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Old 7th Jun 2011, 00:48
  #11 (permalink)  
Avionker
 
Join Date: Nov 2010
Location: Sweden
Posts: 473
Received 172 Likes on 80 Posts
I can recall changing 1 or maybe 2 pitot probes in 20 years due to internal pressure leakage which we discovered doing leak checks during scheduled maintenance. No tech log entry had been made prior to the aircraft coming in for it's check. Therefore the leak whilst big enough to fail our test, was either not noticeable to the crew or it wasn't producing a big enough split between the 2 ASI's for the crew to deem it out of limits.

I have changed many probes due to erosion or other damage, nicks, dents, (melted pitot covers!) etc. and 1 where I wasn't happy with the heater element.

In short they are a proven and dependable system, and the AF447 accident as tragic as it was, is not going to change that.
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