Air France 447: Carriers Hurry to Replace Speed Sensors

June 9, 2009 — -- A total of 41 bodies have now been found in the Atlantic Ocean from Air France flight 447, the airline announced this evening.

And as divers continue to recover remains and wreckage from the crash site, airlines worldwide are scrambling to replace plane speed sensors today on a number of Airbus jets in the aftermath of the accident.

Investigators looking into what may have caused the accident believe speed sensors malfunctioned on the flight. The problem could have caused the plane to fly at an unsafe speed.

Watch "World News with Charles Gibson" Tonight at 6:30 p.m. ET for the full report.

Now Delta, US Airways and United, which flies a different model of Airbus, are rushing to finish replacing their sensors. Faulty speed readings can cause the jet to fly dangerously slow or fast.

It's not known for sure if the sensors contributed to the crash nine days ago, but pilots at Air France aren't taking chances. They've pressured the airline to quickly upgrade the speed sensors, called pitot tubes.

"We are really concerned," said Louis Jobard at Air France's pilots' union. "We have had some incidents, you know, before, reported on the Airbus 330 and Airbus 340 with the old type of pitot sensor."

The speed sensor changeover was recommended by Airbus 17 months ago, but it's common for airlines to take their time on non-critical work. Airbus had recommended changing the sensors because of reliability issues, and Air France had noticed sensors icing up on some flights.

The sensors had not yet been changed on flight 447, which former National Transportation Safety Board managing director Peter Goelz said was "not unusual."

"The recommendation that was made to Air France was not an emergency recommendation," Goelz said today. "It was a recommendation that could be completed over time. And given the economics of the airline industry now, no air carrier wants to take their plane out of service unnecessarily."

The push to replace potentially faulty sensors was one of several distinct efforts under way today to make sure travelers are safe in the air.

In separate initiatives, the Federal Aviation Administration called on investigators to immediately focus on pilot training required by smaller, regional airlines on the heels of a deadly crash this winter in Buffalo.

Also today, the NTSB began a three-day hearing into the rare success story of what happened when US Airways flight 1549 landed on the Hudson River.

In the Air France crash, pilots weren't just struggling with equipment problems: It was likely a series of failures and mishaps that led to the tragedy.

Among them, weather consultant Tim Vasquez has determined the plane's flight path would have taken the jet right through a series of towering thunderstorms.