Air safety agency asks airlines to check air safety equipment on long haul Airbus planes

The European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA),is so narrow that pilots call it 'coffin corner'. Either
which is responsible for the European Union’s70mph too fast or too slow and a jet can either
strategy on aviation safety, has ordered a checkstall or nosedive.
into potential defects with Airbus long-haul A330Investigators into the Air France flight 447 crash
and A340 jets that carry air speed sensorssuspect that the Airbus’ pitot tubes may
supplied by U.S. manufacturer Goodrich.have been affected by weather conditions as it
The new checks come only weeks after theflew from Brazil to France, which could have led
EASA restricted the use of alternative partsto the crash.
supplied by French company Thales.Air France immediately re-fitted the air speed
EASA said in a directive that there had beensensors on its entire fleet of 35 long-haul Air
reports of loose fittings on certain GoodrichFrance Airbus jets after the Airline’s union
sensors, known as pitot probes. If not corrected,urged pilots not to fly them until the key sensors
this could lead to an air leak and false speedwere updated.
readings, it said.In the wake of the flight 447 disaster one Air
A pitot is an L-shaped metal tube that juts fromFrance pilot wrote on an internet forum for airline
a plane's forward fuselage and measures airspeed.professionals: ‘If the pitot tube is unreliable in
The devices are susceptible to blockage frombad weather and at high altitude, the plane
water and icing.becomes an airborne death trap. We need to
Air speed sensors are a key safety componentknow exactly how fast we are going or the plane
of air travel. A fault can lead to incorrect airwill simply fall out of the sky.'
speed readings which can jeopardise safety.Airlines have five days to verify the probes and
Sensors need to be ultra-sensitive because thereport their findings to Airbus.
safety margin for a plane's speed at high altitude