It's clear that they crashed, and it's very likely because of the pitot icing. That's what we should discuss here.
These are causes, and then there are causes. Pitot icing was probably
a cause. But there have to be at least two other causes:
- What caused them to fly into icing and probable turbulance?
- What caused them to lose control?
The pitot icing problem can doubtless be comprehended and thus physically improved, even if it is impossible to
solve in all possible cases. Improved procedures and training can likely also mitigate the situation. But if things stop with "fixing the pitot icing problem" then great opportunities for improved safety and pilot operational ability will have been lost. There are clearly opportunities here to at least:
- Improve weather awareness for airmen (sat feeds, etc)
- Improve cockpit->ATC/base communications in remote areas; or at least this one specific remote area
- Improve the capabilities and training for DAKAR ATC
- Provide an acceleration to R/D for improved WX radar and WX tools in general in the cockpit
- Study the MMI (Man/Machine Interface) during critical situations such as occurred between 0210 and 0213 in AF447 and see if there are things that can be improved
- Improve simulator training for unusual but possible situations
All of that
could come out of this accident. But if we simply decide to say "the pitots done the deed" and end there, many other improvements might be lost.