Air France Airbuses Get New Speed Sensors

(NEWSER) - A French airline-workers union has urged Air France crews to boycott long-haul Airbus jets until new speed sensors are installed, the Times of London reports. “To prevent a repeat” of the Flight 447 disaster, the Alter union said, “we call on flight deck and cabin crew to refuse all flights aboard the A330 and A340 series which have not been modified.” Alter represents 10% of Air France crews. More»

Icing concerns fueled replacements beginning last month

(NEWSER) - Air France is speeding up the process of replacing sensors on its Airbus planes following the crash of Flight 447, the BBC reports, a process it began in April. In May of last year, Air France said, it observed a “small number” of “incidents of loss of airspeed information during cruise flight” on A330s and A340s. The firm told Airbus about its concern, and Airbus suggested replacing the monitors. More»

Neither co-pilot had been trained for sensor malfunctions, new report says

(AP) - The crew piloting a doomed Air France jet over the Atlantic did not appear to know that the plane was in a stall, despite repeated warning signals, and never informed the passengers that anything was wrong before the jet plunged into the sea, according to new findings released today. Based on cockpit recordings from the crash, the French air accident investigation agency is recommending mandatory training for all pilots to help them fly planes manually and handle a high-altitude stall. More»

But it may not be possible to recover all the bodies found

(NEWSER) - Following the recovery of the black box and cockpit recorder from the 2009 Air France crash, officials have pulled a passenger's body from the ocean. The French Gendarmerie says the remains, which were still attached to a plane seat, were pulled up this morning. The first search effort after the doomed flight led to 50 bodies being recovered; all 228 people aboard the plane were killed. Recovering the latest body involved great technical difficulties, however, meaning it may not be possible to recover all the bodies found in the latest search, the AP notes. Click for more on Flight 447 . More»

Investigators hope for clues in 2009 plane crash

(NEWSER) - On the heels of recovering the black box from the doomed Air France flight that fell out of the sky off the Brazilian coast nearly two years ago, French investigators have pulled the cockpit recorder from the depths of the Atlantic, reports the AP. It's not yet certain whether the recorder has held up to the ocean pressure that comes with a resting place 12,800 feet below sea level. But investigators have said they have no shot of determining the cause of the crash without the devices. "It is my heartfelt hope that the data contained in these flight recorders may be used and provide answers," said Air France's CEO in a statement. Click for more on the lost Air France plane. More»