When you next board an Airbus, should you check that they have replaced the pitot tubes with a more reliable model?

The question is reasonable, given that Air France Flight 447 may have fallen into the Atlantic last week after something clogged those little prongs that sprout from near the cockpit.

So how can a computer-packed, 21st-century flying machine be brought down by a dodgy speed-measuring device that was invented in about 1710?

Perhaps a sense of proportion is needed. Flying on a major airline is probably safer than staying at home, if you look at injuries from domestic accidents. It is about as dangerous as taking the train in Europe. Nearly 1,000 members of the long-haul Airbus family are in use around the world, with 900 more on order. Over 15 years they have transported millions of people and, until last week, not one had been killed.

For this aircraft to fall out of the sky, a very unlucky chain of events had to have taken place. If it played a role, the 300-year-old invention of Henri Pitot, a French engineer, will have been part of a series of breakdowns of the kind that have always afflicted human endeavour.

Faulty airspeed may have confused computers in a severe storm and contributed to a loss of control that the crew could not handle. That sequence is extremely rare and no doubt includes a big dose of what the French call la faute de pas de chance. As in previous accidents, the investigation will lead to a fix for part of the chain, especially if the flight recorders are found — and flying will become a little safer still.

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