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.

FMI: http://www.easa.eu.int