Air France is not yet convinced that faulty speed sensors were to blame for the loss of one of its planes over the Atlantic, but it is replacing old sensors as a precaution, the airline's chief executive said today.
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 1st enroute from Brazil to Paris, killing all 228 aboard.
Air accident investigators have said the Airbus registered inconsistent speed readings just before contact was lost, raising speculation that the pilots might inadvertently have flown at the wrong speed and precipitated the disaster.
Air France subsequently reported that 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 programme.
"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.
Airbus denied a French newspaper report that it was considering grounding its fleet of A330 and A340 planes in the wake of the disaster, saying they were safe to fly.
Brazilian and French search teams have recovered 41 bodies and debris from the Atlantic some 1,000km from Brazil's northern coast. A nuclear-powered French submarine is leading the search for the plane's sunken 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 scrutinised the debris.
"I think we will have a little bit more information in a week," he said.
Reuters