Originally Posted by
Musician
Pitot heat seems like a more efficient solution to the freezing problem, and easier to test on the ground.
Except for AF447 et al, as just mentioned.
I must say; now that Pitot and Static pressure are digitised at the pitot-head and passed on electronically, there is no longer a need for air tubes to transfer air pressure to the instruments - except for the emergency standby instruments.
Therefore, why do we need a Pitot tube ? Why not have special engineered flat patches that measure deflection due to the dynamic pressure from the forward flight but are literally a patch on a suitable surface rather than an enclosed tube.
A number of such pressure patches around the nose cone, wing leading edges and tailplane could be combined to provide a "pitot pressure". No small tubes to get blocked with ice, mud or insects. Ice might still be an issue but the wing patches could be heated by the wing anti-ice hot air for example, and a voting system used to ignore a disagreeing patch, like with the ADIRS.