I’m sorry too, but if Airbus/Air France continued to fly passenger aircraft with known or suspected defective air speed sensors, then they are P.O.S.s!!
I have quit flying commercially because I don’t trust air carriers to do adequate aircraft maintenance and pilot training, and refuse to be harrassed by those TSA thugs!
What’s the matter with you?
JC
There was no indication that the air speed indicators were defective, they were operating outside the design limits, limits that apppear to be imposed by the laws of physics. Some of the design decisions may have contributed to this tragedy, but the decisions do not seem to have been made to cut corners, or without sufficient deliberation.
Had they made different decisions, it might have averted this disaster, but caused others, perhaps worse. I remember in my undergraduate control systems course, the textbook authors described a decision to make an aircraft control system less responsive to pilot input, knowing that it might ocassionally lead to an avoidable accident. The reasoning was that the less responsive control would actually prevent many more accidents than the more responsive control system would prevent.
The Airbus has its drawbacks, but it appears to be a perfectly airworthy airframe with an excellent safety record.