The European Aviation Safety Agency plans to recommend a ban on the type of speed sensor installed on the Air France Airbus jet which crashed in the Atlantic last month, a spokesman said Thursday.
A proposed ruling would also ration the number of a newer type of sensor made by the same manufacturer, France's Thales, to just one per plane, he said.
This means that at least two of three speed-measuring devices fitted on each jet would have to be supplied by the only other manufacturer, Goodrich of the United States.
The ruling would apply to all Airbus A330 jets equipped with speed sensors -- known as pitot probes -- made by Thales, as well as to the broadly similar A340.
"EASA will recommend that all A330 and A340 Airbus aircraft currently equipped with Thales pitot probes should be fitted with at least 2 Goodrich probes," said Daniel Holtgen, chief spokesman for the agency responsible for aviation safety in the European Union.
No timescale for the proposed changes was available.
Apparently faulty readings from the sensors are central to the investigation into the crash of an Air France A330 while en route from Brazil to Paris on June 1. The crash during a severe Atlantic storm killed all 228 people on board.
