Bodies of 2 passengers spur Air France search

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(Agencies)
Updated: 2009-06-07 22:00

A Brazilian Navy ship is seen from the window of a Brazilian Air Force plane patrolling the crash area in the open Atlantic Ocean, some 745 miles (1,200 km) northeast of Recife, northeast Brazil, June 6, 2009. [Agencies]

Air France issued a statement saying it began replacing the monitors on the Airbus A330 model on April 27 after an improved version became available. It said icing of the monitors at high altitude has led at times to loss of needed flying information, but only a "small number" of incidents linked to the monitors had been reported.

Air France has already replaced the Pitots on another Airbus model, the 320, after its pilots reported similar problems with the instrument, according to an Air France air safety report obtained by The Associated Press.

The report followed an incident in which an Air France flight from Tokyo to Paris reported problems with its airspeed indicators, later found to have been blocked by ice.

Arslanian of the BEA cautioned it was too early to draw conclusions about the role of Pitot tubes in the crash, saying "it does not mean that without replacing the Pitots that the A330 was dangerous."

A key part of the investigation relies on a burst of 24 automatic messages the plane sent during the last minutes of the flight. The signals showed the plane's autopilot was not on, officials said, but it was not clear if the autopilot had been switched off by the pilots or had stopped working due to conflicting airspeed readings.

"(This) certainly raises questions about whether the Pitot tubes, which are critical to the pilot's understanding of what's going on, were operating effectively," said Peter Goelz, a former managing director of the National Transportation Safety Board.

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