More trustworthy reports?
NTSB probes 2 incidents involving Airbus A330s
By JOAN LOWY –WASHINGTON (AP)
Federal safety officials say they are investigating two reports of Airbus A330 planes experiencing airspeed and altitude malfunctions.
The aircraft are the same type as the Air France plane that crashed into the North Atlantic on May 31 after sending out low airspeed messages, killing all 228 aboard.
The National Transportation Safety Board said the first incident occurred May 21, when TAM Airlines Flight 8091 flying from Miami, to Sao Paulo, Brazil, experienced a loss of primary speed and altitude information.
The board's information on the second incident is more sketchy, but it involves a Northwest Airlines flight between Hong Kong and Tokyo on June 23. In both cases the planes landed safely.
Incident: Northwest A333 over East China Sea on Jun 23rd 2009, unreliable airspeed
Incident: Northwest A333 over East China Sea on Jun 23rd 2009, unreliable airspeed
By Simon Hradecky, created Thursday, Jun 25th 2009 22:26Z, last updated Thursday, Jun 25th 2009 22:37Z
A Northwest Airlines Airbus A330-300, registration N805NW performing flight NW-8 from Hong Kong (China) to Tokyo Narita (Japan), was enroute overhead the East China Sea, when the crew noticed a sharp drop of the indicated outside temperature followed by the loss of the air data reference system, disconnection of autopilot and autothrust system along with the loss of speed and altitude information. The flight crew used the stand by systems and was able to restore the primary data. The airplane landed safely in Tokyo Narita.
The NTSB is investigating, the flight data recorders have been retrieved, the aircraft condition monitoring system messages, crew statements and weather information are being collected by NTSB investigators.