Gregory Polek has spent his entire career in aviation journalism with AIN, starting as a proofreader and assistant to then-managing editor Mary Mahoney in 1995 after serving an internship with&nbsp;New Jersey Monthly&nbsp;magazine and completing his B.A. degree in English/Writing at New Jersey’s William Paterson College. By 1997 Polek accepted a position as an associate editor, covering the regional airline beat for&nbsp;Aviation International News&nbsp;in place of retiring industry veteran Don Anderson. The assignment took Polek across North America and Europe to profile regional airlines varying in size and mission from the likes of floatplane operators Kenmore Air and Chalk’s Ocean Airways to regional jet operators such as SkyWest and American Eagle. Today, in his dual role as Air Transport Editor and International Airshow Editor, Polek writes, edits, and manages AIN’s commercial aviation content while overseeing each of the company’s daily international air show publications in Paris, Farnborough, Singapore, and Dubai. Most recently Polek has assumed oversight of daily coverage of the Helicopter Association International’s annual Heli-Expo convention.

Senior Editor

Gregory Polek

France’s Bureau of Enquiry and Analysis for Civil Aviation Safety (BEA) has issued a statement confirming that sensors aboard the Air France A330-200 that went missing over the Atlantic Ocean on the evening of May 31 registered conflicting airspeed information. The statement follows yesterday’s telex to operators sent by Airbus and authorized by the BEA that advises crews of various models of airplanes to be aware of the possibility that such a condition could exist and to take appropriate action if they suspect faulty readings.
“A large quantity of more or less accurate information and attempts at explanations concerning the accident are currently being circulated,” said the BEA. “The [bureau] reminds those concerned that in such circumstances, it is advisable to avoid all hasty interpretations and speculation on the basis of partial or non-validated information.”
The BEA went on to note that it has concluded only two established facts: namely, that “the presence near the airplane’s planned route over the Atlantic of significant 
<link news>convective cells typical of the equatorial regions” and “based on the analysis of the automatic messages broadcast by the plane, there are inconsistencies between the various speeds measured.”
An Airbus spokesman told AIN this morning that the telex neither implied human error or an aircraft fault, and that the company sent the message purely as “a reminder of the applicable operational recommendations in case of an unreliable airspeed indication.” &nbsp;
The aircraft, bound for Paris from Rio de Janeiro when it lost radio contact with controllers on Sunday evening as it entered an area of thunderstorm activity, carried 228 passengers and crewmembers. Search teams from Brazil, France and U.S. continue to search for the exact location of the wreckage after determining debris found earlier during the search did not come from the doomed flight.

BEA Confirms Conflicting Airspeed Indications from Air France A330

France’s Bureau of Enquiry and Analysis for Civil Aviation Safety (BEA) has issued a statement confirming that sensors aboard the Air France A330-200 that 

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