Q: Air France says it began replacing the Pitot tubes on its Airbus jets after incidents that may be related to the crash of Flight 447. What’s Delta doing with the Airbus planes inherited via the Northwest merger?
— Jim Smith, Woodstock
A: After an April advisory bulletin from Airbus, the airline is “installing new Pitot tubes on A330 aircraft and is on track to have the installations completed this summer,” according to Delta spokesman Kent Landers. “Until these installations are complete, the airline is communicating with its flight crews to reiterate the correct procedures to be used in the event of unreliable air speed indications.”
The airline has installed new Pitot tubes on its entire fleet of A319/320 aircraft, according to the statement.
Investigators of the May 31 crash of Air France Flight 447 into the Atlantic Ocean are looking at problems with the A330 jet’s Pitot tubes, according to Scientific American.
Following the crash of the jet with 228 people aboard, the airline cited inconsistency between air speeds measured by different Pitot tubes. Initial speculation focused on a possible lightning strike.
According to Scientific American, Airbus’ Pitot tubes were known to have icing problems, and Air France had begun replacing them April 27 when an improved version was released.
Flight 447, however, had not received the new sensor.
Louis Mayeux wrote this column. Do you have a question about the news? We’ll try to get an answer. Call 404-222-2002 or e-mail q@a@ajc.com (include name and city).
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