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Air France 'not convinced' speed probes caused crash
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PARIS (AFP) - Air France's managing director said Thursday he was "not convinced" that faulty speed monitors caused an Airbus jet to crash into the Atlantic, but said the airline would replace them anyway.
Asked by reporters why Air France had not been more forthcoming about concerns over Airbus A330's pitot probes, Pierre-Henri Gourgeon retorted: "Because I'm not convinced the probes were the cause of the accident."
Gourgeon said it was for the official French accident inquiry to make statements on the loss of flight 447 from Rio de Janeiro to Paris, which perished in mid-flight on June 1 with the loss of all 228 people on board.
He nevertheless confirmed reports from worried pilots unions' that Air France has stepped up an existing programme to replace and modernise the pitots in all its A330 and A340 long-haul jets.
Air France decided on April 27 to replace the pitot probes, but received delivery of the first improved models of the probes on May 27, less than a week before the crash. The doomed plane had not been updated.
"This programme has been accelerated because we know that during this accident there was a problem with measuring speed," he said.
"Airbus insists, and they're right, that the probes are safe. It's possible that icing incidents will be reduced with the new type of probes," Gourgeon added.
"Perhaps there won't be an improvement. We are talking with the crash investigators about this," he said.
"We began this programme because we thought it would diminish the number of non-catastrophic incidents," he explained.
Error messages emitted by flight 447 in the minutes before the disaster have suggested that the twin-engine airliner's computers were receiving contradictory airspeed readings.
Investigators say this has been a factor in other incidents in which pilots had to battle to control Airbus jets, and pilots worldwide have been warned to review their procedures in case of false speed measurements.
Air France pilots unions have demanded the existing plan to replace and modernise the pitots be speeded up, and one threatened to refuse to fly A330 or A340 jets that had not yet been fitted with the new versions.
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PARIS (AFP) - Air France's managing director said Thursday he was "not convinced" that faulty speed monitors caused an Airbus jet to crash into the Atlantic, but said the airline would replace them anyway.
Asked by reporters why Air France had not been more forthcoming about concerns over Airbus A330's pitot probes, Pierre-Henri Gourgeon retorted: "Because I'm not convinced the probes were the cause of the accident."
Gourgeon said it was for the official French accident inquiry to make statements on the loss of flight 447 from Rio de Janeiro to Paris, which perished in mid-flight on June 1 with the loss of all 228 people on board.
He nevertheless confirmed reports from worried pilots unions' that Air France has stepped up an existing programme to replace and modernise the pitots in all its A330 and A340 long-haul jets.
Air France decided on April 27 to replace the pitot probes, but received delivery of the first improved models of the probes on May 27, less than a week before the crash. The doomed plane had not been updated.
"This programme has been accelerated because we know that during this accident there was a problem with measuring speed," he said.
"Airbus insists, and they're right, that the probes are safe. It's possible that icing incidents will be reduced with the new type of probes," Gourgeon added.
"Perhaps there won't be an improvement. We are talking with the crash investigators about this," he said.
"We began this programme because we thought it would diminish the number of non-catastrophic incidents," he explained.
Error messages emitted by flight 447 in the minutes before the disaster have suggested that the twin-engine airliner's computers were receiving contradictory airspeed readings.
Investigators say this has been a factor in other incidents in which pilots had to battle to control Airbus jets, and pilots worldwide have been warned to review their procedures in case of false speed measurements.
Air France pilots unions have demanded the existing plan to replace and modernise the pitots be speeded up, and one threatened to refuse to fly A330 or A340 jets that had not yet been fitted with the new versions.
