Air France told its pilots in a memo obtained by The Associated Press that it is replacing instruments that affect flight speed in all its bigger jets. Investigators have focused on the equipment’s possible role in this week’s disaster.
Aviation officials have said the crash investigation is increasingly focused on whether external instruments might have iced over, confusing speed sensors and leading computers to set the plane’s speed too fast or slow — a potentially deadly mistake in severe turbulence.
The Air France memo says the company will finish replacing the instruments — known as Pitot tubes — in “coming weeks.” It does not say when the replacement process started, and the company declined to comment on the advisory, saying it was meant for pilots only.
