[AlexW]

“He thinks that the plane was going slower than what they thought”
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I am would think the plane had at least two pito tubes, which are heated to prevent ice.
If ice blocked them, it should indicate a slower then actual speed.
Someone can correct me if I am wrong.

[murrie]

Hey Alex-my hubby said the plane had 3 pito tubes. Hmm. He jokingly said they were prolly all made by the same manufacturer and that it was prolly “a French thing”. Sorry. Bad humor.....

[Greysard]

I am would think the plane had at least two pitot tubes, which are heated to prevent ice.

FAA requires heated pitot tubes:

On 3 September 2009, the American FAA issued a final Airworthiness Directive, which requires the pitot probes manufactured by Thales Avionics, which were installed on the A330 and A340 aircraft, to be replaced with heated pitot tubes manufactured by Goodrich Sensors.

However Airbus installed non-heated pitot tubes from day one; this led to a bunch of problems just like this one, only in those cases the pilots managed to recover. This time they didn't.

Airbus "recommended" to upgrade the pitot tubes, but this was not a requirement. Air France decided to sit on this:

On 6 June 2009, Arslanian [the head of the BEA] said that Air France had not replaced pitot probes as Airbus recommended on F-GZCP, saying that "it does not mean that without replacing the probes that the A330 was dangerous."

The AF447 had the non-heated sensors, all three of which probably froze solid in seconds. The auto{everything} instantly failed, and pilots were forced to take control.