The FAA issued Parts Manufacturer Approval (PMA) to Aero-Instruments yesterday for a replacement pitot probe that can be installed on the more than 4,500 Airbus A318s through A340s in the field. The new 0851HL-AI pitot probe can replace any or all of the three Thales or Goodrich probes installed on Airbus jetliners, according to Aero-Instruments vice president and general manager Ryan Mifsud. Aero-Instruments has been making pitot probes since the mid-1940s, he said, mostly for general aviation OEMs such as Cessna, Hawker Beechcraft and Piper and helicopter manufacturers Bell and Eurocopter, as well as regional jet makers Bombardier and Embraer. The 0851HL-AI probe is the company’s third PMA’d pitot probe; others are available for the Boeing 737 Classic and 757. Typically, Aero-Instruments PMA pitot probes cost less than the original equipment and offer longer life, Mifsud said. The new probes meet TSO C-16A and the icing requirements outlined in SAE AS393, AS8006 and (the UK’s) BS2G.135. Because the new FAA-approved Aero-Instruments Airbus pitot probes are modeled on the design of the Goodrich probes, he said, 0851HL-AI will meet the requirements of an upcoming EASA Airworthiness Directive, which will require at least two Goodrich probes to be installed on Airbus A330s and A340s equipped with three Thales probes.