Air France chief questions sensor role in crash
Air France is not convinced so far that faulty speed sensors were to blame for the loss of one of its planes over the Atlantic, but is replacing old sensors as a precaution, the airline's chief executive said on Thursday.
Pierre-Henri Gourgeon told reporters that Air France was in a state of shock over the worst disaster in its 75-year history and expected more information about what happened within a week.
An Air France Airbus 330 crashed into the sea on June 1 en route from Brazil to Paris, killing all 228 aboard.
Brazil said three more bodies had been found on Thursday in the main area of ocean where search operations were being conducted, bringing the total number of bodies recovered to 44.
Air accident investigators have said the Airbus registered inconsistent speed readings just before contact was lost, raising speculation the pilots might inadvertently have flown at the wrong speed and precipitated the disaster.
Air France subsequently reported it had noticed temporary loss of air speed data on previous Airbus flights due to ice collecting in the sensors, known as pitot tubes, and said it was speeding up a pre-planned replacement program.
"As circumstances would have it, the first replacements arrived practically on the eve of the accident, on the Friday," Gourgeon told a news briefing, adding: "I am not convinced that speed sensors were the cause of crash."
The French air accident agency has said it is too early to pinpoint any possible cause for the crash, saying there were only two certainties -- that the plane had hit stormy weather before the crash and that the speed readings were incoherent.
A French lawyer representing families of some of the victims said they planned to take legal action to gain access to files from the investigation.
She said in a statement they felt information had been withheld and that there had been a delay in issuing an alert after the plane disappeared.
AIRBUS REASSURANCES
Airbus denied a French newspaper report that it was considering grounding its fleet of A330 and A340 planes following the disaster, saying they were safe to fly.
Gourgeon said the planemaker had reassured clients that all three types of speed sensors available for its jets were safe, including the one used on the crashed A330.
Industry sources said the planemaker had also ruled out for the time being that there was an electrical power failure or loss of cockpit instrument display on the Air France jet.
Air France said at the weekend it had noticed the icing problems on the speed sensors in May 2008, although Gourgeon said these "incidents" had not been deemed catastrophic.
The airline said tests had later convinced it that probes developed for another model would be more efficient and that it had decided to go ahead and start fitting them from April 27 without waiting for further testing proposed by Airbus.
The speed sensors on the Air France A330 were supplied by France's Thales, which has produced two versions of the pitot tube for the Airbus aircraft. A third model made by U.S. firm Goodrich have not been called into question.
The crashed plane had an earlier Thales model, which is being replaced by a more recent probe.
Brazilian and French search teams are searching for bodies and plane debris in the Atlantic some 1,000 km (620 miles) from Brazil's northern coast. A nuclear-powered French submarine is leading the search for the plane's flight recorders.
Gourgeon said more information about the crash would be available once autopsies had revealed the exact cause of death and after experts had scrutinized the debris.
"I think we will have a little bit more information in a week," he said.