact was lost, indicating inconsistent speed information and potential problems with the pitot tube. Air France and other airlines had previously encountered problems with the pitot tubes and Thales had developed an upgrade, but an equipment change was not mandated by safety officials.
Even before the crash, Air France had decided to upgrade its pitot tubes, but the accident aircraft was still flying with the old standard. The airline has since upgraded all the probes, in part under pressure from its pilots.
Air France and aviation safety officials insist there are no data available at this point to suggest a problem with the pitot tubes was in fact linked to the crash. Industry officials point out that even with pitot tubes malfunctioning, pilots should still be able to fly the aircraft.
Photo credit: Airbus
