Thu, Jul 02, 2009
AF447 Incident May Prompt The Move
French accident investigators are expected to release a
preliminary report in the crash of Air France Flight 447 Thursday,
and industry analysts say Airbus may face calls to ground it's
entire fleet of long-range airliners as a result.
The Times of London reports the European Aviation Safety Agency
may ask Airbus why it has not taken action to remedy a
well-documented problem with the A330 and A340 series of aircraft.
While weather is likely to be cited as a factor in the June 1st
incident, the paper reports that the EASA is likely to focus on
faulty electronic speed reporting equipment as the principal
problem leading to the breakup of the airplane in flight.
Nearly 1000 of the airplanes are in service, and the Air France
447 disaster is the first time one has been involved in an incident
with passenger fatalities.
“EASA has a legal and moral obligation to get to the
bottom of this problem now. If there is a defective system and the
aircraft is unsafe then it should be grounded,” said James
Healy-Pratt of Stewarts Law in London, a firm, which specialises in
aviation.
ANN reported late in June that the NTSB is investigating two
other incidents involving A330 series aircraft in which the crews
got faulty airspeed information from the triple-redundant pitot
tubes and onboard computers. The Times reports that this week it
was discovered that Airbus first reported problems with the system
in 1994. The company suggested remedies, did not require any action
be taken.
File Photo
This week, a second Airbus was lost in the Indian Ocean off the
coast of Comoros, but it was an older A310 series aircraft operated
by Yemenia Airline, which European officials said had a
questionable history of maintenance.
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