Aviation News Item: 00377

1st Sep 2009

Source: ubmaviationnews.com

France's Bureau d'Enquetes et d'Analyses (BEA), the country's air accident investigation authority, is planning to start a third search attempt before the end of the year for the wreckage of the Air France A330 that crashed in the south Atlantic on June 1, 2009. The authority is currently trying to organise the necessary technical and financial resources for the search effort and investigation, which could take about 18 months, Paul-Louis Arslanian, the director of the BEA, told reporters yesterday. He reiterated that, thus far, the BEA cannot explain the causes for the crash in which all 228 on-board were killed. Arslanian also said that, although malfunctions with Thales-made Pitot tubes on Airbus aircraft had been reported before and after the crash - the issue is considered as one factor in the AF accident by the BEA - those reported Pitot tube incidents lasted only for relatively short periods of time and would not explain the loss of an aircraft from cruising altitude.

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