WORLD> Europe
|
WORLD> Europe
|
|
Air France crash inquiry needs more money
(Agencies)
Updated: 2009-08-31 22:17
A preliminary report into the crash said the plane hit the ocean intact and belly first at a high rate of speed. Investigators have announced no signs of explosion or terrorism. The Brazilian authorities have yet to send detailed information about the autopsies on the 50 bodies that have been recovered, although the BEA is working with general information obtained from French authorities, Arslanian said.
Since the accident, European air safety regulators have told world airlines to replace hundreds of air speed sensors of the type fitted to the crashed plane. A series of automatic messages sent by the plane point to a malfunction of the external speed monitors, known as Pitot tubes, which some experts think may have iced over and given false speed readings to the Air France plane's computers as it ran into a turbulent thunderstorm. "If I had thought it was important to make a recommendation, I would have done it," Arslanian said. Problems with Pitots are not unusual, but the malfunction doesn't normally last longer than a few seconds, he said. The BEA is also working with authorities from Yemen and Comoros to find the causes of the Yemenia Airways crash last June, which killed 152 people. The recently recovered black boxes from that crash should arrive in France on Monday with the Comoran investigators and will be examined by the BEA, Arslanian said.
|
