Originally Posted by
jcjeant
From May 2008 to March 2009, nine incidents (UAS) of icing of the Pitot probes are recorded on the A340/A330 fleet of Air France.
These nine cases involve Thales AA probes.
Company Air France
Nation : France
Aircraft registered in France
BEA : French investigation agency
Yes, that just leaves over 20 that weren't. None of which demanded from the host agencies any action more urgent or widespread than that which was already being done. Prior to AF447, UAS was considered a relatively minor problem by the industry as a whole.
@Neofit: No, it's probably not a coincidence, but it's a stretch to claim that there was anything nefarious to the change. Note that the document doesn't specify what the change was - perhaps a temperature boost, perhaps an extension to the amount of time the heat is cycled on.
That document (via electronic translation) reads to me like it has the fingerprints of the SNPL all over it, with the same old arguments against the Airbus FBW layout that they've been using since the '80s. It also implies early on that the BEA report lays responsibility for the accident with the crew, when in fact it does no such thing.