AF447: pitot
FROM : AIRBUS CUSTOMER SERVICES TOULOUSE
TO : ALL A330/A340/A340-500/A340-600 AIRBUS RESIDENT CUSTOMER SUPPORT MANAGERS
OPERATORS INFORMATION TELEX - OPERATORS INFORMATION TELEX
TO: A330/A340/A340-500/A340-600 Operators
SUBJECT: ATA 34 - REQUEST FOR INFORMATION CONCERNING IN-FLIGHT UNRELIABLE AIRSPEED
OUR REF: SE 999.0049/09/VHR dated 09 JUN 2009
CLASSIFICATION: GENERAL INFORMATION
1/ CONTEXT
As reported in AIT reference "AF447 Issue 3 June 8th 2009", there are 3 standards of pitot probes in
service on the A330/A340 family aircraft:
- Thales (ex Sextant) PN C16195AA and PN C16195BA
- Goodrich (Rosemount) PN 0851HL
It is reminded that the 'BA' standard probe was made available to address low altitude water ingress
events that generated a number of RTO on the A320 family program.
AF447 aircraft was equipped with Pitot PN C16195AA.
The intense speculation regarding these pitot probes has led many Operators to contact Thales or
Airbus to:
- request an immediate replacement of the Thales 'AA' probes with 'BA' (Service Bulletins A330-34-
3206, A340-34-4200, A340-34-5068)
- report recent and past (previously unreported) events of Unreliable airspeed.
These events, after analysis and confirmation, will allow to determine if any corrective action is
warranted by the findings.
In this context, all Operators, equipped with Goodrich (Rosemount) or Thales (Sextant) pitot probes,
are requested to report all confirmed in-flight Unreliable airspeed events.
2/ TYPICAL SIGNATURE OF UNRELIABLE AIRSPEED
To be sure that Unreliable airspeed events are correctly identified, please report events corresponding
to the criteria as follows:
- Crew report indicates loss or discrepant IAS (Indicated Airspeed) on CAPT and/or F/O PFD and/or
Standby Airspeed indicator (ISIS).
- Typical ECAM Warnings were seen:
NAV ADR DISAGREE
NAV IAS DISCREPANCY
F/CTL ALTN LAW
F/CTL RUD TRV LIM 1(2) FAULT
AUTO FLT AP OFF
AUTO FLT A/THR OFF
STALL WARNING (audio call-out)
AUTO FLT REAC W/S DET FAULT
- Fault Message "PROBE-PITOT 1+2/2+3/1+3" was possibly also seen.
- Maintenance report indicates that event was NOT due to a system failure.
3/ AIRBUS REQUEST
Please send all reports corresponding to the above typical signature via email to
"engineering.support@airbus.com". Please be sure to include the following points:
- Aircraft MSN affected
- Pitot part number fitted at the time of the event
- Date of event
- Aircraft location at the time of the event.
- Flight phase at the time of the event.
- Altitude at the time of the event
- Weather conditions at the time of the event.
- Indicate what effects on IAS were seen on CAPT and F/O PFD and Standby Airspeed indicator
(ISIS).
- Other associated cockpit effects were seen (ECAM warnings etc.)