Doomed jet faced airspeed data problems

RIO DE JANEIRO, June 5 (UPI) -- Aircraft manufacturer Airbus said the systems on Air France Flight 477 were providing inconsistent airspeed data before the jet disappeared over the Atlantic.

Airbus said automated messages from the flight suggest pilots on board the doomed aircraft received contradictory airspeed information before the Air France flight from Brazil to Paris disappeared above the Atlantic Ocean, CNN reported Friday.

Greg Feith, a former National Transportation Safety Board senior air safety investigator, told CNN such inconsistent data could pose significant problems for pilots.

"If (airspeed indicators) are malfunctioning, it can give a false read into the cockpit that can be misinterpreted," Feith said.

Officials suspect Flight 477 may have been flying at the wrong speed when it entered a storm while traveling above the Atlantic Ocean this week.

France announced Friday it is dispatching a nuclear submarine to help in the search for the plane's data recorders, the BBC reported. Defense Minister Herve Morin said the sub is equipped with surveillance devices.

Feith said officials searching the flight's suspected crash site in the Atlantic Ocean should work quickly as ocean currents and decreasing battery power on locator units will only hinder such efforts.

"The batteries on these locator devices attached to the black boxes have a limited life span -- just 30 days," he said.

"The longer time goes on, the further away from the actual crash site the debris floats."