V-Flyer

Given the recent sad loss of the Air France jet and the calls from the French pilots union to stop flying A330's & 340's, does anyone know if the VA A340 fleet have had this modification? or indeed need it?

'To prevent a repeat of this disaster . . . we call on flight deck and cabin crew to refuse all flights aboard the A330 and A340 series which have not been modified, said Alter, a union to which 10 per cent of the airlines crew belong.'

LP






Edit to thread title for clarity by mod........Nick

LP can you please post a link to the piece you quoted from?

There's this from Bloomberg;

Link

It looks like it's being reported on a wide range of news sites.

The union is a minority group, representing 5% of AF pilots and is known for a history of extremism (and not 10% of the crew).

However, AF has confirmed that it is replacing the pitots (speed sensors on the outside of the plane that pass information to the inflight computers) on all it's Airbus jets, which is leading to lots of comments on fora elsewhere. People are therefore jumping to conclusions that freezing of the pitots was the initial event that led to the crash - there is no proof of this at all. Airbus apparently sent out a note about an upgraded pitot to be installed (not making it mandatory) and that has fuelled the debate.

It is a good question however, do VS planes have the same pitots as the AF447 Airbus 332 or has VS upgraded them?

Just to clarify not scaremongering or even suggesting that the AF crash was due to this issue, however seems a valid question to ask of other airlines using Airbus aircraft including VS.

A good thoughful piece can be found from the Timesonline.












Edit by mod to shorten link.....Nick

quote:Originally posted by Lordpercy
Just to clarify not scaremongering or even suggesting that the AF crash was due to this issue, however seems a valid question to ask of other airlines using Airbus aircraft including VS.

A good thoughful piece can be found from the Timesonline.

Edit by mod to shorten link.....Nick


Nope, it's a fair question, honestly I have no idea, I do know that US and Dl(NW) are replacing the sensors on their Airbi fleets.

quote:Originally posted by Scrooge
Nope, it's a fair question, honestly I have no idea, I do know that US and Dl(NW) are replacing the sensors on their Airbi fleets.


As are other airlines and I am surprised VS has remained silent on this as it has one of the larger A340 fleets. A343s and A346s are of the same family as A332s ...

Hi everyone, here is a reply from our engineering department regarding this issue:

'Virgin Atlantic uses a different type of pitot probe (and a different manufacturer) to that of air france and the replacement actions being undertaken by air france are not applicable to our aircraft.
Virgin Atlantic has complied with all airbus recommendations, and can confirm that it has the latest standard of pitot probe installed across its fleet. We have not had any in-flight issues with our sensors giving flase readings'

Hope this puts evryone's minds at ease.

Thanks for that, as always, VB747. [y][y]

Nick

quote:Originally posted by virginboy747
Hi everyone, here is a reply from our engineering department regarding this issue:

'Virgin Atlantic uses a different type of pitot probe (and a different manufacturer) to that of air france and the replacement actions being undertaken by air france are not applicable to our aircraft.
Virgin Atlantic has complied with all airbus recommendations, and can confirm that it has the latest standard of pitot probe installed across its fleet. We have not had any in-flight issues with our sensors giving flase readings'

Hope this puts evryone's minds at ease.


Perfect thats just the answer we were looking for.

LP