Jetstar A330 suffers possible pitot tube malfunction

A Jetstar Airways A330-200 with 209 passengers and crew onboard suffered momentary erratic speed data indications from its computers in apparent bad weather and possible icing conditions on an Oct. 29 flight from Tokyo Narita to Gold Coast.

The scenario bears similarities to that which investigators believe may have been a factor in the loss of an Air France -200 over the Atlantic Ocean five months ago (ATWOnline, Sept. 1).

ATWOnline understands that the pilots of Flight JQ12 remained in control when the situation occurred at 1:30 a.m. Australian Eastern Daylight Time and that the malfunction cleared after a few seconds. The pilots landed at Gold Coast around 5 hr. later and passengers reportedly were unaware of any problem. The aircraft was Qantas's first of the type, registered VH-EBA, and was transferred to the Jetstar subsidiary.

A Jetstar spokesperson confirmed the incident and said the problem appeared to relate to the aircraft's speed-sensing system, which involves pitot tubes and air data inertial reference units. "At this early stage we don't know which component caused the problem," the spokesperson said. However, this website was told that icing of one of the pitot tubes is suspected strongly.

In the wake of the Air France tragedy, Airbus issued various directives to A330 and A340 operators relating to pitot tubes and suggested the replacement of at least two Thales probes with Goodrich models (ATWOnline, Aug. 3). Both Qantas and Jetstar A330s are fitted with Goodrich tubes.

The Australian Transport Safety Bureau and the Civil Aviation Safety Authority are investigating the incident in conjunction with QF and Jetstar. The suspect pitot tube and several other components were replaced and checks made, and the aircraft was ferried to Sydney Friday to resume operations.

ATSB still has not determined what caused a violent upset of a Qantas A330 off Western Australia in October 2008, injuring 75. One of the aircraft's ADIRUs sent erroneous data to the primary flight computer (ATWOnline, March 9).