Air France Airbuses Get New Speed Sensors

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 to break up and plunge into the Atlantic on June 1.

French and Brazilian authorities are still looking for debris, bodies, and—most crucially—the data recorders from the flight, though the search may be called off soon. It has so far yielded 49 bodies, and a nuclear submarine is patrolling the area for the so-called black boxes, which emit a locator signal for a month after a crash. (More Airbus A330 stories.)