New info
FYI again:
As reported in AIT reference "AF447 Issue 3 June 8th 2009", there are 3 standards of pitot probes in
service on the A330/A340 family aircraft:
- Thales (ex Sextant) PN C16195AA and PN C16195BA
- Goodrich (Rosemount) PN 0851HL
It is reminded that the 'BA' standard probe was made available to address low altitude water ingress
events that generated a number of RTO on the A320 family program.
AF447 aircraft was equipped with Pitot PN C16195AA.
The intense speculation regarding these pitot probes has led many Operators to contact Thales or
Airbus to:
- request an immediate replacement of the Thales 'AA' probes with 'BA' (Service Bulletins A330-34-
3206, A340-34-4200, A340-34-5068)
- report recent and past (previously unreported) events of Unreliable airspeed.
These events, after analysis and confirmation, will allow to determine if any corrective action is
warranted by the findings.
In this context, all Operators, equipped with Goodrich (Rosemount) or Thales (Sextant) pitot probes,
are requested to report all confirmed in-flight Unreliable airspeed events.
2/ TYPICAL SIGNATURE OF UNRELIABLE AIRSPEED
To be sure that Unreliable airspeed events are correctly identified, please report events corresponding
to the criteria as follows:
- Crew report indicates loss or discrepant IAS (Indicated Airspeed) on CAPT and/or F/O PFD and/or
Standby Airspeed indicator (ISIS).
- Typical ECAM Warnings were seen:
NAV ADR DISAGREE
NAV IAS DISCREPANCY
F/CTL ALTN LAW
F/CTL RUD TRV LIM 1(2) FAULT
AUTO FLT AP OFF
AUTO FLT A/THR OFF
STALL WARNING (audio call-out)
AUTO FLT REAC W/S DET FAULT
- Fault Message "PROBE-PITOT 1+2/2+3/1+3" was possibly also seen.