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FOLLOWING AIR FRANCE CRASH A UNION IS ASKING PILOTS TO BOYCOTT A330 AND A340 MODELS UNTIL SPEED MONITORS ARE REPLACED. A trade union has urged pilots to boycott the Airbus model involved in

last month’s Air France crash until safety improvements have been completed. In a memo posted on its website, Alter condemned Air France for deciding not to ground the fleet of 15 A330

planes, and a further 19 A340 models, after 228 people were killed in the middle of the Atlantic en route from Rio de Janeiro to Paris on 31 May. Investigators are looking at the possibility

that the Air France crash was the result of external speed monitors - called Pitot tubes - icing over and giving dangerously false readings to cockpit computers. Air France began to

encounter minor problems with the tubes last May and a replacement programme began at the end of April this year. Alter, which is thought to represent about five per cent of Air France

pilots, said members should refuse to fly any A330 or A340 planes that had not had at least two of their three external speed monitors replaced. It said: “There is a real risk of losing

control of an Airbus following the loss of wind gauge information. “Alter deplores that, while waiting for all the defective gauges to be replaced, management has not decided to ground the

A330 and A340 planes not yet equipped with the new models. “To avoid another disaster happening, and until we get the results of the investigations, Alter invites all pilots to refuse any

A330 or A340 flight that does not have at least two modified Pitot gauges.” An Air France spokeswoman told The Connexion that at least one of the three gauges in each of the A330 and A340

models had now been replaced. The company expects to have fully completed the switchover “in the coming weeks”. “Without pre-empting a link with the causes of the accident, Air France has

speeded up this programme,” the company said in a statement issued at the weekend. The Connexion understands that other pilots' unions have not gone as far as calling for a boycott. It

is not yet clear whether there will be any disruption to flights as a result.