Originally Posted by
Turbine D
Could you explain to all of us why Goodrich pitot tubes, that worked very well on Boeing jets, were not considered as replacements in 2007?
Goodrich tubes were standard fit on Airbus types (including the A330) as well, and to the best of my knowledge still are. The Thales pitot tubes were an optional fit.
This is illustrated in M.Marnet-Cornus's document:
In 2008 175 Airbus A 330 of 32 companies Airlines are equipped with the [faulty] sensor.
A quick archive.org dive indicates that there were:
555 [A330s built] as of 31 July 2008
which in turn indicates that around 70% of A330s built were not equipped with the Thales probes (meaning they were standard Goodrich fit) as of 2008. Some of the remaining 30% would have been equipped with a mix of Goodrich and Thales units as well.
[EDIT : HM-C's focus on the pitot tubes is itself a misdirection of sorts. The aircraft did not crash simply as a result of the UAS condition, in fact there's a good chance that had there been no manual input, the aircraft would have bumped its way through the turbulence with the speed indications returning in a minute or less. The aircraft crashed because the PF's instinctive response of pulling back on the stick without any discussion or notification was inappropriate, and became more and more inappropriate as the sequence unfolded.]