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Air France chief questions sensor role in crash

(Agencies)
Updated: 2009-06-12 10:32

PARIS -- Air France is not convinced so far that faulty speed sensors were to blame for the loss of one of its planes over the Atlantic, but is replacing old sensors as a precaution, the airline's chief executive said on Thursday.

Pierre-Henri Gourgeon told reporters that Air France was in a state of shock over the worst disaster in its 75-year history and expected more information about what happened within a week.

An Air France Airbus 330 crashed into the sea on June 1 en route from Brazil to Paris, killing all 228 aboard.

Members of the Brazilian Air Force carry the body of a victim of Air France Flight 447 that went missing en route from Rio to Paris, at a base in Fernando de Noronha island June 11, 2009. [Agencies]

Brazil said three more bodies had been found on Thursday in the main area of ocean where search operations were being conducted, bringing the total number of bodies recovered to 44.

Related readings:  Crashed jet's speed sensors not at fault, says Air France  15 more bodies found in Atlantic Air France crash  Crews find vertical stabilizer in Air France crash  Air France to replace speed sensors on Airbus jets  Missing plane flew well beyond range of radar

Air accident investigators have said the Airbus registered inconsistent speed readings just before contact was lost, raising speculation the pilots might inadvertently have flown at the wrong speed and precipitated the disaster.

Air France subsequently reported it had noticed temporary loss of air speed data on previous Airbus flights due to ice collecting in the sensors, known as pitot tubes, and said it was speeding up a pre-planned replacement programme.

"As circumstances would have it, the first replacements arrived practically on the eve of the accident, on the Friday," Gourgeon told a news briefing, adding: "I am not convinced that speed sensors were the cause of crash."

The French air accident agency has said it is too early to pinpoint any possible cause for the crash, saying there were only two certainties -- that the plane had hit stormy weather before the crash and that the speed readings were incoherent.

A French lawyer representing families of some of the victims said they planned to take legal action to gain access to files from the investigation.

She said in a statement they felt information had been withheld and that there had been a delay in issuing an alert after the plane disappeared.

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