Skip to: Content
Skip to: Site Navigation
Skip to: Search
SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 21, 2009
| Subscribe to Newser's RSS feeds RSS | Follow Newser on Twitter Twitter

NEWS ABOUT: Airbus A330

Airbus A330 stories: 16 news summaries

 Computer Crash 
 May Have Doomed 
 Air France Flight 

Crash raises questions on if today's pilots can cope with computer failure

Jun 27, 09 4:15 AM CDT
(Newser) - Investigators trying to piece together the fate of Air France Flight 447 in the absence of its black boxes are focusing on possible computer failures, the Wall Street Journal reports. The evidence suggests a problem with the sensors quickly snowballed into widespread computer outages, leaving the crew struggling to manage... More »

MORE ABOUT:
black box • plane crash • aviation • computer glitch • Airbus A330 • Air France Flight 447 • flight computers

 Airbus Glitches 
 Probed on 2 
 New Flights 

Cockpit sensors failed in same model as crashed Air France jet

Jun 26, 09 3:00 AM CDT
(Newser) - Federal investigators are probing two recent incidents in which speed and altitude sensors malfunctioned on Airbus 330s, USA Today reports. The failures, one on a Northwest Airlines flight and one on Brazil's TAM Airlines, are similar to those being investigated in the crash of an Air France A330 earlier this... More »

MORE ABOUT:
Airbus • plane crash • NTSB • Airbus A330 • Air France Flight 447

 I Know What 
 Happened to 
 Flight 447: 
 Trump 

Posts theory on his blog about 'plastic rudders'

Jun 16, 09 9:10 AM CDT
(Newser) - Donald Trump: entrepreneur, reality show host, airline safety investigator. The real estate mogul has a friend who makes handcarts out of the same material the Airbus 330 rudders are made of, so the Donald has a theory about Air France Flight 447, the New York Post reports. More »

MORE ABOUT:
Donald Trump • plastic • celebrity • airline safety • Airbus A330 • Air France Flight 447

(Newser) - All of Air France’s long-haul Airbus jets have had their airspeed sensors replaced, AFP reports. A pilots union says the airline accelerated its program to switch out questionable pitot tubes on A330s and A340s. Though the circumstances are unknown, some think a faulty sensor could have caused Flight 447... More »

MORE ABOUT:
labor unions • Air France • Airbus A330 • Air France Flight 447 • Airbus A340 • pitot tube • speed sensor • airspeed

 Airbus 330 Makes 
 Emergency Landing in Guam 

Cockpit fire forces move; plane same type as in Air France crash

Jun 11, 09 9:47 AM CDT
(AP) - An Airbus 330 carrying 203 people has made an emergency landing in Guam after an electrical problem sparked a small fire in the cockpit, airline officials said. There were no injuries. Though it's the same type of plane as the Air France flight that crashed last week in the Atlantic,... More »

MORE ABOUT:
Australia • Japan • Airbus • Guam • emergency landing • Airbus A330

(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... More »

MORE ABOUT:
France • Brazil • Airbus • plane crash • labor unions • pilots • Airbus A330 • Air France Flight 447 • pitot tube • cabin crew

 Air France Changes 
 Airbus Speed Sensors 

Icing concerns fueled replacements beginning last month

Jun 7, 09 11:14 AM CDT
(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... More »

MORE ABOUT:
Airbus • plane crash • sensors • Air France • Airbus A330 • monitoring • Air France Flight 447 • Airbus A340

(Newser) - Regulators have warned Airbus for years that speed sensors on its A330 planes were unreliable and made flying unsafe. In the wake of last week's Air France disaster, which killed 228 people when an A330 crashed in an Atlantic storm, Reuters has unearthed regulatory warnings to Airbus. "Lost or... More »

MORE ABOUT:
Airbus • plane crash • airplane • Air France • Airbus A330

Airbus Sends Warning on Speed Sensors

Faulty readings may have played a role in
Air France crash

Jun 5, 09 1:03 PM CDT
(Newser) - The maker of the Air France jet that crashed in the Atlantic issued a warning to pilots on how to respond when speed sensors malfunction, buttressing a belief that faulty readings played a role in the disaster, Reuters reports. An Airbus memo also says the company is replacing all such... More »

MORE ABOUT:
airline industry • Airbus • speed • Air France • Airbus A330 • warning • Air France Flight 447

 Recovered Debris Not 
 From Air France Crash 

Officials say pallet found  in crash zone  was just 'sea trash'

Jun 5, 09 2:12 AM CDT
(Newser) - Brazilian officials say debris they earlier believed was from Air France Flight 447 was actually just "sea trash," the BBC reports. A wooden pallet found 600 miles off Brazil's coast in the area where the jet is thought to have crashed probably came from a ship, and an... More »

MORE ABOUT:
Brazil • plane crash • debris • Air France • Airbus A330 • Air France Flight 447

Searchers See More Debris From Air France Crash 

Weather alone can't explain crash: aviation analyst

Jun 3, 09 2:40 PM CDT
(Newser) - Searchers spotted more wreckage today from Air France Flight 447, which crashed into the Atlantic Ocean earlier this week with 228 people aboard. A team of international aircraft discovered four fields of metallic debris and a 12-mile fuel slick some 220 miles off the Brazilian coast, the Washington Post reports.... More »

MORE ABOUT:
France • Brazil • plane crash • debris • Air France • Airbus A330 • Air France Flight 447


 Air France 
 Tragedy Stumps 
 Investigators 

Pilot on separate flight may have seen fire in ocean

Jun 2, 09 6:30 AM CDT
(Newser) - As French and Brazilian military aircraft continue to search the Atlantic Ocean for signs of lost Air France Flight 447, investigators are mulling a range of possible explanations—lightning, bad electronics, a pilot error, or a combination of the three. Late last night the Brazilian airline TAM said its pilots... More »

MORE ABOUT:
France • Brazil • plane crash • air disasters • Air France • Airbus A330 • Air France Flight 447

(Newser) - We might never know what brought down Air France Flight 447 early today, but aviation expert Miles O’Brien believes it was either an exceptionally unlikely event or a series of cascading failures, he writes for True/Slant. A lightning strike, widely reported as a factor, could only have sent the... More »

MORE ABOUT:
plane crash • lightning • Air France • Airbus A330 • Air France Flight 447

(Newser) - A missing Air France jet hit thunderstorms over the Atlantic, likely crashing and killing all 228 people on board, the AP reports. Half an hour after falling out of Brazilian radio contact, the Airbus A330 "crossed through a thunderous zone with strong turbulence”; Nicolas Sarkozy told families of those... More »

MORE ABOUT:
Atlantic Ocean • plane crash • air disasters • tropical storms • airplane • Air France • Airbus A330 • Air France Flight 447

UPDATED

 Air France Jet 
 Presumed 
 Lost  


Jun 1, 09 10:20 AM CDT
(Newser) - The Air France flight that disappeared over the Atlantic Ocean early today after leaving Rio de Janeiro for Paris is believed to have crashed, Reuters reports. Mechanical malfunctions kept the aircraft's crew from keeping in touch with air-traffic controllers after they reported serious turbulence about 4 hours into the flight.... More »

MORE ABOUT:
Atlantic Ocean • Brazil • Airbus • Rio de Janeiro • plane crash • Paris • Air France • Airbus A330 • Air France Flight 447

Tough Calls Await on Boeing Defense Bid

CEO can fold if feds deny appeal on tanker, or ramp up lobbying

Jun 12, 08 3:24 PM CDT
(Newser) - The Government Accountability Office must rule by next Thursday on Boeing’s appeal of an Air Force deal granting European rival Airbus a multi-billion dollar tanker contract—and CEO Jim McNerney has a tough call ahead if Boeing loses, the Seattle Times reports. He can ground the appeal, or draw... More »

MORE ABOUT:
Boeing • Air Force • Airbus • refueling • Government Accountability Office • contract • tanker aircraft • Jim McNerney • Boeing 767 • Airbus A330

16 Stories


from our news partners