The second report on the crash of Air France Flight 447 says the circumstances of the fatal accident and its causes are still not determined. But BEA, the French accident investigation agency, believes current testing appear inadequate to evaluate how airliner systems, including pitot tubes, will perform at high altitudes under severe weather conditions.
The latest BEA report calls for studies on the affect of cloud masses and severe icing conditions on jetliners. BEA also calls for flight data recorder safety enhancements.
Meanwhile, a third search for the missing cockpit and flight data recorders aboard Air France Flight 447 will begin in February.
The Air France Airbus A330 plunged into the Atlantic Ocean off Brazil’s coast en route from Rio to Paris on June 1. All 228 people aboard were killed.
The BEA report called for changes to flight data recorders that should make them easier to locate. Additional FDRs should be fitted to commercial aircraft and they should emit locator signals for 90 instead of 30 days, it said. The BEA also recommended exploring the possibility of requiring regular transmission of basic flight parameters, such as position, altitude, speed and heading.