Air France had speed probe problems five times in a year
12 Jun 2009, 0111 hrs IST, AGENCIES
PARIS: Air France Airbus jets experienced at least five incidents last year in which airspeed probes malfunctioned, two of which caused stall
alarms, according to a company report seen by media on Thursday.
A probe into last week's loss of AF 447 from Rio to Paris, in which an A330 jet plunged into the Atlantic with the loss of all 228 people on board, has focused on the contradictory speed readings from its "pitot probes".
Air France and Airbus insist that there is not yet any proof the pitots were to blame for the catastrophe, but accept that automatic error messages sent before the plane went down showed they were malfunctioning.
Airbus has urged pilots of the A330 and A340 to update themselves on the emergency procedures to take if the probes give contradictory readings, and Air France has accelerated its programme to replace the suspect pitots.
According to an internal Air France safety report dated September 12, 2008 which was obtained by AFP and authenticated by Air France pilots, the speed probes caused problems five times on flights last year.
To protect the anonymity of pilots involved in the incidents, the Air France report does not give the dates when the problems happened.
They concerned flight AF 279 between Tokyo and Paris, a flight between Paris and Antananarivo, flight AF 101 between Guangdong and Paris, AF 422 between Paris and Bogota and a flight between Paris and New York.
"These are all serious incidents," said Guy Ferrer, an official from the Alter pilots union, which represents some Air France flight crews.
12 Jun 2009, 0111 hrs IST, AGENCIES
PARIS: Air France Airbus jets experienced at least five incidents last year in which airspeed probes malfunctioned, two of which caused stall
alarms, according to a company report seen by media on Thursday.
A probe into last week's loss of AF 447 from Rio to Paris, in which an A330 jet plunged into the Atlantic with the loss of all 228 people on board, has focused on the contradictory speed readings from its "pitot probes".
Air France and Airbus insist that there is not yet any proof the pitots were to blame for the catastrophe, but accept that automatic error messages sent before the plane went down showed they were malfunctioning.
Airbus has urged pilots of the A330 and A340 to update themselves on the emergency procedures to take if the probes give contradictory readings, and Air France has accelerated its programme to replace the suspect pitots.
According to an internal Air France safety report dated September 12, 2008 which was obtained by AFP and authenticated by Air France pilots, the speed probes caused problems five times on flights last year.
To protect the anonymity of pilots involved in the incidents, the Air France report does not give the dates when the problems happened.
They concerned flight AF 279 between Tokyo and Paris, a flight between Paris and Antananarivo, flight AF 101 between Guangdong and Paris, AF 422 between Paris and Bogota and a flight between Paris and New York.
"These are all serious incidents," said Guy Ferrer, an official from the Alter pilots union, which represents some Air France flight crews.
