The Times: Airbus could be asked to ground all long-range airliners

[milehighj]

Airbus could be asked to ground all long-range airliners
Charles Bremner in Paris

Airbus is expected to face calls to ground its worldwide fleet of long-range airliners tomorrow when French accident investigators issue their first account of what caused Air France Flight 447 to crash off Brazil on June 1.

It is believed that the accident bureau will report that faulty speed data and electronics were the main problem in the disaster that killed 228 people.

The European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) is likely to be asked why it had never taken action to remedy trouble that was well known with the Airbus 330 and 340 series. Nearly 1,000 of the aircraft are flying and until AF447, no passenger had been killed in one.

“EASA has a legal and moral obligation to get to the bottom of this problem now. If there is a defective system and the aircraft is unsafe then it should be grounded,” said James Healy-Pratt of Stewarts Law in London. The firm, which specialises in aviation, is representing the families of 20 of the victims of flight 447.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/new...cle6612165.ece

[up and away]

The press& aviation is a woeful combination... especially when the press relies on the opinion of a lawyer who appearently earns his money by representing "victims" of the oh-so-malicious "web of intrigue" that seems to be formed by EADS, Air France and the EASA

[HUGE AL]

Wow! I'm very surprised and happy to hear this. I thought for sure that since the French were handling the investigation, Airbus would not be found liable in any way. How wrong I was!

[jhm]

the oh-so-malicious "web of intrigue" that seems to be formed by EADS, Air France and the EASA

Are those your words or theirs ? I can't see that mentioned in the article.

I've never heard of the law firm before but a quick Google shows that they seem to have a well experienced team in this area:

http://www.stewartslaw.com/services/...tion-team.aspx

[up and away]

Yes but still they represent the families of the victim's families so you must expect them to be kinda biased in this case!

[jhm]

Yes but still they represent the families of the victim's families so you must expect them to be kinda biased in this case!

And if Air France, Airbus and/or EASA are at fault, you think they won't be bias ?

[sqdazz]

the article is merely a headline grabber. Who will be calling to ground the fleet? A prompt replacement program for the pitot tubes might be what comes of it, but I think this is already happening from what I have read thus far. Lets not forget the flaw in B777 design which very nearly killed an entire plane load of British Airways passengers plus many on the ground, the aircraft was not grounded but modifications are made. I expect the same thing to occur here.

Grounding 1000 widebody aircraft would bring half the world to a halt, it seems a very extreme measure for aircraft that have been plying the skies for 15 yrs, safely moving hundreds of millions of passengers around the globe.

[up and away]

And if Air France, Airbus and/or EASA are at fault, you think they won't be bias ?

But the article was only supported by the opinion of this lawyer... that's not what I call proper journalism!

[jhm]

But the article was only supported by the opinion of this lawyer... that's not what I call proper journalism!

As far as I can see, the only comment from the lawyer was:

EASA has a legal and moral obligation to get to the bottom of this problem now. If there is a defective system and the aircraft is unsafe then it should be grounded

so I'm not sure how you jump to the conclusion that the article was supported only by the opinion of the lawyer. For example:

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?p...d=a8dY0m8FTZkI