Originally Posted by
Backoffice
Returning to the subject of pitot tubes.
The manufacturers, I believe in this case Thales, will probably be following a pattern that has been used successfully for years.
One must then ask, why are the A330/340 subject to contamination, if that’s the right word. Could it be their location ? i.e. high/low pressure in the wrong place preventing the drain from functioning correctly.
There's nothing particularly special about pitot probes icing up - if thats what happened. They all can be iced up, and are all heated accordingly. So any extreme weather conditions outside the qualification of the probes could ice up ANY probe design.
There's nothing special about the probes being damaged by hail - if THAT is what happened. Hail doesn't play favourites between manufacturers.
There's nothing special about probes ingesting water - many (all?) pitot/static systems have drain lines to allow moisture to be removed. Again, extreme weather conditions ...
The foregoing all to say that there may not be anything special about the probe design or location.
Without looking into the SB about these probes in detail one cannot say whether the specific issue that its supposed to correct is a likely, unlikely, or negligible factor in any possible probe problems. it's suspicious that an aircraft with
possibly suspect probes had a problem which
might relate to the probes. But I'd be loathe to make the direct link. After all, if it were a serious deficiency then I'd have expected stronger action by Sb and/or AD AND many more issues in service.