The Pitot tube is not only a part of it .. it's the most important part of it
Remove from the plane the Pitot tube and you have no more speed measuring system at all
The AF447 case proven this.
The best solution at today date is to use the Pitot tube in his domain of certification
So .. dont fly in ice crystal area ..
If not able to detect ice crystal .. don't fly in the areas when this is the possibility to meet them .. forget fuel sparing .. fly safe !
If we intend to hold somebody accountable to fix something than semantics is damn important lest they end up saying "it ain't my job" Improving the Pitot tube or avoiding weather entirely (because we can't readily see the stuff) will not prevent the next accident when this system fails in a different way (flocking birds, volcanic ash or ice sheds from in front of the pitots or even a loss of vision or whatever powers the instruments that displays the speed) That is what I mean by a system failure.
The system failed ....l so what? To fix the problem we need to examine not just this one specific failure condition but to revisit the assumptions in the basic certification (which assumes this system would fail) and address every one of the assumptions that was violated.l
I have no respect for the assignment of cause "but-for the icing of the pitot" that is typical of the legal tort system when it comes to adressing flight safety shortfalls in complex system interactions.
IMO this problem is not going away with just the final accident report summary or all the rhetoric of PPRune "I told you so" until wide ranging recommendations are adopted..