Perhaps to reassure airlines, Airbus said the data did not suggest a loss of the computerized instrument display, or the Air Data Inertial Reference Unit, which helps planes locate their positions and which has had problems on other A330s.
Long before the crash, Airbus had recommended that airlines replace parts, called Pitot tubes, that scoop in air to help planes measure their air speed.
After serving on ships for two years, he was ordered to form a Navy team to find ways to use rockets to help planes take off in a shorter distance with more bombs.
The G.P.S. system has tremendous potential for increasing operating efficiencies in aviation, helping planes fly more direct routes and land in low visibility in places that lack conventional instrument landing systems.
Honeywell had claimed theses companies had lifted its new air-safety device, which couples global-positioning technology with flight data and a topographical database to help planes avoid obstacles.
Similarly, an aircraft carrier has special arresting gear to help planes come to a full stop in just a couple hundred feet, rather than the several thousand feet they would usually use on a regular runway.
I wonder if it ever crossed his mother's mind, as he was sitting at the kitchen table with his balsa wood and glue, that one day he would save millions of lives by helping planes land safely around the world.
The part helps a plane measure its airspeed.
And the core shoots out exhaust at incredibly high speeds, which is part of what helps a plane fly.
But the captain of a 747 insisted it was working, and managed to tune the plane's radio to pick up some stray signal he concluded was the glide-slope indicator, which helps keep planes at the correct descent angle.
