By Tim Hepher
PARIS (Reuters) - The European Aviation Safety Agency plans to recommend a ban on the type of speed sensor installed on the Air France Airbus jet which crashed in the Atlantic last month, a spokesman said Thursday.
Its proposal would ban the older of two models of sensor made by France's Thales and ration the use of the latest Thales model to just one per plane, he told Reuters.
This means that at least two of the three speed-measuring devices fitted on each jet would have to be supplied by the only other manufacturer, Goodrich of the United States.
The draft ruling is the toughest response so far by safety authorities after an Airbus A330 operated by Air France plunged into the Atlantic killing all 228 people on board on June 1.
Investigators are trying to establish whether apparently faulty readings from the speed sensors, known as pitot probes, fitted to the side of the aircraft contributed to the disaster but have said it is too early to pinpoint the exact cause.
The EASA ruling would apply to all Airbus A330 twinjets equipped with speed sensors made by Thales, as well as to the larger A340, a sister model with four engines instead of two.
"EASA will recommend that all A330 and A340 Airbus aircraft currently equipped with Thales pitot probes should be fitted with at least two Goodrich probes," said Daniel Holtgen, chief spokesman for the agency responsible for aviation safety in the European Union.
"The agency is preparing a mandatory requirement. The use of the older type Thales 'AA' probes would be prohibited according to the proposal," he added, referring to the model number of the Thales device that was fitted to the doomed aircraft.
"This means that only a maximum of only one Thales probe of the type 'BA' could remain on the aircraft."
He said the measure was a precautionary one.
No timescale for the proposed changes was available but an immediate forced grounding of the 1,000-strong global fleet appeared unlikely. Holtgen said the mix of two types of probe was designed to make the process as manageable as possible.
He said EASA had acted in response to the "large amount of information the agency has received over the last couple of weeks on the performance of the three different types of pitot tube currently in operation on Airbus long-range aircraft."
The measures have been agreed with Airbus, he said, adding that EASA continued to analyse the various speed sensors.
Air France has said it is updating the Thales speed sensors on all its long-range Airbus aircraft.
Thales declined to comment but Chief Executive Luc Vigneron said this week it was studying the crash investigation.
Airbus was not immediately available to comment.
The planemaker will help fund an extended search for flight recorders and debris of the airliner that crashed en route from Brazil to Paris, France's investigation bureau said Thursday.
Only a small amount of wreckage and fewer than a quarter of the 228 bodies have been recovered.
(Editing by Ron Askew)
