Hi there,
-The French transportation ministry has announced a new search phase next febuary, but the BEA has not yet given details about the new areas to be searched.
-Air France has provided documents to the court showing that it was proactive on the pitot probe issue whereas Airbus and Thales failed to respond in due time.
-Informations about test flights conducted by Airbus over Australia and over French guyana, flying through large cumulonimbus to reproduce what may have occured to the AF 447. These test flights have reproduced the pitot probe icing/obstruction and the reversion to the alternate law. They also have shown that the weather radar cannot detect the icing areas in many occurrences. The flight test data and report has been transmitted to the BEA.
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The problems with the weather radar, the pitot probe "typical signature" (as it is called by Airbus), the loss of automation were also experienced by crews in 2008 who reported these incidents.
JF
Airbus discret sur son vol d?essai - Libération
Air France/Airbus: la chronologie de la polémique autour des sondes Pitot - 20minutes.fr