Airworthiness Directives; Airbus Airplanes

We are adopting a new airworthiness directive (AD) for all Airbus Model A330-200, -300 and -200 Freighter series airplanes; and Model A340-200, -300, -500, and -600 series airplanes. This AD was prompted by a report that an airplane equipped with Angle of Attack (AOA) sensors installed with conic plates recently experienced blockage of all sensors during climb, leading to autopilot disconnection and activation of the alpha protection (Alpha Prot) when Mach number was increased. This AD requires, for certain airplanes, revising the airplane flight manual (AFM) to advise the flightcrew of emergency procedures for addressing AOA sensor blockage. This AD also requires replacing the AOA sensor conic plates with AOA sensor flat plates, which is a terminating action for the AFM revision. We are issuing this AD to prevent reduced control of the airplane.